Wenus

Morning, Monday, 1 December. All five kittens and their mum, Wenus, spent the night in the kitchen. In the morning, I fed them as usual – two sachets of wet cat food, some dry cat food, and some milk. There was the usual feline hubbub as the food was laid out. Wenusia watched as her brood chomped on its breakfast, then as the commotion was abating, she moved in to eat something herself. There was some hissing and paw-waving; she seemed unhappy at having to share the kitchen, once her exclusive domain, with her five adolescent children. Having eaten and drunk her fill, Wenusia jumped onto the windowsill and indicated to me that she wanted to be let out. Wenusia – the cat-colony starter-kit.

She did not come home that day, nor that night. Nothing to worry about unduly; she'd been gone overnight before, not to return until the following evening. Except this time she didn't. 

No sign of her on Tuesday night. Or all day Wednesday. Had she decided that she'd had enough of sharing her house and her human with five other cats? Did she take umbrage at me for having had her sterilised? Was she having nightmares that I'd inflict more surgical procedures upon her? Had she followed someone else home, the way she'd followed me home 11 months ago? Had she fallen victim to a fox – or a wolf? (Earlier this year there were reports of wolf sightings in the forests behind Sułkowice.) Had she returned to her original home, wherever that was? Had she simply ranged too far and got lost? 

By Thursday, I was sufficiently concerned to walk around the back way to Grobice and call out to her every few hundred metres or so. Nothing. I walked back to the spot where we first met on 5 January, walking to the end of Jakubowizna and back. Nothing.

Losing Wenusia now that she had produced a happy and healthy gang of kittens was not the tragedy that it would had been had she been my one and only feline companion, but even so. Not having been able to say farewell to her before she slipped off... Friday came and went. Still no sign. The kittens didn't seem unduly troubled by their mother's long absence. Maybe this is how it's meant to be in the cat world? Bring your brood into the world, then drift away to a new life... Maybe she's found (or been found) by some elderly person who needs Wenusia more than I do right now?

Should I put up notices around Jakubowizna, "Missing Cat, Mother of Five, Children Upset" sort of thing? Or just start with a post on the local Facebook community?

Saturday morning. There being no Wenusia in the kitchen as I wake up has become the new normal. I'm off to town, some literary work to do. The cats have to be moved outside for several hours, so their second meal of the day is delivered on the patio. All five were happily munching away at lunch as I sidled off to catch my train. I was back at seven pm, returning in darkness. As usual, I am met on the drive by several feline shadows darting this way and that, welcoming me home. 

Reaching the front door, I became aware that the number of cats swirling around my feet was... six. Once inside, I switched on the hall light. Indeed! Wenusia was there! Back among her children! Six days and five nights away and she's back! I was delighted. The five kittens were fed in the kitchen, I took Wenusia into the front room to eat a celebratory tin of tuna mousse, her favourite. I think about the things I no longer have to do because they've done themselves.

It was wonderful to have her back among the brood. Having said that, as I write these words, with her five kittens lying, sated, on my kitchen floor... Wenusia is, once again, out. Never be complacent. Be grateful.

But just as I'm about to press 'publish', there she is at the window!

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