by Jeff Mount

Created on: January 23, 2009   Last Updated: September 20, 2011

Sometimes, they really do come back.

Heather and I had chosen him together. I named him "Tiger" after a certain golfer you may have heard of. He seemed so playful at the Humane Society.

Heather and I had an ugly breakup shortly thereafter and I was left with that cat, which ended up being a storm of a feline. He would pounce onto my bed in the middle of the night and dig his claws into me and bite me and generally harass me to the point that sleep was impossible. Lock him out of my room you say? Yes, and endure that hideous screeching meow as he begged for entry? I'd rather jam a pencil in my ear.

So, I had to get rid of him you see. I really had no choice. So, one night I tossed him in the car, drove a couple miles away and chucked him out into the large parking lot of an apartment complex.

"Sorry, buddy". These were my parting words. I'm scum, I know.

Tiger scurried off under a car and I headed home.

Later that night, I was sitting on my couch watching TV and eating cereal when I heard that horrific meow outside my front door. Tiger had found his way back to my house, miraculously. His fur was pretty messed up and dirty but other than that he seemed fine. I shook my head and let him in, feeling ashamed and generally weirded out. I mumbled a weak apology and gave the little guy some milk and tuna fish.

More of the same clawing, biting, screeching and hell raising over the next couple of nights compelled me to take Tiger on another journey; this one much further away. I drove across the overpass of I-5, took some twists and turns through the labyrinth of a random neighborhood about 10 miles away from my house, and left Tiger at a smaller apartment complex I happened to run across. Again, off he pattered underneath a nearby parked car.

"Someone will take care of you better than I can, Tiger." This would be the final goodbye I was sure. I felt like crap for what I was doing but I did it anyway.

About a week later I was sleeping in my room and was awakened by a screaming "Meoooowwwww!" It had to be that damn cat again. Unbelievable. I sat up in my bed with a hand over my mouth. I was mortified. How in the hell could he have found his way back. It was impossible! I ran downstairs and opened the front door.

Tiger didn't look as good this time. Big patches of his fur were gone and he had some scratches and scabs. He was too skinny. He looked at me with angry eyes and snarled.

"Holy crap, Tiger." I took him into my garage, fished the cat food bag out of my garbage,

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>