Day 126: The Night Halley Disappeared

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 126: The Night Halley Disappeared

I’m in the habit of doing a headcount of the cats before I go to bed. Gabriel is usually on top of the wall unit in his basket, Charlotte is sleeping on Dieter’s bed, Holly is already on my bed, and Halley is still playing with this, that or the other. Knowing that everyone is accounted for I go to sleep with peace of mind.

Only yesterday there was no peace of mind. When I was in bed, I remembered seeing Charlotte on Dieter’s bed, and Gabriel and Holly were on my bed, but where was Halley. I listed, but I couldn’t hear her moving around. Knowing that I wouldn’t get any sleep not knowing where she was, I got up.

I switched the light on in the kitchen, illuminating the lounge and dining room, had a look around, but Halley was nowhere to be seen. I went back to my room to look under the bed, but she wasn’t there.

Next, I went to look in Dieter’s room, even looked under his bed, but she wasn’t there either.

I was getting more worried by the second and wondered where she could be. Even though I was fairly sure that she wasn’t on the balcony, I opened the door to have a look there. 

So where was she? If Halley was not in the living room, dining room, kitchen or bedrooms … where had she gone too? I hate it when cats do their disappearing act. It made me wonder if I should get a bell and put it around Halley’s neck.

The only place I hadn't checked was the bathroom. So, I took a look there too. No, nobody there. I moved the shower curtain a little and in the dim light of the hallway noticed a dark spot in the bathtub. That was strange, I didn’t remember the bathtub being dirty.

When I switched on the light … there was Halley, sleeping ever so peacefully in the tub. The dark spot that I noticed didn’t belong to the tub, but was a marking on her back. Pardon the confusion, but it is rather hard to notice a white cat in a white tub.

While Mickey was alive, I had a similar problem with him. He was a 95% black cat and it’s murder finding a black cat in the dark. Every night when I did my headcount, I managed to find Gabriel, Charlotte, and Holly just fine, but it was hell on wheels locating Mickey.

I love black cats, but after Mickey crossed Rainbow Bridge, I wasn’t keen on getting another black cat for this very reason. Now it seems white cats have a few tricks up their sleeve too.

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