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| Name: |
Linus
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Age: |
Four years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Domestic Shorthair
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| Home: |
Wilmore, Kentucky, USA
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Linus
lived in a nice people house with his mama-cat, Lucy.
He had always lived there. He loved his mama Lucy and she loved him. He loved
his people and they also loved him. They gave him yummy cat food and a nice
warm cat bed. They scratched his chin and between his ears and he purred. He was very happy.
One beautiful fall morning, he ate his breakfast, then
decided to go outside. He meowed at the window and a person opened it for
him. Mama-cat Lucy gave him a little kiss on the nose and out he went.
He played with the leaves that the wind below across the
yard. He chased a bird who squawked and flew away. There was a man working in
the garden of the house next door and Linus, who was always very curious, went to watch him.
In front of the house was a van. Now, Linus' people had a
van full of tools and sometimes the man person left the van open while he
worked. Linus would climb into it and take a nap. This van looked a lot like
that one and smelled of earth and plants. He liked that smell and jumped
inside to check it out. There was a soft pile of burlap in the back. He
sniffed it, then decided it looked like a good place to take just a little nap...
...Bump! Slam! Linus woke up with a start. There was loud
rumbling sound as the van's engine started. Linus saw the gardener man at the
front the van, driving it! Tools banged and clanged. Linus hid in the back
and tried to make himself very small. He was afraid. After a little while,
the van stopped. The man got out and shut the door.
O dear! Linus was still inside! How would he get out! The
van that smelled of earth and plants did not seem like much fun anymore! He
could not open the door. He could not get out. All night Linus was in the
van. He missed his mama. He missed his people! He missed his food bowl and
his soft bed! He wanted to go home.!
Linus' mama and people were also missing him. When he did
not come home for supper, they called him. They walked around the block. They
looked under the porch and in the shed. No Linus. Where could he be?
By the next morning, mama-cat Lucy was very worried. She
sat in the window hoping to see him come across the yard. She knew it was not
like her boy to miss one meal, and now it had been two! She knew something
had happened. He would have come home if he could come. Where was he? The
people put out posters to tell other people that he was missing. They hoped
someone would call.
The next day, the gardener man came to the van and opened
the door. Linus jumped out so fast he was a gray streak and the man never saw
him. Linus ran straight to a bush to hide. Where was his house? Where was his
family? They were not here, where had they gone? What was he to do? For a
long time he sat under the bush, drank some water that was in a leaf. He
waited and waited and waited. Where was his family? Where was his house? How
would he find them?
Linus waited all day then finally decided he would have to
start looking for his family. He went behind the gardener's house, but
nothing looked right. The garden's dog barked at him. "This is my house. Your
family is not here!"
He walked through a field, and found a big red barn. In
the barn were two goats. "I am Linus, I am looking for my family," he told them.
"This is our barn. Your family is not here," one said as he chewed some straw. "Only our people are here."
Linus sat down to rest. "My family is lost!" He was very sad.
Linus' family looked high and they looked low. They looked
in sheds and garages. They looked behind stores. Sometimes people called and
they would check in all the places, but no Linus. His human mom and mama-cat
Lucy cried for him, but he could not come. "Our Linus is lost!" They were very sad.
Linus walked and walked. He looked and looked, but he could
not find his family. Nothing smelled like them. He was hungry most of the
time. Sometimes he would find other people, but they weren't his people and
he would run away. One day he found a big junk yard with lots of kitties of
all ages. There was a man there that put out food for them. He was a nice man
and Linus walked up to him and cried. "Have you seen my family?" The man
patted his head. He knew the sometimes people go away and leave their kitties
at the junk yard. He felt sorry for Linus.
Linus had been at the junk yard several days. He hoped that
somehow his people would come but they did not. Some of the kitties there had
stories of people leaving them behind. "Not my family. They would not do
that!" And the kitties laughed at him and told him all people leave their
kitties. Finally Linus set out once again to look for his family.
Linus' family kept telling everyone that Linus was lost,
hoping someone would know where he was. Linus did not have a collar and was
not micro-chipped and they wondered if someone had taken him home not knowing
he already had a family. They missed him so much! They put out posters and
flyers, knocked on doors, visited businesses.
One day a man came to human lady and said: "I saw a cat
like this one in the junk yard." "Junk yard! That is miles away!" the human
mom said. "It seems too far." But she and the human dad decided to check it
out. The junkyard was five miles away, but they went and called and called,
looked and looked. No Linus. They did not know that Linus had been there but
had left trying to find them. They were sad and returned home.
Linus kept walking and walking. He had a feeling he had to
go north. Sometimes he would find something to eat, but mostly he was hungry.
He remembered his warm kitty bed. He remembered his people who loved him. He
remembered his mama-cat giving him a nose kiss the last morning before he'd
left. He missed them so much! It was getting colder and colder with each
passing day. Sometimes it rained and he would get wet, or hide in barns or
sheds. At last one day he came to a bridge. There was no way to go farther
except to cross the bridge, but it was a scary highway bridge. The cars
traveled fast and the trucks were loud! He looked at the bridge a long time,
then he walked up and down trying to find another way across the deep chasm.
But there was no other way. Oh dear! He could not cross the bridge.
Near the bridge was a farm where the man was putting out
water and feed for deer. The woman was nice and gave him some table scraps.
He was tired from walking and walking. It was cold at night all the time now
and they had a nice large tool shed. They were kind and did not chase him
off. To say thank you he ate the mouse who'd been getting into the deer feed.
He did not want to give up on his family, but maybe this would be his new home.
It had been five weeks, but Linus' mama and family never
stopped looking and hoping. Sometimes they would go back and look in the same
places. Sometimes they looked in new places. They put up new posters and told
more people that he was still missing. They knew that most of the time
kitties and dogs don't get back to their homes because people give up
looking. They would not give up! But they were very sad and were starting to
wonder if they would ever find him.
One day friends invited the human dad and mom to come to
their house for supper. The mom was so sad she did not want to go, but the
dad said it would be a good thing to do, so she agreed. They drove down to
their friends' farm for supper. Their friends were sad that Linus was still
missing, too. After supper the man friend said: "You know, there's been a
gray and white cat at our deer feeder for about a week."
The human mom said she would show them Linus' picture but
she did not really think Linus would be there. They went on visiting and she
did not get out the picture.
But, outside, Linus had just awakened in the tool shed. He
thought he might have heard something. "Did I hear my people? Maybe it was a
dream." He sniffed - a smell he recognized. Could it be?
Human dad and mom left the friends' house and started
walking through the dark to their car. They were talking as they went.
"My people!!!" Linus knew he heard them. He could not let
them get away. He raced towards the voices, meowing at the top of his voice.
"It is me!! I am Linus! I am Linus!!!"
The mom gasped as two glowing, green eyes came running
towards them across the lawn. Then she heard the meow, then saw Linus. "O my!
Is it Linus?" "It is ! It is!" The dad shouted.
The mom scooped him up into her arms and held him tight
like she would never let go. She was crying, Dad was crying. The friends
hearing the noise came running and they were crying. Linus was purring loudly
and still meowing.
The humans had kept a carrier in the car for the whole five
weeks Linus was gone. Now they opened the door and he jumped into the
carrier. This time the sound of the engine wasn't so scary, because his
people were there. As they drove home, he could hear his human mom on the
phone calling everyone to say Linus had been found nearly three miles from home.
Minutes later, Linus could see his house through the door
of his cat carrier. They went up the steps, through the door, and into the
warm comforting smells of home. The human mom opened the door of the carrier
- and mama-cat Lucy was right there.
She nose kissed him. "Linus! Where have you been!!! You are home!"
Linus nose-kissed his mama. He was happy and hungry and
tired. His people gave him some food, then he curled up on the couch between
them. Home at last. And he would never leave again!
See more images of Linus!
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