And the Cat Came Back

We last saw Willow the cat at breakfast over three weeks ago. We adopted her in 2005. She was the one that managed to leave a turd on my keyboard (I've lost the picture, but I have put it here before)Nope:here it is: . One morning she had brekkie, and then just didn't come back. We leafletted the neighbours, had lots of friendly enquiries but no joy. We sort of assumed she had gone off to die (aged 16 or so, and definitely losing it a bit).
So tonight, as I was eating my Pot Noodle (See? I know how to look after myself when Mel is eating out) the phone went and this lovely woman described a cat she thought might be Willow, having seen our note in the nearby Vet's. The cat had been rescued by a teacher up at the Community College, after it had been abused by some Nasty Boys. The cat had been passed onto the Cats Protection League, which happens to be run by a friend of the woman on the phone, so she gave me their number. The description fitted, so I whizzed off to Ashburton to have a look. Sure enough, sulky looking black cat, identifying mark, hissing and growling, old and bony. That's my girl, I thought. I slipped the nice lady a tenner and dragged her back home. The consumption in a nanosecond of a tin of tuna and the exhibition of the old gormless behaviour confirmed her identity. She has a new trait of sitting in the same spot in the middle of the kitchen floor, refusing to budge (and she returns there if picked up and moved off). She also came up and sat behind me on the old Lloyd Loom chair by the computer, (more confirmation, if it were needed). And then she came and sat, with her tongue hanging out, on the "enter" key so we loaded the same website 9 times. Definitely her.
Where she has been, or why she ran off (it's quite difficult to escape our back garden, there being a 60 foot drop to the railway, and at least a dozen terraced houses in each direction)is a mystery. She can't explain it herself, as she has forgotten her english. I hope she is not too bruised from her treatment at the college, but the CPL vet gave her a clean bill of health, apparently.

Mel's sister's cat, Hicks, was once found at Aylesbury Station, a good half mile and a dual carriageway away from his house, and he did that under his own steam, and he doesnt show the signs of senility that Willow does. So Top Achievement to Willow on her mini adventure.