Ruddles is lost

When I got home last night, about half past six, noone knew where Ruddles was. He had been around in the kitchen at five o'clock and had been fed then, but after that he just disappeared. For a while, noone was too worried - after all, he often slides off for a nap. But by the time I arrived back from work, Husband and Son were getting anxious. They had looked all round the house, in all his usual hidey-holes, and found no sign of him. Quite soon, Daughter and I were joining in, all of us wandering about and all of us, no doubt, looking in the same places.

The search would have been much easier if the house had been tidy (as it never is). Piles of clothes (clean and dirty), unmade beds, kit bags, school bags, open doors to all the cupboards and wardrobes, all meant that searching was protracted and bad-tempered. We looked everywhere, even in the oven and the dishwasher (his particular fascination). And there was no sign of Ruddles.

From time to time we would all sit down, or go about our normal business, pretending that if we didn't look too hard he would just turn up. But we couldn't settle. He is only three months old, after all - anything could have happened to him. Even Star - whose life he has turned into a misery by mercilessly bouncing on her - was starting to look concerned.

We looked outside, up and down the street, terrified of what we might find - his little white and tabby body lying in a gutter. He shouldn't have been able to get out to the front and on to the road, as the front door hadn't been left open and the side gate has had its hole blocked especially to thwart his wandering.

We went up and down the back garden, each of us, looking, listening, banging his dish and rattling the box of biscuits. He has been out in the garden often, but has never gone far away, and isn't left alone - someone always keeps an eye on what he is doing. He has got a loud voice and yowls and yowls for attention or food - surely he would have squealed out if he had been trapped or hurt?

It got dark and we sat down to dinner with no appetite.

Then we went all round the house again, looking in all the same places; and up and down the garden again; and up and down the street. And we still pretended that we weren't really worried, but we weren't fooling ourselves or each other.

And then round the back door came Ruddles, a very sad and sorry Ruddles, with his tail all fluffed up and his back up, a terrified Ruddles, a dirty and damp Ruddles with a dirty bottom and a dreadful smell about him - and we picked him up and cuddled him and cleaned him and asked him where he had been and he didn't tell us. And he went upstairs and climbed onto Son's lap and purred and purred and purred.