uncompass

     I haven’t considered myself religious for many, many years now. It just never made sense to me. However, these past few days have been so lonely and overwhelming that I decided I would pray for a friend. Y’know, just in case. I prayed and prayed all night last night, doubtful but figuring that it was worth a shot.

     About 30 minutes into my walk today, I saw a cat sitting on a fence staring at me. I walked up to her (or him? Never quite figured that out) and started petting her, then said goodbye and walked away. I heard her jump down, and I turned around and noticed that she was following me. I laughed a bit and just kept walking, figuring that she’d wander off sooner or later.

Well, she didn’t. For the next 12 miles, she walked directly next to me. We ate lunch together, rested together, and crossed over a mountain together. At one point during our walk, there came a fork in the road and I didn’t see a sign indicating which way the trail continued. I went right, and she went left. When I called for her, she refused to come. She just sat at the top of the hill and stared at me. I walked over to her, and she was sitting directly beneath the sign that I had missed. She looked up at it, looked at me, and then meowed. It was seriously the weirdest thing. I would have gotten so lost without her. I started calling her Indy, and she became my very best friend for those 12 long miles. I didn’t have to hold a conversation with her, yet I got to enjoy the pleasure of having company. It was perfect.

Isn’t this the sweetest thing?

Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, dogs exist in this world too, and cats run away really fast when they are scared. One mere bark from a harmless puppy behind a fence, and Indy was gone. Ripped out of my life just like that. I know that sounds dramatic, but when you’ve only been around a very small number of people who don’t even speak English for several days these things become a really big deal. Isolation will do strange things to a person. I spent the next 20 minutes looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I even approached an old lady who spoke not a word of English and drew a picture of a cat, trying to ask if she’d seen one anywhere, but I’m pretty sure she just thought I was crazy. She stared at me and then the drawing for a sold two minutes, yelled something in French and shuffled away. One man came up to me and asked if I was okay, probably seeing the look of panic on my face, and I told him that I lost my cat. As if she belonged to me, and as if I was planning on her walking with me the entire way (sadly, I had myself convinced that this would be the case). He gave me a weird look and continued on his way. I was heartbroken. If you’ve ever seen Castaway, or at least watched the part where Tom Hanks lost Wilson, you will probably understand how I felt.

I do not know if that was simply a coincidence or mere kismet luck. Maybe it was the universe, maybe it was a God, or maybe it was just a curious cat that I got a little too attached to. Either way, I had a wonderful companion in which I am so, so grateful for.

I hope she is safe, and I hope she found her way back home.