Our new cat is out of the bag and AWOL

Editor's note: We just discovered our Cindy-Lou Who just knocked of a mouse in my basement. Cindy maybe terrified of us —even though we are kind and gentle — but she has no problem taking a rat out for a walk. He is a mouser with no remorse and our Luco Brazzi. Don Corleone would be proud of his solider.

"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this."

                                                                                                                                     — Terry Pratchett

AUBURN, Maine — No cat will ever replace Tabby — a one-of-a-kind fur ball that was fearless, sometimes ruthless but always demonstrated its kindness — except to other cats.

I miss his antics and odd sense of humor. His untimely death still smarts. Tabby owned my wife’s heart and it eventually stole mine. But Terri also knew that another feline would be the only way to fill that void of emptiness in house that was suddenly quiet.

So we went shopping for a new cat at the local animal shelter. Our second pick went to a five-year-old cat who appeared to enjoy our company.

So we thought!

We headed for home with a cat that was terrified and meowed in sadness.

As soon as we opened the door to the cat carrier in the house, it bolted toward my son’s bedroom where it stationed itself against the wall under his bed. We peered at it and tried to coax the little bugger out from its hideout.

The cat was stubborn and gave a look like: "Back off, you knuckleheads."

Cindy-Lou Who, its new name, wouldn’t budge. Not even enticing, yummy treats could extricate the terrified cat from self-imprisonment under my son's bed.

But cats know how to pull a disappearing act and will use any orifice in an old home to hide from the ones who love them most.

Over the next few days, it found the open door to the dreaded downstairs and disappeared into the damp, cellar darkness like a fugitive hiding in plain sight from the long arm of the law.

We thought we would never see Cindy-Lou Who again.

For the next week or two or three, Terri would stalk Cindy-Lou like a bounty hunter. All she wanted was to do was give the cat a loving hug and lure it from the dark side.

This cat went AWOL and had the stealth of a B-1 bomber. It didn’t want to be found. If you believe in reincarnation, then this cat was like the great magician Houdini.

But our cat discovered the closets around the top floor of the house to conceal itself. It even once started griping about the lack of treats in its bowl in the middle of the night.

It is getting braver and perhaps it is “working its way back to us, babe,” just like the song by The Four Seasons — except without Frank Valli and his trademark pompadour cut.

It has been three weeks since its disappearing act, but you can hear the scoundrel sneaking around the night like a bobcat. 

One evening, the “In Search Of” team, and that would be us, went downstairs to pay our new cat a visit. 

“I just don’t where he is,” a frustrated Terri said. 

I looked down and then up and there was our deserter sitting on a beam and laughing his ass off at his masters.

“Terri, please look up,” I said to my befuddle wife.

“Why,” she said. “Oh my god, she is above our heads.”

We pleaded with our runaway to have heart and join the family. The cat just meowed away and began looking for an escape route.

It has been nearly a month, but Cindy-Lou Who refuses to watch TV with us or cuddle up on the coach.

But we are still working on her and time is on our side to win over the elusive Cindy-Lou, who is somewhere hiding in Whoville.