A bit about Pearl
The way we got Pearl is very interesting. I had wanted an occicat for a long, long time. One day, I said to Andy “It will take us forever to get an occicat because they are about £600. Why don’t we just get a British Blue?” “What’s a British Blue,” he asked. I showed him a picture. Then I went on the Internet and started looking. I found out almost immediately that British Blues are about as expensive as occicats. “Oh, no,” I thought. But then I found an ad for a British Blue, with all her shots, and neutered, for £100 - because she hated other cats, so couldn't go to shows!. Undaunted, I called immediately. The man who answered told me someone was coming to see her. At around 7 pm that evening I reviewed the day with Andy and mentioned that I found that ad, but that someone was going to see her and she was probably gone. “Call back,” he insisted. I did. Lo and behold, the person who had been scheduled to come and see her hadn’t shown up. Although she was in Scunthorpe, I did the deal on the phone. Sent her owners a cheque the next day, and arranged a train trip to Scunthorpe. All that way. I saw her for the first time in their kitchen. I picked her up and put her in the beautiful wicker basket I had bought just for that purpose. The owners remarked that they had never seen her go into a carrier that quietly. I took her back on the train and all she did was lay there quietly looking beautiful and letting me stroke her through the bars of the door. Andy was waiting for me at the train station and we took her home, opened the cage, let her out, looked at her and we both fell in love.
Pearl's Great Adventure
We had been here awhile, were loving every minute of it, when Pearl got lost! We passed the following around to just about every house in Banton, the little village nearest us. It had a picture of Pearl and told a story:
I got a call from some kids who had seen Pearl on what is called the Colzium Lennox Estate path. This is at one end of Banton. A path bordered by woods that goes right by Banton Loch. I went up there, met the kids, and we called and called. No response. So I left some food for her and vowed to come back the next day. On the way home, I talked to the two ladies who live nearest the path. They both told me they had heard meowing. So I resolved to come up to them and bring them food in Pearl’s own bowls and ask them to put it out with some water. When I got back with the food, one lady wasn’t in, but the other was. I gave her the antique Wedgwood bowl Pearl drinks water out of, and the bowl she eats her food out of, and some food. I asked her to put it out to see what happened. Then I went back home. We had had both back doors open all night every night for nine days, but that night I sighed, and locked them. At around 10:30 the lady called me and said she and her husband had been sitting on the balcony when she heard meowing. She then went down to check on the bowl and found all the food had gone. “I don’t know if it was your cat that ate it, but the food is all gone,” she told me. I resolved to go up again the next day. Then I went upstairs to take a bath. I heard loud “meow, meow” coming from the loft. I called Andy to get the door of the loft open and there she was! We got her down—it wasn’t easy—she fought, and then she meowed loudly for two hours. She was incredibly upset and only stopped to eat and drink.
Clearly what had happened was that she found her way up across the fields to the Colzium Lennox Estate path and then gotten lost. She didn’t know how to get home again. (Not surprising, because this was a cat that had never, ever been outside in her life!) Anyway, when I went up there with the food and all she must have caught my scent and followed me home. Since the doors were locked she had to find another way into the house and she did. She somehow got into the loft.
That’s the whole story. Now she follows us around from room to room, is incredibly affectionate (she was rather standoffish before), purrs, meows and growls fiercely when she plays with her string. We are extremely careful with doors now. We don’t want to lose her again. We were very lucky. She could have gotten killed by minks, foxes or wildcats. But she made it home safely.
