This has been a surreal night to be sure. I feel like I either entered a really bad episode of the Twilight Zone, or I followed Alice down the rabbit hole.

The woman who adopted McKinley from me, she kept my cat carrier for a few days. I was fine with this, because it would allow McKinley to have something that he could be comfortable with and keep familar smells close. But, it was one of my more expensive, larger carriers, and I really needed it back.

As of tonight, the carrier still had not been returned, even though Susan had called the day before to say she was going to return it. So after dinner, I went to the house the woman had taken me to when I asked to see where McKinley would be living before I would let him go. I had the address and drove right to the house, knocked on the door, a girl answered that I did not recognize. I asked about my cat and if I could see him before I took the carrier home. She had no clue what I was talking about. I went back to the car to recheck the address, it was the same house, so back I went to inquire about McKinley. She told me I was sorry, I must have the wrong house! Nothing else left to do, so I left and did a sweep of the block because the houses did sort of look alike. I knew that it was the right house, so back i went.

This time, when I knocked at the door and asked again about my cat, she said that they didn’t have the cat, but her grandmother did. I thought this was odd. I mean why not mention that before? I told her I had followed Susan to the house with McKinley, checked out the house, made a few suggestions about what they needed to do to keep him safe. She had taken me to a back bedroom, said that this is where McKinley was staying, and we had sat in the living room until McKinley came out of his carrier before I said goodbye.

I asked this girl where her grandmother lived? She said “Up on the mountain, let me call her.” Turned away from me, made a cellphone call then told me “Grandmother isn’t home.” I asked for the address, she gave it to me. I had an odd feeling when I left. The address was up on the back of the mountain, so I stopped first at home and picked up Mike. I filled him in as we drove to the address given. Turned out the address was a cow pasture!. I was starting to panic, so we just drove down the road a bit until we came to an address that was similar to the one the girl wrote down. Pulled into the driveway, there was an older woman sitting in the carport. I went up and asked her about my cat. She told me that she didn’t have my cat. I was very confused, so I shared with her some personal information about the person who showed up at my house, and she still said it didn’t ring any bells. I turned around to leave and in the shed next to the carport, I saw the car that had come to my home. I told the woman I recognized the car and asked her what kind of sick game were they playing? She said it wasn’t her car, but her daughter’s car. I asked her where her daughter was, she said on the way to the coast. Great- then I asked if I could just come into the house and look for my cat. She told me no, my cat wasn’t here. I was a bit pissed off at the deceit already at hand, so I told her I was going to the cops, and I would be back to get my cat. I left my phone number with her, told her to call her daughter and tell her I wanted my cat back. Then I left.

I went to the cops (they laughed at me) it’s just a cat after all. So out of options and in tears, I came home. There was a message on my machine from someone who said, They “found” my cat. I called back immediately and said that I was on the way to get him back. I was told not to bother because the cat was on its way to me. Which was even stranger because the “woman” told me she didn’t know me, or know where I lived. I looked out the window, a car was screeching to a halt at the top of our drive, the door opened and my cat carrier appeared! I screamed and ran outside, and scooped up the carrier. Thankfully McKinley was inside. I brought him back in the house and he is upstairs. He is very shook up, smells like cigarettes and motor oil! God knows what he went through and I feel like Alice after she fell down the rabbit hole. What kind of wierd game were these people playing, and what part did McKinley take part in?

At least he is home. I was in tears earlier thinking I had lost him forever. I still don’t have a clue what went on. I’m not sure I even want to know-
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