The Return of Belly Flap

At the beginning of May 2005, we had an unexpected visitor arrive on our back porch. A lovely tabby was begging to be let in. He was unrelentant. We did not let the tabby into the house. Mia was jumping around, trying to go through the windows. Rags wasn't too fussed about the cat outside the window. We called him Belly Flap.



In the evening of the same day, we took Rags out for his evening walk. Belly Flap followed us the whole way, for the whole walk, meowing all the way. We were quite perplexed.

After a few days of Belly Flap hanging around and following us on each nightly walk with Rags, we looked around the neighbourhood to see if anyone was missing a cat, nobody seemed to be. We determined that Belly Flap might be abandoned so we decided to find a home for him. We took him to the vet where he got a clean bill of health. We let Belly Flap into the house.

Belly Flap was in love with Rags. All he wanted to do was hang out with Rags and put his stinky rub on Rags. I was terrified that Rags would eat the cat, but of course, he did not.

We took Belly Flap to DH's Aunt who lived on the family estate in the house that DH's great grandfather built in the town that was named after him.

After leaving Belly Flap there, I was heartbroken. I had fallen in love with Belly Flap too. I second guessed our decision and worried that we had made a bad decision by taking the Belly Flap to the farm. DH's Aunt's health was feeble and I worried she wasn't able to look after him.

DH's Aunt fell in love with Belly Flap and Belly Flap with her. He brought her joy. She christened him Tiger and he started living the life of Riley on the family estate. We would go out there to visit every now and then, the last time we were there was in the middle of August for Family Reunion.

This past Saturday morning, DH's mom called and told him that the house had burned down. His aunt was OK, one of the cousins was with her when the fire started and he pulled her out. They didn't take the cat with them. We went to the estate to get Belly Flap. It started to rain during the drive up there and it began to come down in sheets.

When we got to the house, and I saw what was left, I burst into tears. I was horrified and terrified that Belly Flap was lost in the fire. We parked the car and I went up to the porch and called out, "Tiger".






He answered me. He was right there.

I snatched him up and ran to the car. I was so relieved. We drove back to Houston. Belly Flap wasn't too impressed with the car ride, and complained the whole way. When we got home, we set him up in one of the rooms and let him recover.



Mia was none too pleased, even though they had met before. She's been growling and hissing and having staring matches. Belly Flap has no reaction. He just oozes serenity.

We're glad you're back, Belly Flap.