Was It A Dream, Or Something Sinister?

Does anyone remember the TV show, Dallas? Okay, do you remember how Bobby Ewing died and they had a whole season with him gone, then they decided to bring him back by making it all into a dream that his wife, Pam had? Do you remember how we all thought, "Oh yeah, I'm not buying THAT load of crap!"

Well do you remember movie based on a Stephen King book, Pet Sematary? The grey cat was all creepy and scary. "That's your cat now," Herman Munster told Louis Creed, as the little reanimated monster terrorized the lead character.

Well, a really strange and amazing thing happened to me today. I went to my parents' house to wish my mother a happy birthday, and to make one last attempt at a brief search for my lost cat, Ramona. I decided on Friday that today I would expire my last bit of hope of finding her, then I would just get on with my life and not look back in agony any longer. I dropped off a couple of flyers with the picture of Mona I posted on Sunday at two local vet clinics, walked through the field behind my parents' house on more time, and vowed to stop as my search revealed nothing new.

While talking with my friend, "Joost Elffers", on the phone about how jealous I am of her that she's moving to New York City at the end of this month, I happened to be in my parents' basement, doing a load of laundry. I heard this faint meowing coming from an adjacent room. The sound continued, and I followed it thinking, "that sounds nothing like my mom's cats, but I know that voice." On the far side of the basement, on a high shelf behind piles of disused furniture and other old junk, I saw a familiar furry face calling to me. With "Joost" still on the phone, who was amazed at what I told her I had in my arms again, I ran up to the living room to show my mother that I found Ramona in the basement.

We were in shock. My mother began crying as she grabbed bowls of food and and of water for Mona, then sat back in disbelief that after a week of searching all over the neighborhood, stopping by vets and rescue shelters with flyers of my missing pet, that I was reunited with my cat.

I'm alergic to her now because she smells like a musty basement. She feels noticeably thinner, and has been returning to the food dish every half hour. Her voice is a little hoarse, probably from calling for rescue for so long, but she's back with me again, and I'm very pleased.

Now I wonder though, was it all just a dream? Did my father bury her in a pet cemetery? Did I make a deal with God that I would start believing in Him again if she were returned? I don't think I actually did that last one, but for the record, I've decided to move back a notch from Atheist to Agnostic. Despite the impending trouble that I know Mona likes to cause which I'll face again, I'm happy enough with finding my cat that I could start believing in miracles again, or at the very least magic tricks.

Side note: Ramona was named after the Ramones, who played the title track to the movie Pet Sematary, and Tuesday's Date is 6/6/6, so there might be something scary, rather than miraculous going on...