Augie’s Great Escape

My Two Angels in Heaven

My Two Angels in Heaven — Ron Brown (my boyfriend) & Augie (our little girl) — Photo taken by the Author

Augie’s Great Escape

A tiny calico kitty with fur of marmalade makes the great escape to find her momma.

I’ll never forget the day she entered my life.

Thin and yelping at the top of her lungs. Desperately trying to eat, but the dry cat food drops from her mouth like she’s in pain.

I rush outside with a can of pâté, but my footsteps spook her. I leave it outside and retreat.

Helplessly, I watch her gobble each bite like she’s starving.

The next morning, she’s mingling with the other fur babies waiting anxiously for breakfast.

It’s time for stage two.

I prepare her a bowl of special milk ~ 1 egg yolk, 2 tablespoons of Karo syrup, 1 can of condensed milk, and distilled water.

Her little tongue laps it up like there’s no tomorrow, and I know she’s here to stay.

I name her Augie, since it’s the month of August.

One night, the weather turns drastically cold, and she crawls inside a cardboard box filled with straw. She curls up on top of Iron Head, who is a much older, orange tabby cat.

He’s responsible for bringing sick and injured cats to our little clan and helps watch over them like he’s the gatekeeper.

But the next morning, when I go outside, the poor little baby has snot frozen to her face. Instantly, she gets to come inside where I nurse her back to health.

She becomes known as “Momma’s Little Bedbug” for she crawls beneath the covers and snuggles next to my face each night.

Sadly, Papa and I decided to split up, and like so many other parents, we forgot to consider how this might affect the children.

We didn’t want to change their normal routines, so I walked away, leaving the kitties behind. It didn’t dawn on me that the babies might not agree until the day I received a frantic phone call.

Augie is missing. She escaped her pet taxi. She is lost, close to a busy roadway.

Immediately, I grab my car keys and rush to find my little girl.

Panic takes over as I search relentlessly for hours. I post her picture on Facebook and create fliers for local stores. Searching until it gets dark, then going home and crying myself to sleep.

I’m petrified because she is out there all alone in the dark and worried because she’s sick.

On the 3rd day, I am totally terrified. I fear this is my last day to find her before she starves to death.

I return to the scene where the carrier door became unlatched, praying I can find her.

This time, the neighbor living next door to the veterinarian’s office comes rushing outside.

“I believe your kitty is hiding in my tree.”

I was overjoyed as I followed him. The tree was about 6 feet tall and bushy. Sure enough, my little gal was hiding inside. She was holding on for dear life with her tiny paws clinging tightly to the middle of the tree trunk.

Relief came over me when I saw her sweet little face, but she was scared to death. It was like I was a stranger.

Luckily, I was armed with a lot of supplies.

I opened a can of pâté, poured some water in a bowl, and placed them at the base of the tree.

When she climbed down to eat a few bites, I tried to grab her, but she quickly ran back between the branches.

As a last resort, I put her favorite blanket in the pet taxi with a few treats and placed it on one side of the tree. Then I grabbed her favorite toy. The one that shines a little red spotlight on the ground.

Soon, I see her little paws chasing the light, and I shine it into the pet taxi. When she ran inside, I immediately slammed the door shut.

Thanking God, I placed the carrier on the car seat and ignored her loud meows.

In my heart, I knew Augie had made her great escape to find me, and I vowed to never leave her behind again.

I drove her to my new home, where she has a new daddy named Ron and a big brother we call Buddy, an orange tabby cat. The two of them soon became inseparable, and we began calling her little sissy.

For the next year, we battled her illness. We took her to countless doctors, but no one could give us a diagnosis until the very day she died.

We were told she had a cancerous tumor as big as a softball.

Ron and I were waiting outside while the doctor ran a few tests, but they rushed outside to get us. Our little gal was dying right then and there, before our very eyes. It broke both of our hearts. We stood together with tears streaming down our cheeks.

We petted her until she took her very last breath.

I remember Ron saying he never knew he could love anything so much.

We brought her home and buried her in our backyard. That was in May of 2018.

In February of 2022, Augie (little Sissy) greets Ron on Rainbow Bridge, a place where pets wait for their owners.

Together, they walk through the gates of heaven.

Neither of them will ever be lonely again.

©️Brenda Arledge — 2022

The quote and prompt in Mystical Adventure Edition #34 reminded me of a story I wrote for ZOOANTHOLOGY, a SweetyCat Press Publication, about the animals in our lives.

*If you look into the eyes of a stray cat, you’ll find magic tangled with heartbreak. — Brenda Arledge*

Partial sentence prompt:* 1*.* He couldn’t believe it when…***

Trust me…when you look into the eyes of a stray cat, there is quite a lot to see. The pain, the frustration, the heartbreak, but also the tenderness, the love, the compassion they feel and are willing to share with us.

Ron couldn’t believe it when he got home from work, and Augie curled up right next to him on the couch. They became instant friends, and Buddy loved her too.

This story is published on pages 122 through 125. The book is still available on Amazon, although SweetyCat Press is no longer in operation. My dear friend and colleague, Steve Carr, who owned and operated this publication, passed away on November 8th, 2022. His death was such a shock. He often emailed me to make sure I was doing okay after Ron’s passing and reminded me how deeply grief can affect our health.

[embed]Mystical Adventure ~ Edition #34 🔮✨ Have fun writing 😄 ✍️medium.com

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Write for Us — Where the Mystical Adventure Begins 🔮✨

Photo by Author, Ms. Piggy & Buddy (aka ~ Bubba & SweetPea or Bubba-boo & Sissy) (To donate via PayPal, tap the picture)

❤️ My kitty-cats get bored when I write, so **toss them a treat** if you like. 😎

➡️ Follow my cats 😻on Facebook for daily drama 😂🐾

A few other writers from Medium also have poems & stories published in this book — two that I know for certain are John Hansen PAL & Rosina Surovi Khan 👇⬇️

[embed]ZOOANTHOLOGY: About the animals in our lives 203 short fiction and non-fiction stories, poems and memoirs from writers worldwide about something most everyone is…a.co

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Tagging just a few writers👇

Rosina Surovi Khan John Hansen PAL Dixie Dodd ♡ Sophia Chanu Dawn Ulmer Vsagar Dennett Lu Skerdoo Geraldine Zizi Majid

Chitrangada Sharan Lee Byrd Marcus aka Gregory Maidman Stephen Dalton Misbah Sheikhh Jason Edmunds