Well… I went to our local Sainsburys, to collect Teresa, when who should I spy crossing the car park? Chester!
Initially it was just… oh, look at that black cat. He looks exactly like Chester. Then I thought, ok, maybe it is Chester! What’s he doing so far from ours!?
He’d gone into some bushes. But calling to him brought him back out. And sure enough, it was Chester. As well as being nigh on invisible under many conditions, black cats can be almost indistinguishable.
But a little shaven patch on the back of his neck/shoulders, from a recent visit to the vet, in addition to my just knowing it was him, and his obviously recognising me, sealed the certainty.
It wasn’t easy to get him in the car. Nor, once in there, to have him remain there, whilst I got Teresa. he seemed distressed, miaowing a lot. Did he follow Teresa, when she walked to the shops?
Once we were all in the car – normally he’d be in his cat-carrier – he seemed to calm down. It was really very sweet watching him explore the car freely.
What a relief it was to finally get home, and get him indoors. We had him tucking into some food, and purring away, ASAP.
Phew!!!