Yesterday was what you might call “a turn up for the books”.  A sequence of events whereby, if they had happened in any other order, or if the timing had been different by a matter of seconds, then the outcome would have been entirely different.  Last night, we found Monty!  He had been missing since 27th January and has endured heavy snowfall, frost, torrential rain, dark nights, busy roads, etc.  He went missing in Charlton Kings and we found him in St Luke’s, near the town centre.  How is this for a ‘what are the chances ??’ story…. This is how it goes:

I worked late last night, for no reason other than that I was waiting to hear from JT, who had actually already cycled home.  He asked me what I fancied for tea and I chose his favourite dish, which happens to take a while to cook (and he had to pop to the shop for ingredients).  Whilst I was cooking, Mark called to say that he and Al were going to the pub and if we fancied it, we should come too.  Whilst we ate tea, Property Ladder happened to be on, so we waited a while longer than normal to watch the end of it.  After that, JT played a computer game and instead of going straight out I decided to curl my hair and put on some make-up.

Mark called again to say that instead of the Beehive or Jolly Brewmaster (our usual haunts which are just down the road from our house), Al fancied going to the Swan, which is near my work.  We decided to drive and decided to take a certain route, which we didn’t have to take.

There is a cut-through road, which we drove around and a ginger cat crossed the road right in front of our car.  I have seen quite a few cats and have stopped checking to see if they are Monty, because it had started to make me feel sad, but for some reason I said “Oooh….” and JT asked if I would like to check to see if it was Monty.  For some reason I said yes.  I got out of the car but a car drove up behind us, so JT had to drive a circuit.  I couldn’t see the cat when I got out so I called “MONTY!” and I heard very very loud miaowing and he came charging back towards me (he was heading towards College Road before I called).  He rubbed against my hand as I tried to see if it was him, but as it was dark I had to shine my mobile phone on him.  The face looked familiar, so I picked him up, as JT hadn’t got back yet.  He was incredibly skinny and light, like a kitten, which made me think it could be him (lack of food etc).  More cars were passing, which made him wriggle, so I had to put him down (I was terrified that he would run!) but he kept rolling over on the floor and purring and miaowing, so when the car came back I literally picked him up and bundled him into the car so I could see him with the light on.

It certainly looked like Monty, so we had to make a quick decision – catnap!  I called my parents and asked if we could bring him round for formal identification (we have moved house so we wanted to avoid confusion!)  I was a little nervous but in my head I was certain it was him.  In the car he was kneading my leg, purring and climbing all over my legs with relief.  My parents were a little nervous in case we’d stolen a cat, but as soon as we got him through the door I knew for definite that it was him.

We checked all his markings, target on one side, some black whiskers but mostly white, pink lips with black spots, white tummy and chest patches, ‘transformers’ logo on his head, lots of rings on his tail etc.  He miaowed and purred like Monty (you can’t hear him purr unless you put your ear on him) and more than anything, was STARVING!!  He went round saying hello to everybody (Tim and Claire were there) and then as soon as a packet of Whiskas came out he went ballistic.  I have never seen a cat so hungry.  He ate so fast that he started coughing and wretching a bit but was ok.

He looks remarkably well considering, but is very very thin, very hungry and very tired.  We are taking him to the vet this evening just to check him over.  He has bad breath and is coughing a bit.

We are so happy to have him back.  I am still in a state of shock because if any one of the details of the evening had changed by about 2 seconds or one slight decision, we wouldn’t have him back.  No one would be looking for him in town as there were no posters there.  What are the chances of us finding him as opposed to someone else?  What are the chances of him being alive after months of snow, no food, rain, busy roads, etc?  What are the chances of him crossing the road in front of our car?  Many questions, few answers.  The chances are millions to one.  The solution?  Jesus.  It was a miracle.