Inspector Clowie

One Tuesday morning, a few summers ago, we set out for an early walk. I was anticipating a short walk as Pippin was missing, he’s the cat that spends a lot of time outdoors. The bipeds were worried about him as he hadn’t been home for a few days. They had been spending more and more time out searching for him.

We didn’t get very far on our walk before I suddenly ran off. I went right up to the front door of a house that was used as a holiday home. I made the noise I make when something is wrong and tapped on the door with my paw. They called me, but I stood my ground – they weren’t listening to me! One of them called again in the tone of voice that means “don’t make me come and get you”, so I sat down to make it clear that I wasn’t moving and that they really needed to listen to me.

The female biped came to get me. When she was very close, I again made the noise I make to tell them that something is wrong and I tapped on the door with my paw and I pressed my nose up against it. I knew that if I could get Pippin to speak while she was close then she would hear him too. He has a very loud voice for his size, the bipeds often joke that he was one of the original members of Bob Marley’s backing band. Pippin wailed at full volume and this time she heard him.

Pippin on the terrace at home

The bipeds spoke to each other, sounding really worried, and we went straight back home – so much for my walk! They then spent the next half hour or so making phone calls. It’s really difficult to understand them sometimes. I could tell they were tense and worried, but we weren’t doing anything! They found out that the people left the house on Saturday, it was now Tuesday and the weather was really hot. I heard them say that we were waiting for someone with a key. An hour or so later we discovered that the person who had been meant to come only had the key to the old door.

There was another frantic round of phone calls – totally pointless, action was needed! We went back to the house to have another look round. It is a big, stone house, about two centuries old. At the front everything was shuttered up. Although the front door was a new one, I was fairly sure I could push it down, if only they’d let me – the walls would be a different matter as they were about a metre thick.

We went round the back and spotted a tiny window without glass, which was quite high up. They had no idea whether Pippin could get to it. The male biped clambered up and put his face right up to the window and called to Pippin. A few minutes later Pippin came to the window and wailed – he really is a clever cat! The male biped then started pushing and pulling at the wire mesh that was in the window to stop small animals going in. He kept talking to Pippin until he’d made a gap large enough for a cat and then encouraged Pippin to wriggle through, which he promptly did. He passed Pippin down and put the wire back in place.

We took Pippin home. He was a bit dazed, but he seemed to feel better as soon as he had a drink and then we both had some rather tasty chicken. There were smiles all round and the bipeds were so proud of me for finding Pippin. They kept making a fuss of me and telling me how clever I am, as they knew they couldn’t have found him without my detective work – I’d saved Pippin’s life.

See you next Wednesday!