The Cat Came Back

I'd be so happy if cats could talk. How amazing to be able to understand what they are thinking. And wouldn't it be nice to know where they've been? Our female cat Tiger likes to roam. Her first vacation was a week and a half. One day she left the house after breakfast and she didn't return. I didn't become concerned until after a few days. Our first cat Jerry used to disappear for days at a time. So I knew it was just in some cat's nature to go off alone.
But after a week I became very worried. I would start and end each day whistling for her from the porch and back deck. I made posters with her photo and description on them and hung them on light poles in the area. I called the shelters and was going to stop in to check and see if she was there. I had pretty much given up on her when I got a text from Frank early one morning that Tiger was back!
I was so happy I even teared up a little. I could stop having visions of her lying dead in the road or trapped in a hot garage. She seemed fine although she did have a thorn in her nose and was a little thin. The kids were overjoyed of course. So we lavished attention on her for a few days and then went back to our normal life with two cats.
Last week we noticed she wasn't showing up in the morning for breakfast. Then we went away for the weekend and there was still no sign of her when we returned. This time I didn't go into lost cast mode though. No posters, no calls to shelters. I just figured we would wait and she'd show up.
And she did. She didn't seem skinny or hurt this time. Perhaps she has found another family who takes her in. Maybe she has a male kitty stashed somewhere and they hang out in the woods together for a few days. I don't know. And that is what really drives me crazy. I ask her all the time where she's been, who she's been with and all I ever get is a little "meow".
And throughout all of this Jerry (he looks just like the first one so we just named him Jerry too) has been the loyal, trusty cat. He comes home to check-in a few times a day. He sleeps inside the house, hangs out in the yard killing things and generally seems to like it here.
Sometimes I see the two cats rub noses and I wonder what they are whispering to each other. Is she telling her brother where she's been. Or maybe she's telling him she going to head off again for a few days.
Until I become Dr. Doolittle I guess I'll just have to wonder.