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It's been over 50 years since this song came out:

https://www.metrolyrics.com/crystal-blue-persuasion-lyrics-tommy-james-and-the-shondells.html

Tommy James and the Shondells were invited to play at Woodstock but turned the invitation down, something any surviving members of the band may still be regretting to this day! But today's story is not about finding religion or even missing out on Woodstock, it's about finding Crystal the cat.

Crystal is a young cat, a dark brown tabby with a white bib and stockings and gorgeous green eyes. As mentioned in a recent post, he's not ours for keeps - we're just looking after him for a while. When we brought him home in a carrier in the car, he was completely silent and still, though he looked awake. When we first brought him home last weekend, he was initially confined to one bedroom, where he mostly hid behind the bed or the record rack. But on Monday we let him out to explore a bit. Our own cat was curious about this feline newcomer too and circling the wagon a bit to figure things out. We still kept him in the bedroom overnight up to and including Monday night but then on Tuesday evening when the two cats had sniffed around each other a bit, Crystal managed to bolt down to the basement. So we let him be, figuring that he just needed a bolt-hole and would emerge once he got hungry.

Wednesday morning he still hadn't re-surfaced but I wasn't too concerned at that point. I usually do laundry on Wednesdays and I knew I'd be up and down the basement steps several times over the course of the day. Surely I'd spot him at some point.

Except that I didn't. Wednesday evening we both had a good look around the basement but eventually conceded defeat. Cats can hide in pretty small spaces and a cat who doesn't want to be found can be pretty wily.

So Thursday was a worrisome day. We were pretty sure he couldn't have escaped the house altogether although we did look in the yard and the garage just in case. During a pandemic, it's difficult to just go up to people on the street and ask, "Have you seen our cat?" My partner set up an i-pad down there with cat noises and bird-calls in an effort to lure him out of hiding. When his main human phoned to ask how he was doing, we got her to talk to him long-distance, which used to be the next best thing to being there. All to no avail.

We set to clearing out some of the main storage and junk-collecting areas of the basement, particularly under the steps. We're a bit architecturally challenged in that there's no door at the top of our basement steps to block off the basement from the main floor. In the basement itself, there is a door between the laundry area on one side of the steps and the rest of the basement on the other. It separates the two areas for humans but not necessarily for cats.

The steps are... well, steps but not really what you'd call stairs. More like the steps on a stepladder, open at the back. We or possibly an earlier owner had put rudimentary risers on the back of each tread but over time, some had managed to detach themselves, leaving plenty of room for a cat to jump through into the storage area behind, and into the laundry room. So on Thursday, Dianora nailed missing step-backs back in place in an effort to divide off the two areas again for all but the most determined cat.

Around 4 PM, I thought I might have heard some timid mewing coming from the basement. I armed myself with a bag of Crystal's favourite kind of cat-treat as well as a sprinkle-shaker of catnip. I sprinkled it throughout the basement, focusing on areas close to where we figured he might be inclined to hide. I tried rustling the treat-bag and calling the cat and listening carefully.

After perhaps 20 minutes or so, a streak of tabby-and-white sprang out from behind a pegboard in the workbench section in the laundry area and headed under the steps. I tiptoed about trying to keep tabs on him but he was elusive. It looked like he was definitely in the laundry area however. I made sure he had food, water and a litter box there; the area was inaccessible to Nanook even if she wandered down the steps, so if food was eaten and the box was used, we would know by tomorrow.
After a fruitless stalking the cat in his lair, I decided to abandon the search for now and have some supper.

We didn't manage to capture him on Thursday or Friday during the day, but we had a few more sightings of him which was certainly a relief. And we knew he was a nocturnal beast too, most apt to make himself known in the wee hours.

So Friday night I dozed off but awoke around 1 AM, unsure if I had heard him or not. I tiptoed down the basement steps and sat at the bottom outside the laundry area, listening for any catlike sounds. No success for quite a while. But I was determined.

Then I very quietly opened the door and entered the laundry area, closing the door quietly behind me. I tried standing for several minutes at strategic locations near where I thought he might be lurking. I didn't want to risk sitting on a squeaky or rickety chair or stumbling over a box or anything. But after awhile I decided to sit down on the floor (hoping I'd be able to get up again!) thinking I might be less intimidating at something closer to cat's eye view.

Persistence paid off. Soon I noticed a pair of wide green eyes observing me from a pandemic-era distance. No sudden moves for me! I extended my fingers towards him, inviting him to sniff. Eventually he approached, cautiously at first, then allowing me to stroke and brush him. I was rewarded with throaty purrs and moist nuzzling.

After taking our time over these steps, he at last cuddled into my shoulder, still purring as I maintained a firm hold on him. The final step - or steps actually - was to spirit him out of the laundry room and up the steps through the kitchen to the hallway to the bedroom. We'd made it!

Needless to say, I didn't get much in the way of shut-eye Friday night. For Crystal, 3 AM is the absolute best time to play chase-the-bird or the laser dot or the string. I dozed off again but kept being awakened by plaintive little cries. It's a good thing he's such an appealing little creature. It's also a good thing this isn't a permanent arrangement. It's like having a new baby in the house again, except that we're not as young and energetic as we were back when we had a human baby around!

He and Nanook are still negotiating personal (kittenal?) space with each other. I don't suppose they'll resolve all their differences before it's time to take Crystal back home, but we'll settle for wary watchfulness for now and catching up on our sleep in a week or so.