The mystery of Pilot's pal

It's two weeks since Pilot's been gone to the happy hunting grounds. Lots of life is not the same without him.  His mate Con turned up today saying "It's not the same: I keep expecting him to come barking round the corner.....14 years I've been coming here and every week Pilot's rushed out barking to greet me..... it's not the same.....". The Bestest Gundog's been off-colour and he and Pilot didn't even get on well .... I'm not sure whether the howling and wailing at night is due to adrenalin shock or pack-shake-up shock. Then Pilot's mate Waifa disappeared.

Last Sunday morning she was here as normal -

breakfast at daybreak, out for a wander - it was raining so she came home quickly and slept till the rain stopped. Then she went out for a wander and that was the last we saw of her.
We looked high and low; turned the house upside down; checked spare rooms, cupboards, cellar, under beds - anywhere a cat could be. We did the same outside and even checked the unoccupied farm buildings next door. No sign of Waifa. We called and called. No reply from Waifa. After a few days I removed her untouched feedbowl and washed it. We told friends in the village and further afield that she was missing: We told the

vet who put her on their missing furson register.

I started drawing up posters to hang on fences
and gates. Friday and still no sign of Pilot's cat.
We left at mid-day to take a couple of weaners to their new custodians.
Returning  - in the rain - a couple of hours later, I took the Bestest Gundog for a walk (he was having a long lie-in earlier!!!). The Big Boss rang me just as we were on our way home:
"Watch where you walk when you come indoors - there's something on the floor!" All sorts of things went through my mind.
I stepped gingerly through the door to the scullery - and there was WaifaCat - strolling noisily towards me..... as if I were the one who had been AWOL!
It's a mystery where she came from. Neither of us noticed her sneak through the door as we were going out or coming in. She was perectly dry and clean and hardly distressed - not the look of a cat who had been living rough for a week..... But if she's been in the house all week?????? How? Where? Do cats hibernate when they grieve? We've not seen her for 5 days. There have been noises in the night but this is an old house and there are always nocturnal sounds.... were any of them Waifa creeping down the stairs for a drink in the dark? Since she's been 'back' she's been uncharacteristically vocal and looking for cuddles from all of us - I even chanced upon her cuddling up next to Bugler on top of Jaunty's crate! Never been known before. Now, as I write, she's curled up on a chair with us in the Snug. Not like her at all.
Has she been away? Has she been here all the time? Has her spirit been accompanying Pilot to his hunting grounds whilst her body hibernated? Has she returned now, at peace, to tell us he is happy in his new place? Fanciful stuff I know. But who can say? Must be a reason why witches have cats; why cats have 9 lives; why she came here from nowhere in the first place...... Maybe Pilot knows the answers..... now we never will.......The mystery of Pilot's pal will be with us for a long, long time.....

But She's back and that's the main thing. A week of worry banished in an instant...... Now - that is something to smile about on a(nother) rainy January night.......................