The Long Wait

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Deirdre is a 10-year-old house cat who lives with the Wilson family.
Every summer, when the family travels from Ontario to Nova Scotia to
spend their vacation near the ocean, they take Deirdre along with them.
One September, when the rest of the family has already returned to
Ontario, Mr. Wilson and Deirdre come back together by car.
Unfortunately, Deirdre hates to travel, and at a roadside stop in New
Brunswick she escapes from her cat cage and the car. After a few hours
of searching for her, Mr. Wilson is forced to give up and continue his
journey to Ontario. He leaves his phone number and the empty cat cage at
the nearest farm. In October, the farmer calls. He has Deirdre. She
arrives home safe, sound, and even a few pounds lighter.

“This is a true story,” the reader is twice assured. It is hard to
think why anyone would disbelieve a plot that is, in essence, “Cat
runs away; owners are sad. Cat is returned; owners are happy.”
Wilson’s prose sometimes approaches the maudlin: “Deirdre loved the
Wilsons. Sometimes it is said—mostly by dog lovers—that cats do not
care about people. Deirdre cared.” Eugenie Fernandes’s illustrations
lend a pleasant light touch to this tale of the prodigal pet. Not a
first-choice purchase.