A Scary Story

Catzee's Mom here. We don't celebrate Halloween, but today seemed like a good day to share this scary story about Catzee.

The other morning I woke up a little late. Sometimes Rascal and Catzee let me sleep in, sometimes they want me up for some reason or other. Rascal used to wake us up at 4 am, like clockwork, when he was allowed outside. Now that he has to be an inside cat, he doesn't bother. Even so, neither cat minds standing at our heads and meowing loudly if they want something. That morning however, I didn't hear a peep out of either one of them.

As soon as I realized that it was after eight o'clock, I got up, and went into the kitchen to push the button on the coffee pot. I puttered around for a few minutes, but no kitties appeared to see what I was up to, and whether or not there was anything in it for them. This isn't that unusual either, as sometimes sleeping is more important that seeing what I'm up to.

About halfway through my cup of coffee, Rascal showed up to greet me good morning. By the time I finished the cup, I realized that I hadn't seen Catzee yet. This was a little unusual, but not unheard of. When I went into the bedroom to get dressed for the day, I looked around for her, but she was nowhere in sight.

Wondering where in the world she was hiding, I began to call her. No Catzee. She wasn't in their cat tree, so I looked in all the windows. Then I looked on the dining room chair cushions and couch cushions. Still no Catzee. I looked in my loom room, where she likes to curl up on the floor. I even checked all the cabinets; had she accidentally gotten shut up in one of them all night??? No Catzee.

I was getting worried now. Had she hurt herself during the night? Had she gotten sick? Had something fallen on her? But surely I would have heard something which would have woken me up. I asked Rascal, "Where's Catzee?" but he just blinked at me.

All of a sudden I remembered her great escape. Was it possible that somehow she had snuck out the door last night? I knew from experience that she could zip through it like lightening. I also knew that she didn't think anything of jumping off the second story balcony if she got out there. Had she slipped out when I went to leave a few scraps for Opie?

With these thoughts in mind I began to panic. I couldn't get my shoes on fast enough. I ran out the door and began to call her.

Our apartment complex is quite large, with a dozen or so buildings of eight to sixteen apartments each. That means there are four large parking lots as well. A triple train track runs the length of the complex on the other side of the driveway; very noisy! The one nice thing about it is that it is nestled in a wooded area, so there are lots of trees behind the buildings, and even a little creek that runs through the woods between two of them. If you've followed Catzee's blog for awhile, then you may remember that I used to put her in her harness and take her for walks down there.

My plan was to start looking for her by following the path we used to take on our walks. I had deliberately always taken her on the same route, thinking that if she ever did sneak out, she would go that same way out of habit. What worried me was whether or not she would come when I called. Every other time she escaped, she had ignored me because she wanted to be out so badly. Those times however, we were after her as soon as she was out the door (or off the balcony), so I was able to chase her down until she finally let me catch her. This time, I didn't have a clue as to where she was, and whether or not she wanted to be caught.

I walked behind the buildings all the way down to the creek, calling "Catzee!" No Catzee. I walked back toward our apartment in front of the buildings, looking in the parking lots and under cars. Still no Catzee. When I got to our breezeway, I checked to see if she had showed up at our door, and then kept on going toward the other side of the building, calling "Catzee! Catzee!" If I didn't find her there, I didn't know what I would do. There was no other place to look. My only hope then, would be to put up flyers and hope someone had found her and taken her in. At least I hadn't found her little body run over by a car in the parking lot.

As I neared the corner of the building, I heard a little mew. I ran around to that side and there she was, standing on a downstairs window ledge. As soon as she saw me she jumped down and came running to me! I scooped her up and she purred, and purred, and purred. We went back inside and she immediately ran to the food dish.

After being out all night, she spent the rest of the day curled up, sound asleep on my bathrobe. I spent the rest of the day thankful that she was okay. Oddly, Rascal never even seemed to notice. Or if he did, he never let on. I reckon he had known all along that she was all right.