ESCAPE!
On the eve of departure for vacation (going to Florida) we come home then run out for dinner with our pet sitter, come back show him where the stuff is and then get to packing. I then realize around 10:30pm that I have not seen or heard from Mabel all night. The boy feels certain he saw her this evening, I’m not remembering seeing her. Off I go through the whole house looking under the beds, behind the couches, under the couches, in closets, etc. No sign of her anywhere.
I fear she may have gotten out through the back door where the dogs roam…
I have no flashlight and to find a black cat in the dark is near impossible. The boy finally discovers his maglight battery and out we go into the back yard.
He: She couldn’t jump the fence.
Me: Don’t be so sure. She may be fat but she’s agile, she’s got quite a leap on her.
No sign of her under the deck or anywhere in the back yard. We go out front just to be sure. I go to one side of the house, he goes to the other…
He: (whispers) Pattie!
I go over to his side, where I see along the fence, toward the back corner glowing eyes. She’s all hunched down staring into the light, just as I suspected she would if caught in the beam. I slowly walk toward her…
Me: Mable-schmabel…kiss kiss kiss…what are you doing? kiss kiss kiss…Schmabel kitty…
She stands and turns to run… I make more kissing noises and move my hand near her gesturing as if I’m scratching her head…she falls for it and moves toward me. I pet her and then pick her up. She gave very little resistance at first. But the longer I carried her the more she began to squirm. I made the boy get the dogs away before I put her down in the living room.
Stupid cat…waits until the night before we leave to make her big adventure into the back yard…and over the fence…
Shit…
