Escape!

Our unrepentant B&E(xit) kitten

This hasn’t happened in a couple years.

I was just up, not quite awake and going through my morning routine—putting out fresh bowls of Fancy Feast, cleaning the litter boxes and, MOST importantly, making coffee. The Amazing Bob snagged my attention just as I was about to sit down, steaming, soy milked, coffee in hand, to play my morning online word games. “‘sup,” I asked, eyes still not quite focused. He bade me come over to the front window and pointed. There, sitting in a potted plant was a cat. A small tuxedo cat.

COCO!

“How did she get out?!”

*shrugs*

We both dashed out to begin the game with her—besides being a fresh new adventure and exploration for her, it's most def a sport. She dashes ahead of us, just out of reach and then spots a coy look over her shoulder. Ya know, to make sure we’re still there, on the chase and shit.

Surprisingly, she let me catch her fairly quickly.Ya know why? Apparently this was just round one.

TAB and I came back inside, squirming Coco tight in my arms. I set her down on her front window perch, where her brekkie waited. It's a warm summer morning so the window was up but screen was in place. Or so I thought.

"What''s all the fuss? She'll be back before the first snow. Honest."

*BAM* Our girl was out and on the run again! How? She’d managed to pry up a corner of the screen—not enough for me, in my fuzzy eyed state to see but enough for her lithe, little self to slip out.

OOF! Still in my jammies, hair all Bride of Frankenstein by way of Siouxsie Sioux. I slipped on my sneakers for the second inning of The Chase. This time, our feline fugitive was nowhere in sight. A neighbor, on the way to work, helped me check through her large garden (no joy) and then I was trolling the streets, shaking a bag of Coco’s fav treats.

I was panicked. Our kitten’s not been an outdoor girl since the shelter folk rescued her when she was just a wee pregnant thing. That was eons ago! I had visions of our girl hit by cars, mauled by local pups, falling off the seawall into the waves. Christ, I had to find her!

Where was TAB? Inside, in his big chair. He was certain she’d come back just as soon as the thrill of this new outdoor exploit faded. Of course he was right. He always is.

After another tour of the neighborhood and a search under our front porch (there're spiders under there!), I finally caught up to her in our side yard. She led me on a not-so-merry chase around the house and then I was able to nab her.

*sigh* Nothing like a big blast of adrenalin before the first cuppa the day.

Where was Rocco in all this? Did he try to dash out there with her? ‘course not. Our man’s done his time in outdoor world. He’s happy to sit in his window, watch the world fly by and accept treats and pats from the frowzy, deaf broad.

'scuse me, I gotta go Super Glue that screen in place now.