The Great Outdoors held no terrors to my Mentor, an orange warrior I affectionately call "The Old Man".
He was a complex old cat who died, around age 12, having spent much of his life wandering the outdoors of the block of the long time home of Daddy, and his Mom, and Sisters, in Pomona, in the 80's, and 90's.
I will write about him more in the future, but for now, I have another story to tell.
The only time I've spent more than a few minutes outside alone, many years ago, freaked ME out ;-D
It is quite a tale, one not for the faint of heart.
Many years ago there were 2 periods when our household was a 2 cat home.
The first time was when I was a kitten and shared my new home with The Old Man.
Later on Daddy and I tried to help a feral kitten (A black cat) he rescued adapt to living a life of less stress as an indoor cat.
Sadly things did not work out, and I will tell that tale, soon, as well.
My story is from that time in my life, over 7 years ago, so here goes:
Except for when I was born, and before Daddy and I met, I've been an Indoor Cat the whole time.
Until that day, I think I'd spent only 3 days worth of time outside spread over the whole first four years of my life.
I like to have a little fun on occasion, so I used to dart past Daddy to go walking amongst the roses and other plants along the walkway next to our front door.
These brief escapes into the open air had the added benefit of giving Daddy an exercise workout and helped him hone his tracking and pouncing skills.
I nibble on a leaf, Daddy pounces...
I dart away under a rose bush, Daddy scrambles after me, cursing through the garden...
After a few minutes Daddy finally catches me (or so I let him think) and back into the house I would go.
One day started out as usual, then went to hell in a handbasket in no time flat.
When Daddy took his bike outside I made my move and went about contentedly wandering amongst the roses.
I let my attention wander and after 10 minutes and still no Daddy lumbering after me, I headed back to the porch.
The bike was gone! The doors were shut!
I called out: "Hey Maximus, come to the window!!"
The youngster peeked out and said: "Oh, THERE you are! What are you doing outside? Daddy's gone to work."
"I know he's gone to work" I replied, "I guess I'll be out here for the day. Don't you go eating all the food because I'll be starved when he gets home."
Well, I decided to make the best of it and check out my surroundings figuring that black cat I spotted the previous day would come by.
I went around back, but quickly changed my mind about exploring when the 2 huge Dogs next door come mindlessly running and yelling incoherently straight for the fence.
You'd think they'd never held an intelligent conversation before by the way they acted, much less seen another cat. Sheesh!
Some Dogs just have no breeding, brains, or language skills. My old friend the Possum, now there was a great conversationalist! I wonder what ever happened to him. I miss his stopping by the porch occasionally.
Anyway, I went back around front, and suddenly I needed to use the litter box.
I soon realized there were none outside and that I'd have to go without.
This was embarrassing. I ended up several times throughout the day squating under a bush as far out of sight from prying eyes as I could manage.
It was now 2 hours since Daddy left and this wasn't fun anymore. I went and lay on the porch for a few hours, then went walking throught the yard awhile.
When the other human tenants came up the walk, I hid.
I lay amongst the roses a while and slept some more.
Finally I heard the familiar sound of Daddy's bike down the street and perked up!
He pulled up to the porch and went into the house.
I scrambled after him trying to get his attention...
A few minutes later he opened the door and I look up at him happily as he scoops me into his arms and in relief we give each other a hug...
I vowed that the next time I sneaked out I'd make sure Daddy wasn't going anywhere when I did! ;-D
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