Cat Adventures

I have bruises all over my arm because Ernesto escaped the house on Sunday night. I'm not even sure when or how he got out. He's like a ghost. It had to be when Dan was coming or going with groceries. However, we didn't notice he was gone until maybe 2 hours later, despite the fact that Dan made turkey and Ernesto is usually underfoot when food is cooking and when the food is served. I don't know why I didn't notice his absence then, but it wasn't until about 8 o'clock that I realized he was nowhere to be found. We looked all over the house (I even checked in the washing machine), and then we split up outside to look for him. I felt like an idiot walking around the neighborhood, shaking a bag of treats and going, Ernestoooooooooo! with a kissing noise at the end. This went on for about two hours--I kept thinking how bad I would feel if I just gave up and didn't look down one more street or another street. I started imagining how I would post a notice to Craig's list for a missing cat and then how I would have to make fliers to put on telephone poles to make other people really sad. I thought I would find him run over by a car and have to euthanize him with a shovel or something, like the guy in Blood Simple.

Finally, I asked Dan to go buy a can of cat food--because, like all cats, I knew Ernesto would have a Pavlovian response to the sound of the tin can opening. I walked around a few more streets and behind the church and then went into the back yard and flung myself over the top of the wall, calling to him and clicking with the can. And he showed up. I was bare foot, but climbed over the wall and dropped to the other side--I didn't want to waste any time. Then I couldn't find him. He had vanished. I was shaking. I walked to the end of the alleyway, calling to him and couldn't find him. When I turned around, he was behind me. He didn't want to come to me though, b/c he was freaked out. I opened the can and he finally trotted over. I scooped him up, and started going back to the house. By then, Emma Carol had gotten up on top of the wall and was ready to make her escape. I threw Ernesto over into my hard and realized then that I had no real way to get back over the wall. I climbed up on some of the bricks. Emma Carol was poised to leap into my neighbor's back yard. I grabbed her in a not nice way, she screeched, and I threw her over too. Then I had to figure out how to get back over--which is when I realized that I did not, in fact, have one of those adrenaline-rush super power moments where you get really strong. My arms are weak, and my first attempt to hoist myself over failed. Then I had to remind myself to be just a little careful that I didn't break my leg. The next time I threw myself at the wall, I got some leverage and was able to get over. Ernesto and Emma Carol ran inside and, shortly after, Ernesto passed out in a dead sleep on the carpet. I ordered tags for them the next day. 

Found