2003-10-19 8:35 a.m.
TheCat Has A Visitor
TheCat does not like other cats.
Normally, this is not a problem, since TheCat does not live with other cats, and one of the advantages of living on the third floor is that she doesn't usually see them either. There's one particularly nervy gray cat in the neighborhood who's come upstairs a few times to check things out, and there's Bud's cat, who has wandered past the front window once or twice but usually stays inside. Usually.
TheBoy and I were sitting in the apartment, him in front of the computer conquering the world and me on the couch assembling the latest stack in the many stacks of paperwork involved in buying a house. Suddenly, from the bedroom comes an unearthly, bloodcurdling yowl -- angry and pained and scared all at the same time. Bud's cat appears in the bedroom doorway, followed shortly by TheCat, who starts herding him out the door like a sheepdog despite the fact that he's twice her size. Once Bud's cat is safely out of her territory, she then turns to us and starts hissing and growling: "YOU FUCKERS! WHY DID YOU LET ANOTHER CAT IN HERE! I HATE YOU! HATE HATE HATE!"
While TheCat went back to the bedroom to sulk, TheBoy and I pieced together what had happened: Bud's little miscreant had popped open the baby-gate style screen Bud puts in his front doorway while he's napping. Seeing his opportunity, Bud's cat stealthed his way into the apartment and right past us when we weren't looking. Why he wanted to visit TheCat or how he knew to find her in the bedroom, I don't know. (TheCat is fixed, and from the little spats they've had through the window, Bud's cat should have known he'd be unwelcome in any event.)
From here until moving day, that door's staying blocked off.