Oscar is a people cat. When I'm putting A to bed he's right outside her door, one paw reaching underneath. When I'm reading Z a bedtime chapter, he's on her bed, drowning out my words with his purr. After both children are asleep he comes downstairs, runs around like a maniac for a few minutes and then curls up on Josh's lap. At meals he's trying to jump on the table. When someone's in the tub he's on the edge.He likes to be with us. So when he didn't appear for Z's bedtime story or come down to the living room at 8:30, we worried a little. Had he gotten locked in the bathroom or a closet? Josh and I went through the house opening cabinet doors, shaking the treat can and calling "here kitty, kitty, kitty." I'd opened the door to the enclosed front porch once and we checked it repeatedly, even though I was quite sure he hadn't slipped by me.
After half an hour of looking, I wondered if maybe our 8 month old kitten had made it to the porch and somehow escaped to the great outdoors. I put on my winter gear and walked the neighborhood, calling "Here Oscar, here kitty, kitty, kitty." My stomach tightened as I imagined breaking the news to the kids in the morning, as I planned an email to the block list and mentally designed signs to post up and down the street.
I returned empty-handed and Josh decided to go out and look. But then, just as he'd slipped on his coat, there was Oscar, on our living room cabinet. He looked, for all the world, like he'd just woken up from a deep sleep. But the mystery remains... where?!?
