the mike stories pt. 8

i think mike has a subconscious wish to have our house robbed... quite possibly also burned down, but at least robbed. either that or he's working on a malicious underground plot to get my cats to run away. he's actually been successful with both cats if that's his goal...

i'll explain: Mike has issues with the doors. he won't lock them. half the time he won't even close them. About a month ago Akira snuck out the back door after Mike went out and forgot to shut the screen door all of the way (as far as we can tell anyway). He was missing for a couple of days. Masaaki was actually the first one to notice Akira's absence. Masaaki started behaving strangely - he was wandering the house restless and howling... then we discovered the source of Masaaki's anxiety - his feline buddy was nowhere to be found... on one hand it's totally adorable that they've bonded so well... on the other hand it just makes the whole situation that much more heartbreaking when one of them has gone missing.

Akira eventually showed up. it appears that he snuck out, ran into something scary, hid under the deck, and waited until after dark to bravely approach the door to try to get back in. we had the window open so he could hear Masaaki crying for him... when i was about to close the window for the night, there he was, right outside the window staring right back at me. he was a little scardey cat once we did finally entice him back in. poor guy. it only detered him for a couple of days from trying to rush the front door every time we open it, though. he's a stinker.

Where Mike was successful at losing Masaaki is a much more disturbing story. Masaaki is the worlds biggest weenie cat. i've never worried about him trying to get outside, because frankly the outside world scares the crap out of him. he sees an open door and he runs the other way and hides. he's certain that everything out there is one gigantic plot to kill him, and i'm just fine with him thinking so.

well... during the past week I've had some sort of death cold, and have been doing nothing but sleeping and occasionally eating. On Saturday night Mike went up and drew a bath for me... after asking if he had locked the doors, i went up to relax for the night. the next morning i got up a bit early hoping i'd have the energy to go to a dog show (that was Sunday - i made it, and it rocked!)... when i made it downstairs i immediately saw that the door was hanging open. not just unlocked (as Mike is so fond of doing) but actually hanging open. it was open about a foot. I poked my head out and there was Akira sitting on the front step. I ordered him back in, and in he came.... i closed the door and went looking for Masaaki...

Masaaki wasn't in the house. we checked everywhere! the most likely scenario is this: the door was open ALL night... when Masaaki discovered this around bed time, he most likely hid from it... then perhaps watched as Akira wandered out... even realized that Akira didn't get jumped and murdered the second he went out... and (heaven forbid) Akira seemed to even be enjoying his little outdoor adventure... perhaps sometime around 3 or 4am Masaaki worked up the courage to venture out too... then ran into something that scared the crap out of him... like... oh... say.... a slug... then he probably bolted and hid somewhere until nightfall the next evening.

when we checked outside in the morning, he was nowhere to be found. To his credit, Masaaki is the most excellent hider i have ever seen in my entire life. that evening we tried shutting Akira in the cat room (yes we have a cat room. disgusting isn't it?)... so we could open all of the doors and hope that Masaaki would wander in on his own. knowing what a big weenie he is, i just wasn't sure what to expect. it was totally anticlimactic. nothing happened. we had to shut the doors and go to bed. i left the window open upstairs, though, so i could hear him if he started howling (howling is Masaaki's other special talent).

...and howling he did! an hour or two after we went to bed he started in. he was right outside the front door howling to get in, and came right in when i opened the door. it was probably the only act of bravery i should ever expect out of the cat, as i'm sure it took every ounce of courage the poor guy had, and then some! he remained skittish and nervous all night, and even through to this morning. about an hour after i got home, though, he was back to his old self, jumping up next to me on the couch and demanding attention.

guess what else i found when i got home today? Mike forgot to lock the front door when he left for work this morning. i've already explained to him numerous times that he is not invincible, his house is not invincible, and that people really do get their houses robbed... and that the first line of defense against that sort of thing is to lock the friggin doors like everybody else with any sort of common sense does. but does he listen?...