Early Morning Fright

I suffered another eventful morning at the Cosy Cabin. I woke at four o’clock - which is still a little while before I must rise and start my day - and was on my way to do what my body suggested was necessary, first glancing into the cat-room. I often do that to see who is there. Lately, I’ve seen both Moxy and Sable on the cat-tree or the sill under the far window. This time, I saw something that didn’t look quite right. I turned on the light.

The window’s screen was not in place. It was below the window, as if it had been folded back and down on hinges. (It does not have hinges). In the usual manner of such an hour, it took me a second or two to comprehend the implication. When I did, I hurried to the open window - the now unimpeded open window - to close it. Peering outside, I saw a cat’s face looking back at me. I thought, “Oh, a little cat. Where did he come from?”

Then I realised it was Moxy.

Driving all the other cats out of the cat-room, I hurried out to capture my errant cat. I couldn’t find him. Then I saw him back in the house. Returning there, Moxy took fright when he saw me appear in the doorway of the cat-room and jumped out the window again. This was followed by fifteen minutes’ fearful searching. I have a strong backyard light and had a flashlight, but couldn’t find him. Returning to the house, I opened the door to the cat-room - now closed to exclude any other would-be escapers - and Moxy trotted out, to rub up against me: he had slipped back in. I quickly shut the window.

The screen was intact, still in its frame, but had been removed from the window. I am unsure of how this was accomplished; I can see it being punched out, or in, or torn, but neither occurred. The frame in which the screen is stretched fits snugly into grooves all the way around the window’s frame, and would not be easily removed. I can think only that it was not adequately fitted to begin with. The cats are often at that spot, and I have heard them scrabbling there over the past few nights. I feared that they were ripping the screen. What they may have been doing was pulling or clawing at some protrusion that allowed them to gain a grip on the screen’s frame.

I closed all the windows before going to work, and will inspect the screens this evening. The windows are opened by turning a lever and cannot be forced open or closed except by that lever, so I may have to keep the windows open too little for even the smallest feline head to squeeze through, if I want fresh air.

Thank goodness it was Moxy who decided to explore beyond the house. Prior to coming to live with me, he was an indoor/outdoor cat, and so was accustomed to coming and going; being outside - even if he hadn’t been there in months - would not have been a very unnerving or disorienting situation for him. As well, though strong, I think his heft would prevent him from easily jumping to the top of the six-foot fence that surrounds the rear of the property, or even from squeezing under the gate in the fence. If it had been Valkyrie who had escaped, she may have panicked outside. Indigo might have run or might have come to me when called. But if Sable had gotten out, I don’t think I would have seen her again.

Soon after the Mixer’s return, all the beasts were breakfasting, their appetites unaffected. Indeed, they were all - Moxy included - unfazed by the event. My own equilibrium needed another description, however.