Upon arrival at my adoptive accommodations, I could not catch the scent of another cat. I wondered if my new humans were in over their heads. They seemed genuinely interested in me, but there was no evidence of other felines in their lives. I determined this presented an opportunity for me to educate them.
When the door to my traveling cage was opened. I cowered, pressing my body against the far corner of the cage. I stared, wide eyed. The girl coaxed and cooed. I continued to cower, not blinking nor hissing. I did not make a sound. Yet, I refused to move.
She gave up. She left my traveling cage open and moved my food and commode to a prominent place in her home. Silly girl. Did she not know I have keen olfactory sensors? I would have been able to locate those things anywhere in the house.
Anywhere. This was their second mistake. The humans could have confined me to a small room while I decided whether to keep them, but they gave me free run of the ENTIRE house! You may recall from an earlier post that my mother tutored me well and I developed a fine set of skills - stealth being one of my finest. They were in for an extended game of “Where’s the Cat?” A game they were likely to lose.
I took great pains to avoid contact of any kind with these new humans. I made my move under a cloak of darkness, eating and eliminating while they were sleeping. I searched every open space until I found each dark spot where I could hide, albeit comfortably, and snooze away the daylight hours. The search had begun, and the game was on.
I overheard the search party ...
“Have you seen the cat?”
“Where could she be?”
“She is eating and using her box, but she certainly isn’t being part of the family!”
“I’m thinking about giving her back. But we paid for her. I’ve never paid for a cat before!”
I enjoyed the game. I was winning! I lazed and watched the bewildered humans as they peered, crawled, climbed and opened and closed doors. I thought to myself, “I could do this for weeks!”
But then, the boy looked right into my eyes and declared, “I found your cat.”
My hiding place behind the big black talking screen had been discovered.
It was time for Round Two.