I’m sitting here this morning wondering if I will be writing The Misadventures of BobCat on a weekly, perhaps daily basis. Good grief. Yesterday was hopefully the last misadventure BobCat will have!

I woke up yesterday morning, feeling the warmth of the day, and knowing it was going to be a nice one. BobCat wanted outside, so I opened the door and let him out. I’ve been letting him out when he wants out during the day, but keeping him in after dark. (That way he can get some exercise without Jack beating him up all the time.) I told him, “Be good and don’t run off.” Little did I know, I should have told him to not be a nosy little shit, too. The last I saw BobCat was when Dad and I were collecting the trash to take up to the dumpster, a couple of hours later. Oh, the joys or rural life. We don’t even have road-side trash pick up. Ugh. Anyway, the day went on and the high was 70 degrees. The wind was blowing like mad but died down in the afternoon.

3:00pm rolled around and that’s about the time I feed my furbabies. I called for BobCat, but he didn’t come. I fed the others and set BobCat’s food to the side. I went to the door and called for BobCat again. No sign of him. I went to the back of the house, stepped onto the catio and called again. No sign. I didn’t think too much about it at that point. It was a nice day and figured he was doing cat things like cats do. Maybe he was curled up in the dirt taking a cat nap. Hell, I don’t know what things he might be up to.

A couple of hours later, I called for BobCat again. Nothing. I was worried that he got into trouble. Maybe a dog chased him up a tree or maybe he got his collar hung up on something. I didn’t want to think about other possibilities. I hoped he hadn’t gone back to the home from whence he came, before he was mine. If they saw him, they might say, “Hey, there’s my cat!” and maybe, “What’s he doing with a collar on?” I was worried. It wasn’t like BobCat to miss meal time.

After some time went by, I called for BobCat again, from the front door and from the catio. I heard a faint cry or I thought I did. I think Jack heard it, too. Dad said it was probably just Jack. I told him it wasn’t because I can tell the difference and I was looking at Jack. He wasn’t mewing. I went outside and called for BobCat. I used all the names BobCat answers to: Bob, Bob-a-Duke, Bobbert, Rabbert, and Bobarino. I yelled. I whistled. Nothing. Not a sound.

I called for BobCat every hour after that and by 10:00pm, still no BobCat. It was snack time and all of my furbabies knew what time it was. I knew BobCat did, too. But where was he? I was so damn worried. I was out on the catio with Jack, calling for BobCat. I heard the mewing again! It sounded more frantic than earlier. I told Dad I heard the mewing again and I headed out the door with a flashlight. Dad followed. We walked around the side of the house, calling for BobCat. I could hear him! Dad said, “That’s Jack!” I said, “No, it isn’t.” When Jack mewed, I said, “THAT was Jack.” When the other sounded, I said, “That wasn’t Jack.” Dad said he couldn’t hear anything except for Jack. We were hobbling around in the dark; me with my crutches on lumpy and soft ground, trying not to fall on my ass, and Dad, unsteady on his feet, too. I hoped niether of us would fall but I was persistent. I knew I was hearing BobCat and I had to find him!

The mewing was louder on the side of the house where Dad’s old room is. (The room had been abandoned months ago due to a mold problem and was closed off from the rest of the house. Dad moved into the spare room.) I could hear BobCat and it sounded like he was in the old bedroom. Dad still insisted it was Jack I was hearing. I said, “NO. It ISN’T! It’s BobCat and he’s in your room!” Dad peeked into the windows with the flashlight and didn’t see a cat in the room. I said, “Then he’s stuck in the wall or between the roof and the ceiling because I hear him.”

I headed back to the house, determined that BobCat was in there, stuck in the wall or something. I had to help him! Masks donned, because of the mold, we entered the old bedroom. I shined the flashlight around and lo and behold, there was BobCat, pushing his way out of the closet! He must have seen the light and was frantically fighting his way towards us! Dad pulled the closet door open a bit (it’s kind of stuck) and Bobcat flew out of there like his pants were on fire (that is, if he had been wearing pants).

Poor BobCat. He was so happy to see us! I was happy to see him, too! At that point, I realized that maybe Jack was worried about BobCat, too. Maybe Jack was mewing to help us find BobCat. Just a thought, anyway. Who knows what goes on in a cat’s little brain. Jack even let him eat his dry kibble. Jack was being nice! Haha! Was Jack actually happy to see BobCat?!

I didn’t sleep well last night until after 4:00am because BobCat was having nightmares, I think. He was sleeping on me and every 40 minutes or so, he would jump up and look around, as if to see where the hell he was. Poor thing. He finally settled and we both got some sleep.

So, that was Bob-a-Duke’s misadventure. It’s another nice day and he wanted outside again. I hope he stays out of trouble. I’ll keep closer tabs on him and bring him inside in a bit. These cats will be the death of me yet.