winterbadger | A Tale of Two Kitties (plus one)

So, I had to take the cats out of the apartment yesterday. We won't even go into why, because I will get all angry and distracted, but suffice to say that, against my wishes, my apartment had to be vacated by all humans and animals for an indeterminate part of the middle of the day yesterday. Since I was down to work nine hours Friday and was acting PM for my team, I couldn't take the day off to handle it.

Some friends kindly allowed my guys to come stay with them for the day. I took them over first thing in the morning and came back in the evening to collect them. When I had dropped them off and asked if there was a particular room to stash them in, their hosts just said , "Oh, let them loose--they'll be fine". Nicco got out of his carrier right away and started exploring. Finn didn't get out until I persuaded him to, and then went and hid under a couch. Busby also didn't get out right away, but when one of the resident cats (a very sweet, friendly kitty named Tesla) came over to investigate the carriers and proceeded to walk into his, he seemed to feel that maybe there was really not enough space for two cats inside and squeezed out as she was squeezing in.

Well, come evening I arrive to collect my boys, hoping they have not been bad guests. No, apparently they've been so good that they've been invisible. Finn was still under the couch where he'd been when I left (being ill, rather noisily). Busby turned out to be hiding in an uncovered wall space (apparently favoured by many visiting cats), but came out when I grapsed the scruff of his neck and pulled gently. :-)

But Nicco was nowhere to be seen! We looked in the hidey holes they knew cats got into, under the furniture, in the upstairs rooms, no Nicholas. When asked if he could have gotten out, no one was quite sure, but they didn't *think* so. Calling, rattling a bowl of cat crunchies, rattling his jingly ball, nothing got him to show himself. So in the end I had to bring the other guys home and leave him there; the hosts promised to snag the deserter if he appeared and call the provost marshal (me). But it's a bit of a mystery, and when I woke up at 4 in the morning and realised he wasn't here, I confess I had some bad moments imagining how he might be feeling and what he might be doing if he *had* gotten out and was wandering around a strange neighbourhood in the dark trying to find his way home.

I miss my kitty. :-(