Escapee

I've been sitting up, worrying about things.  To take my mind off things I am trying to work out how to fill out these forms which are so hard to understand, and look completely different to what I was expecting, based on what was explained to me yesterday.  I may have to make phone calls, or something tomorrow, to help me make sense of it, and it's looking obvious that I'm not going to have time to do these before the weekend's road trip.

As I sat at my desk trying to understand what to put where, I started hearing strange noises outside.  And before this, I'd wondered what secret location our precious creamy kitty Maxie had curled up and fallen asleep in.  At first it sounded like possums.  Then I thought it's definitely cats fighting outside.  I was surprised Maxie wasn't prowling our house, and asking me what the noise outside was. 

The noise started sounding like it was right at my window.  I got up and paced the house, and then thought again 'where is Maxie'?, remembering that for some reason Heath had suddenly gone outside after soccer training with his light sabre.

I got up and went to the back door, and looked outside, and saw shapes moving. I banged on the window, and got a sudden glimpse of a creamy shape sliding away.   So I unlocked the door and went outside.  To my horror, there cowering in our backyard, was the creamy shape of Maxie and his eyes reflecting in the light.  

I called him, and he stopped, and then he made his way across to me and up the stairs and climbed gratefully into my arms.  He looks to be moving gingerly, and I hope he's not been beaten up and we won't have abscesses looming.  Although he's an inside cat, at least he's been fully vaccinated against the nasty cat diseases.  My mind reels at our little cat being outside for what I think has been at least 2 hours, in the dark, on his own, and the despair we'd have all felt if something had of happened to him.  

It's amazing how quickly my world can change from feeling ok to feeling like a disaster again.  It feels a bit like the night, soon after we moved in to our new house on our own, when there was a strange man's face pressed up against my bedroom window at midnight.  Maxie climbs up onto my lap, a little purring bundle, who's clearly glad to be back inside the safety and warmth of our house.  But he's unsettled and doesn't stay, and I watch him as he limps slightly up the hallway.  I feel tears prickle the back of my eyes, and try to swallow them away, but without a lot of success.