Last night, after the thunderstorm, Misty came back to the porch.
Even the during the thunderstorm, we opened the door, but she wasn’t around. I think Misty has a bomb shelter somewhere, because she is never wet when she comes back from a storm, no matter how heavy it is.
So, we let her into the house and she quite happily came in, no more cautious or annoyed at me for closing the door after she enters.
From the house, she entered Bunny’s Place and thereafter, the strangest thing happened – we could not find her! Bunny’s Door was still open so we thought she might have gone back out to the Safehouse.
All night we looked, all over the house including Bunny’s Place, Misty had vanished into thin air! But we knew for sure, with 100% certainty, that there was no way Misty could have escaped back outside. We have secure screen doors and windows.
Too tired to look further, I just left the mystery alone and finally went to sleep.
This morning, I looked all over upstairs again, at 4.30am. No Misty.
But when I came downstairs, guess who was on the bed in Bunny’s Room?
There you are! So, you were in Bunny’s Place all night?
What a totally stupid (rhetorical) question! Of course she was. Sometimes we humans say the dumbest thing, don’t we?
She mewed and wanted to go out, but no, not yet. It’s still dark outside. You stay on for a little while longer, okay?
I went to do a poop check for Indra.
Misty followed me on my inspection round.
Then, I fed her and she’s still here now.
My plan is to orientate her until she is willing to stay indoors. Willingly.
Gerald is a lost cause – he’s not willing to stay indoors at all. He’s a kaki ronda and look how unhappy he was during those 18 days when we confined both of them.
For cats who have lived with lives outdoors, I let them choose their lifestyle.
Some things just cannot be forced.
Samantha was a feral cat too, but perhaps because of her daughters, she has settled down very comfortably in Bunny’s Place watching her girls. She doesn’t even attempt to escape anymore now. But she has her daughters whom she has learnt to love.
Misty doesn’t really have anyone except Gerald. That is the tricky part. But Gerald doesn’t stay at our porch anymore. He comes and goes. Sometimes, he is not even hungry, so perhaps another home has adopted him but they let him be free too? Maybe they too realised that Gerald cannot be confined. He will yell till you go insane and either you go or he goes!