The Misadventures of Mister

 Mister just escaped into the garage again! That boy just wants out. We keep fighting against Mister’s hunter instincts, but it’s becoming too tough a fight.  

We used to let him outside in the summer when we sat outside, and he never strayed far.  I have written many times about his great escape a few years ago when he was less than a year old, and he was gone for two weeks and two days.  Two weeks and two days!  We had given up on finding him, when he walked back home one day - nonchalantly, I might add. If I ever write a children’s book, Mister has given me lots of material and inspiration. 

It was that great escape that has kept him inside, a discontented indoor cat. We vowed to keep him safe – safety over thrill-seeking behavior. Those are the rules here. I am not having my heart broken again. 

We are constantly opening windows everywhere, and he spends much of the day keeping vigil at the dining room window, tracking the escapades of the many squirrels and birds that inhabit the backyard. With his two ‘brother’ cats having moved in during the pandemic, he has plenty of action here.  They romp around together and run up and down the stairs, but it is never enough for Mister. The other day when it was 65 degrees, a rare warm March day in New York, we put them in a cat tent in the backyard with all three cats together, eating grass and chilling. It wasn’t long before Mister started jumping up and meowing, wanting to be let free. Ollie and Benny have come from a NYC apartment, enjoy the window breeze and the tent experience, but they are not interested in escaping.  Mischievous outdoor misadventures are not in their DNA.

Mister has escaped a few times over these years, briefly and then all forces converge to capture him. When I get their dry food out of the garage where it’s kept, Mister frequently attempts to get in there.  There are all kinds of potentially dangerous and dirty things in there  - a lawn mower, garbage pails, bicycles, recycling bin, grass seed, ice melt, but when Mister gets in there he explores it all – and then rolls around on his back.  When it looks like he is finally willing to come back in, he rolls on his back and then dashes away, again.

Should we just let him go, become an outdoor cat, and let what happens happen? Cars and inclement weather pose real risks.  I can’t do it. I love Mister too much.