Friday morning, 3 AM

The Bossy Cat is being terrorized by the neighborhood bully, whom I have dubbed Stripey but generally refer to as That Bad Cat. Stripey comes to the front door (which has a floor to ceiling window in it) every night after dark to antagonize my sweet girl by pawing at the door and hissing. My poor kitten gets incredibly upset when That Bad Cat comes around. She paws back at him, and her breathing gets thick and labored, and she makes these little heart-wrenching cries. I try to soothe her, but there's nothing to be done about it until the bully decides he's had enough and goes away. CameraMan has started keeping a bottle of water by the door, and pouring it in Stripey's general direction to scare him off. Usually he comes right back in about 5 or 10 minutes, and we start the whole thing over again.

Photo by CameraMan

A few nights ago, That Bad Cat arrived around midnight. We were already in bed, but we heard the familiar pawstorm from downstairs, so CM went down, opened the front door, poured water out, and came back to bed. A few hours later, I woke up with a gasp, certain that I had just heard some kind of cat fight from outside, and immediately worried that The Bossy Cat was in trouble. CM and I stumbled downstairs to find the front door standing open and no sign of Lucy. My first reaction was, of course, to have a total meltdown, complete with crying and hyperventilating. We both ran outside in our pjs calling for her, and finally CM found her around the corner, sitting on the path. He scooped her up, brought her inside, and we all took some time to calm down. The whole event must have taken less than 5 minutes, but it was terrifying.

We haven't really figured out what happened. CM must not have locked the door after the midnight water throwing, but it's still a mystery how the cat opened it. And I still don't know why I woke up, what it was that I heard or sensed that told me Lucy needed me. CM thinks I must have heard the door opening, but I have another theory.

A mother always knows.