Away for the Weekend

It's a week since my last post, and things are going well. I got an envelope from Friends of Animals, but it contained their magazine, not the the spay certificate as I hoped. Now Shadow is looking suspiciously fat. I hope she's not pregnant. It could have happened while she was still in Ali's neighborhood, I suppose. Maybe she's just growing.

Last week was pleasant enough. No fights of any magnitude. Thursday night I did laundry, and in bringing it inside, I left the door open. Bella walked almost out, and Shadow followed. I was like, uh oh, she's gonna run away and I won't be able to get her back. But, I called Bella. Bella turned on the threshold and came in, Shadow following. Whew! I had Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (yesterday) off, for a trip to see my daughter, and, as it turned out, my sister, tamer of feral cats. She gave me a laser light pet toy.

My neighbor Marta had agreed to feed them while I was gone. I warned her not to try to touch the little one, and everything went fine, apparently. I called her the first night, feeling as I had when my kids were little and I called the sitter to check on them.

"I saw the little cat," Marta reported. That was better than I expected. I thought Shadow would hide when someone new came in.

Got home in the late afternoon yesterday. Bella was the first one I saw, at the top of the stairs as usual. We touched noses, our homecoming ritual. I fed them both, and there was a little chasing, but no fighting. At one point, both cats were lounging on my bed. Bella slept with me all night, purring and kneading her paws on my side as she often does. I left my door open, but no little cat invasions. It was peaceful.

This morning, Shadow kept rubbing up against my legs, even though I had just put food down for her. She was not saying 'I'm hungry;' it meant something else. Dare I hope she was telling me she missed me? She sat on the foot of my bed while I was listening to WNYC and sipping coffee for 15 minutes or so. She looked so relaxed, and I felt flattered. She's been with me a month and a half.