There was something which worried me beyond the obvious when the cats spent the day missing. The younger cat is in heat. I don't know why she wasn't neutered, but my father said my mother keeps putting it off for reasons which sound superficially plausible but are not really satisfying. The other cat was neutered years ago and around that time she became much less likely to walk headfirst into solid objects. That may be coincidence. But, obviously, keeping the younger cat indoors was a higher priority now than it would be when the only real risks were that she'd be mugged by a squirrel.
The start of it was -- well, not cute, really, but at least innocuous enough. Mostly she looked bedraggled and nervous. But after a while of that and of attempting to lay on the floor so that every bit of her fur was touching the floor -- which isn't easy, but which some cats can manage in the right mood -- she took to a quick mew on every step. My instinctive reaction to a cat meowing is to meow back, which usually confuses them, but in this case she just kept going with her monologue. It was like being stuck in a chat room. Then it turned into the rubbing stage.
This cat's always been physical, very eager to rub against anyone or anything, and that would be a wonderful personality trait if she were better about knowing when to keep the claws and fangs away. In this stage, though, she went well beyond normal, with rubbing, nuzzling, and falling over everything in sight, including things she'd previously dismissed as too small to be worth her attention, like remote controls or paperback books. It finally reached the point I told her, ``All right. I get it. You have organs. That doesn't make them interesting.'' This didn't stop her, but it made me feel better.
As I was coming in yesterday I saw her sitting on the hutch, staring out the window beside the front door, ready to leap out. As this was a contra-indicated behavior mode for her I rang the doorbell, which caused her to jump off the hutch, but not walk far enough away from the door for me to be sure I could get in before she'd run out. So I went in through the garage door, where I could use the ``airlock effect'' to make sure if she did get out the interior door she'd just be stuck in the garage. She didn't escape, that time. Now if she can just learn about claws.
Trivia: Abraham Lincoln sent four telegrams in August 1861. Source: Mr Lincoln's T-Mails, Tom Wheeler.
Currently Reading: Rhode Island: A History, William G McLoughlin.