In Which Bob Has An Adventure

When I got home last night I called the guys downstairs to the living room. I wanted to say hi and admire Leo's hair. He got it trimmed yesterday and it looked gorgeous. It all too often looks like Dolls-era Johnny Thunders but when it is freshly washed and combed it is stunning. We all stood there chatting and all of a sudden we realized we could hear a cat meowing over and over and over. I looked over the media room, thinking perhaps Annie got shut in but no, I could see Annie curled up in a chair lording over things. We looked to see if the bathroom door were shut. No. We spotted Hattie and Rascal but Bob....Bob was nowhere to be seen. We turned around and realized the sound was coming from the window.....the living room window that NO LONGER HAD A SCREEN! We raced over to the window and looked down...there was the screen laying atop some hostas and as we leaned out we could see Bob huddled on the ground, about 5 feet down, piteously crying. Ernie and Owen raced to the door with me yelling "CALM" behind them. Leo shut the window so the other cats, who were starting to get curious, couldn't get out. A minute later Owen came in with a terrified Bob wrapped in his arms. He set him down and Bob did that frightened cat low to the ground scuttle for awhile before, of course, getting something to eat.

All I can think is that when he rolled his considerable girth up against the screen it popped out and down he fell. And the fact that he just sat there terrified and meowing, rather than venturing out to explore, just makes me love him all the more. All evening we gave ourselves chills by saying, "What if it had been Rascal?" or "Can you imagine what Annie would have done?" or "Thank God it wasn't Hattie." And then we'd say, "Oh Bob, poor Bob" he would just roll over and let us scratch his furry little belly.

Bob.