Lately I've been working odd hours, mostly because I'm doing more work from home and that's just when it happens. Also, not having (as much) school in the way opens up some flexibility.
The way things fell into place this week I had Friday off completely. Recently I got together with my friend Arden, a video artist, who has been gathering footage over the past 15 years of Radio K for a documentary. The amount of band footage she has is overwhelming so I offered to help log tapes for her this summer. I figured Friday would be a good day to get started.
After some morning personal admin tasks I set up the deck, pulled out a monitor, and sat down with coffee and Final Cut Pro. Not 10 minutes in I saw what I thought was a rabbit outside my window, but upon closer look it turned out to be a kitty.
I don't really remember why but I thought it was necessary to jump out of my chair and run to the front of the house to catch it walking down the path. I'm calling it a protective instinct, as it was headed straight for Como Ave. It ended coming right to me and even let me pet it. I took it inside my garage to show it my new giant disjointed picture of Liberty from Degrassi: The Next Generation, courtesy of Rasterbator)
and called the number on "Buddy's" tag. No answer, so I left a message something along the lines of "Hey, I have Buddy. He was nearing the street so now he's hanging out with me."
It soon became clear that it hated the garage and knew about doors. I let it inside and kept it confined to a couple rooms and a hallway. Not knowing its story I poured it some milk but it didn't really seem interested. It did prove very friendly and curious, yet laid back.
But then I realized I was stuck with it. I had called the owners so I couldn't just let it go without talking to them first. Great. About this same time it became apparent that it was an outdoor kitty. It wanted out. It was still very nice and cordial about being inside but again, it knew about doors and windows. Enough to try and remove the screen from one.
I emailed my roommate Jon, and he mentioned seeing a cat around the backyard and maybe I should see if it liked ice cream. Then I called Janna for advice. She's a pet owner master and we've been working on some pet-related web projects lately (see Animal Humane Society, Edinburgh Pet Health Center, TCOTC) She confirmed that since I had called the owners already I'd need to hang on to it and suggested tuna when I voiced concern that it might be hungry. Luckily I had a can, but again Buddy had no interest. Another thing she mentioned was that it's not illegal to let your cat roam in the city. I had started to think I had made a horrible mistake. But it was headed towards the STREET!
There was nothing to do but wait. I shut the door to my room and got to work on logging tape. Buddy was meowing his brains out but eventually calmed down when he found a rug to lay on in the dark bathroom.
Later on he helped me make lunch (clearly he didn't know about hot stoves) and seemed perfectly content rubbing his scent all over everything, including me.
I tried calling his owners a few hours later and still no answer. Just as I was thinking about how I was probably going to have to clean cat poo off the floor the owners called.
Just as I suspected. He's the king of the neighborhood and if indeed he had encountered Como Ave., he probably would have known how to navigate it. Luckily my neighbor was really cool and we talked about what an awesome kitty he was and how much he liked to hunt.
It was time for Buddy to go and required no more effort than to open my back door. His owner said he'd find his water spout and Iams without a problem. I expected him to bolt out but he just sauntered (probably dizzy with hunger, thirst and exposure to light) on to the newly-sprouting grass and promptly sat on it and ate it. That ingrate.
I guess I took my chances that he wasn't some rabid feral alley cat but it was fun to have Buddy for the day and meet two members of the neighborhood.
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