Hide and Go Freak

Two things you should know about Jasmine:

1. She's an indoor cat. Who likes bolting for the door.

2. She loves being with me. Not just for my inherent lovability, but because she has what we call "abandonment issues." Meaning that, whenever I'm home, Jasmine is in the same room as me about 99% of the time. The only time she isn't with me is if I've left her a nice bowl of wet food. I'm great and all, but I can't compete with sliced tuna in gravy.

So, the other day, the exterminator came. She's been skittish around strangers lately, so she hid from him.

I had to go to work after he left. Since Jasmine isn't allowed in my bedroom when I'm gone, I wanted to close the bedroom door. Naturally, this required getting a bead on Jasmine's location -- as it wouldn't do either of us any good if I locked her on the wrong side of the bedroom door for a day. (It's one thing getting her to respect my fragile belongings, another to get her to respect them when she can't get to the litter box.)

Looked all around. Could not find the cat. Called for her. (She never comes anyway.)

Looked in her favorite hiding place (under the sofa). Kinda hard to see down there. Waved her favorite toy (laser pointer) in the general direction of under the sofa. No takers. Walked around the house shaking a treat bag. Nothing. Walked around the house shaking a rattling toy. Nothing.

Now I started worrying. Did she maybe dart out the door when the exterminator came? Or... he'd opened the door to the balcony--maybe she went out on the balcony and (heavens!) tried to see how high she could jump from and still do that landing-on-her-feet thing. I looked down at my neighbor's patio below -- no little pile o' Jasmine.

I gave up. I gathered up my work stuff and started for the door. All of a sudden, little paws started doing that yawn and stretch thing from under the sofa, where she'd been hiding all along. I was twenty minutes late for work and my heart was beating a mile a minute (hey! cardio workout!) but at least she was safe.

This morning, another workman came. Jas disappeared as soon as he got here and I haven't seen her for two hours. I think she's trying to play "Hide and Go Freak" again. I'm not going to fall for it this time. I know she's around here someplace.

Still... two hours is an awfully long time... she must be getting hungry... poor little thing...