F&FFF: Houdini Act

Getting in another entry for Steven's Feline and Furball (with Feathers) Friday:

Ms. Innocent.

From Trouble Dogs

Wednesday morning, as John was just getting up and I was thinking about going to bed, John thought he heard Pepper barking outside. Now, we generally try to keep her inside overnight so that she won't contribute to the midnight chorus of alerts about some cat in the alleyway, but it's not all that rare for her to be in the back yard. Maybe we didn't close the door to the laundry room, or maybe I opened it because she really needed to go out. Or whatever. But this time was different. John thought he heard her in the front yard. The unfenced front yard.

Pepper, after a hard night's snoozing.

John came into my office and asked, "Where's Pepper?"

"Wasn't she in bed with you?"

"No."

John explained what he thought he'd heard. Frankly, I thought it was impossible. Unless John didn't latch the side gate, or Pepper dug her way out as she did on her first day here a year ago, there was no way she could be in the front yard.

"You check out front," John said. "I'll check the back yard."

I opened the front door, and Pepper came running! She seemed very glad to be back in the house after involuntarily hanging around Calle Mumble all night.

So how did she get out there? Best we can figure is that when I went out to the car for a small carton of Ben & Jerry's that had fallen out of my cloth grocery bag, she somehow slipped out the front door without my noticing. I didn't leave the door standing open, and I'm sure I would have noticed her brushing past me. So how did she do it? I really can't explain it.

I (almost) always know where Cayenne is.

Cayenne, of course, was near me all night, mostly snoozing in the next room. She gave me no indication that Pepper was AWOL. Then again, maybe she also assumed Pepper was in the bed with John.

Karen