A HALLOWEEN ESCAPE . . . AND FRIDAY FUNNIES

So here's how I feel this morning.

Last night was our first Halloween in many years that we tried to ignore.  We went out to comida (early dinner) in the late afternoon, then returned home and turned out most of the lights to discourage trick-or-treaters.  That worked great for awhile.  Not once did our doorbell ring.

(Side comment: the worst thing about this strategy was that THERE IS NO LEFTOVER CANDY FOR ME IN THE HOUSE!!!  Whose idea was this anyway??!!!)

So I was walking down the hallway in the dark when I ran into a chair, making a loud crash followed by an unprintable yell from me.

A little later, walking down the same dark hallway but being more careful this time, I saw a red glow that came and went regularly from the front window of a house across the street.  Curious, I went and got my binoculars and tried to see the house through a narrow front window.  Too small.  So I opened the front door to step outside and saw something slip by me and dart outside.  BLACKWELL!

Now those of you who follow this blog regularly know that our Big Black Boy Cat is totally black except for a mostly-invisible smear of white on his belly.  You also know that he is an indoor cat who came to us some years ago as a feral lurker.  And you also know that he is a Damned Escape Artist!  He loves to dart out the door when one of his keepers is least expecting it and go out to explore the outdoors.

So there we are.  It's Halloween night.  Probably around 8 o'clock. Darker than sin outside and we're trying to lure a totally black cat back inside the house.  He crossed the street, meowing all the way as I kept saying "NO!" (which has worked before) and calling his name "Blackwell" (which probably struck fear into the hearts of our neighbors.)

I was barefoot so I went back into the house to don some sandals and notify SWMBO.  She muttered some vile epithet, also unprintable here, and came out to help in the effort.

Blackwell was staying fairly close, only venturing across the street a couple of times but staying out of reach.  Finally SWMBO suggested I open the garage door just a crack, enough for him to enter.  I did and we continued the pleading calls as the dark blur foraged the neighborhood.

Then he came up near the garage door but would not enter until a car came around the corner.  He darted inside and SWMBO and I tried to push the garage door down.  Unsuccessfully.  So I hurried around, went in the front door, out to the garage and asked SWMBO several times if he was still inside.  No answer.  Apparently she couldn't hear me.  So I took a deep breath and pushed the automatic garage door closer button.  The door closed but no sign of the blasted cat until I called his name.  Then he darted out from under the car and ran into the house.

Well!  That was 20 minutes of Halloween fun at our house.  SWMBO didn't speak to me much the rest of the night except to say she was very upset with me.  But she has recovered her humor this morning and came to my office to ask if Blackwell had apologized to me yet.

And so it goes.

That, by the way, is not one of our cats.  Nor is this next one, whose name is probably . . . Pussy.

Happy Friday, y'all.  I hope your Halloween night was better than mine.