From previous stories we all know that Bart can be a little mischievous, and a little curious. Unfortunately, this later came to bite him in his furry little bum. I had recently moved back into my parents house to save on money during COVID-19 and over the course of our first couple of months living there Bart watched the other three cats go in and out of the house freely. Bart got some outdoor privileges of course, but only supervised or on a leash. As this went on, he started wanting to go OUT, not the semi-only-allowed-within-the-reach-of-his-leash out, but really out. I decided that for once he could have a little less supervision, not fully unsupervised of course, but some time off the leash with someone checking up on him every few minutes instead of watching him with eagle eyes.
This was a mistake.
Within five minutes of being out, Bart had not only disappeared, but he had disappeared somewhere where food wasn’t going to get him back. We live on a stretch of open land, dotted with bushes and trees and the nearest neighbour 15 minutes away, so this was especially worrying. My parents and I spent an hour looking for him, and then, thinking he was our smart brave cat that might find his way back, we decided to give him a chance to come home. By the time dinner was over and it was starting to become dark, we were worried. We headed back out into our yard and started calling him again, even walking out into the street to see if he was huddled somewhere beside the road, or worse, dead after being hit by a car.
We didn’t find him that night. Instead me and my mother spent the whole night checking our front door window hoping the rain that had started would scare him enough to hide under our front porch. He didn’t show up that night.
The next morning my father decided to look while taking a walk around our field. While walking past a neighbour’s place, Pearl, our Australian Shepherd, sensed something and ran to the bushes. Upon investigating, my father found Bart nestled under the leaves, wet and cold but otherwise unharmed. Bart asked to go out again that same day.