commando-style

i shut one of the kitchen windows before bed last week without realizing that abu was still out on the fire escape. i didn't discover this until the next morning when it was time for food, and abu wasn't right there waiting. i put up some posters and a craigslist ad and went to work, it was hard to concentrate all day long. after work there was no word from anyone but while i was making dinner, i could hear a faint meowing out my kitchen window. i stuck my head out and could see abu sitting in the middle of the neighbor's backyard garden.

 

i went right next door to ring the bell, but before i even got up the steps a guy walking up the street asked if he could help me. i explained the whole situation and asked if i could have access to the backyard to fetch my cat and he flat out refused. he did offer to go back there himself and 'pass the cat over the fence' to me.

 

that was all a farce of course, because as soon as the guy turned on the light and went into his backyard, abu hid off in the corner in the weeds. i explained this to him from my side of the fence, and he gruffly denied any cat being back there and retreated into his very private air-conditioned home, end of conversation.

 

so, naturally i waited until 2am, scaled the back fence commando-style, crawled across the roof of their outbuilding and climbed down the clothesline tower to provide my own self access to their backyard. i brought the carrier with me and after ten minutes or so of quietly calling out to him, abu decided it was safe to show himself and came trotting over. i pet him for a minute before stuffing him in to the carrier and making the whole obstacle course routine in reverse, this time with a very nervous cat in tow. i'm glad to report that all is well now and neither my landlord nor my neighbor are aware of my trespasses.

 

highlights of the route are in green and they include: razor wire, power lines, and the slick, slimy fruit vines.

 

Done