Rumi's World (apologies to Wyeth)

Just Rumi, being "normal"...

Fennec managed to squeeze in torso, tail, and three out of four limbs. Frankly, it looked really creepy.

Gadjo and Fennec both had an adventure a few nights ago. I was reading in my bedroom and heard a cat argument going on outside a living room window. When it didn't stop, I went outside to investigate. And there--outside, below the window--was Gadjo with some other cat. 

My cats are not allowed out. So I was in shock, trying to figure out if that was definitely Gadjo, or the Siamese girl ("Shasta"--she looks quite a bit like Gadjo, and does go outside) from a few houses away. It was Gadjo! He panicked and bolted under some bushes, but eventually I managed to get him to come to me. He was terrified. I brought him inside, still not knowing how he'd gotten out. Then, back inside, I saw that he had popped one end of the window screen out (bending the whole screen in the process). It was too late and dark to deal with the bent screen, so I just shut the window. There's been a cat coming around frequently and it and Gadjo have arguments through the window. I think it was the same cat this time, but I'm not sure because it was dark out, and it skittered away quickly when I went out.

I went to bed and kept being woken up all night long by Gadjo howling. I figured he was agitated by his unexpected experience. Didn't get much sleep... and then just as I started to really sleep, there was a knock on my door. It was a neighbor. "Hey," she said to my sleep-deprived face peeking around the curtain, "don't you have an orange cat? There's one under the bushes out here."

I threw on some clothes and wandered bleary-eyed outside in the dawn. There lay Fennec, yes, outside, cool as a cucumber, with eyes half-closed, a Cheshire smile and an extremely smug expression, front arms crossed in front of him, the very tip of his tail moving, casual as can be. The antithesis of panicked.

I picked him up (oof), thanked the neighbor, brought him in, and immediately checked the window. It was still closed as I'd left it when I brought Gadjo in.

Gadjo stopped howling when his orange buddy was home, I went back to sleep, and a few hours later, when I was semi-awake again, I realized Fennec must've slipped out the corner of the screen just when I was bringing Gadjo in. Brat!

Brats, both of them. 

I'm so relieved they're all OK. (Also glad that apparently little deaf Rumi slept through their escape and so didn't witness it and follow their lead.)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com