Persistence of Memory

Starting to feel like a halfway house for cats here. I'm out having a smoke and I catch something out of the corner of my eye. It's a very light orange tabby (henceforth referred to as Creamsicle) staring at me with those big, dark eyes. So I talked to it, noticing that there was no collar on the beast. It wanders closer, certainly enough to put its paws up on my chair and sniff my hand.

I mean, it seemed friendly enough and not, say, rabid, so I wasn't too worried. But then it made the mistake of checking the food bowl under my chair. I knew Sue was around somewhere because of the occasional jingle, but when Creamsicle made that characteristic sound with the bowl Sue was out of her little cat house (under the other chair on the porch) like a shot and chasing Creamsicle away (who, I must say, looked either betrayed or devastated). Creamsicle is not the other neighborhood cat—that one has lots of white, some darker brown patches, and just loves chasing Sue all over hell and back. I assume White would love to beat the snot out of Sue, as well, but Sue is pretty good at getting away. Creamsicle is apparently a lot more passive.

(And speaking of cat houses, I'm referring to something Rick and I bashed together a couple of nights ago out of a cardboard box, an old sleeping bag that's seen better days, a large black plastic bag, staples, and duct tape. You know, to keep the wind and other elements off/out and for Sue to have a place to sleep when she's outside at 3am and whatnot in the middle of November and probably all winter. So it's got a little opening at the front with a roof-type bit over it, parts of the sleeping bag inside as a liner, and plastic all over the outside to protect it from water damage.)

Rick came out at that point to dump something in the big bin and I explained what happened. He kinda sighed and rolled his eyes.

Sue was one thing... she was a kitten at the time and collared, so we knew she was being looked after. This one is an adult with no collar, and, while friendly, is not getting into the house. Sue had that chance and blew it, so... not happening for this new one.

Whenever the next cat comes along for the household it'll be a kitten as usual. Bane has shown that he will not get on with a strange adult cat and Sue is way too fighty... which is kind of funny given that Bane is an utter coward (but I guess that only applies to humans and not other cats).