Isidore's evening excursion

Isidore took an unscheduled excursion last night. I was out on the deck feeding and paying attention to my old battered black and white stray cat when all of a sudden Max (my old cat with hyperthyroidism) came over and started checking out the old fellow. Max isn't supposed to be out, but he will often slip out if the door is open a bit. Apparently one of the cats (I think it was Isi) had pried the door open a little and he had slipped out. Oscar was peering out too, but I pushed him back in when I put Max back. I took a quick look around the kitchen and thought I had accounted for all the cats who were downstairs at the time.

So I go about my business the rest of the evening and when my brother gets home from work around 1 am he wants to chat a bit while he winds down. So we are out on the deck talking and I hear this cat meowing. At first I think it's coming from the upstairs window on my side which is fine as the cats hang out in the attic and often meow at me when I am outside. Then I realise it's coming from a cat walking along my brother's side of the house. I figure it's Little Black Cat, because he does that sometimes. So I'm fully expecting this sleek black cat to come walking up my brother's steps, but when the cat does come up I see it's Isidore and he's very happy to see us! I was shocked -- he had been outside for at least four or five hours. He must have heard us talking and recognised the voices.

I wonder where he was all that time, and I can't help but feel a bit sick because there is a fairly busy road (even at that time of the night) just one house over (and there isn't much room between houses). I would have felt terrible if he'd been lost, hurt, or killed because he got out and I didn't notice he was gone. He was obviously relieved to find us, but it was also obvious he was having a great time outside too. And once he knew we were there he started puttering around again. I soon put him back in the house -- where Oscar came right over and started to check him out thoroughly. I could practically hear Oscar asking him "Where have you been!" and Isi telling him all about his adventure. Poor Oscar seemed absolutely disgusted that damned Isi cat got to go outside and he didn't!

One of the really strange things about this is that Isi came as a stray to the old house in the country. He lived on the porch for several weeks, but soon decided he wanted to live in the house, so he came inside. Once inside he showed no inclination at all to go back outside, even though several of the other cats (including Oscar) liked to go outside for several hours every day. But now the little shit has decided the outdoors is a pretty cool place and is very interested in checking it out some more. And Oscar is even more determined to go out with him! >:(