The Cat Who Didn't Come to Stay

So, yesterday morning on her way to work my wife came across a little grey cat on the path near our apartment. Remembering that a week back someone had posted a notice by the mailbox kiosk about the missing little grey cat they'd been fostering, she picked it up and brought it back to our place, sequestering it from our three in the box room/garage with some food, water, and a dirtbox. It was obviously not a stray, since it was very tame and seemingly well-fed. Unfortunately, the flyer down at the mailboxes had disappeared, so she made up a "Found" notice and I walked down and put it up. That's when I got the idea that the original notice might still be up at the other set of mailboxes nearer the complex's entrance and, if not, later in the day I might walk around and check those for some of the neighboring complexes. I was in luck: a copy of at the other kiosk, so I called and left messages that we'd found the missing cat.

Except it turned out they'd already found her. This wasn't their missing cat at all. So, after making sure, I took the little cat back outside, let her go, and gave her a good meal for the road. She stayed around for an hour or so till the sprinkles of rain stopped, then went her way. A very friendly little cat whom I hope to see out and about in the neighborhood. An inveterate namer, I decided her unofficial name will be Lady Jane.

And our cats? They staked out the garage door from the stairwell while she was there, and once she was outside they moved into the box room windows to watch her while she was in sight. All outsider cat smells having been extracted from my hands by assiduous sniffing, all three joined me in my office for the morning work session, peace and harmony restored in the home.