Playing nice....

.... and waiting for the other paw to drop.

Since the return of the orange cat, he and Gatsby have called a truce of some sorts. Mickey continues to ignore the orange cat, keeping his distance but also keeping watch when they're both out on the porch.

Gatsby, however, is another cat story, especially because he has been King Of The Porch for six years now.  When the orange cat first appeared, Gatsby growled and hissed and howled at him, to the point where one would think whiskers were being pulled out by the dozen. Gatsby, however, howled from a distance, but every once in a while he would charge the orange cat as if he were the matador and the orange cat were the bull.

There was a decidedly different cat atmosphere on the porch while the orange cat was off at the Lake... both Gatsby and Mickey strolled around the porch without so much as a glance behind their furry cat-selves.  However.... that 12th day after the Lake episode brought the orange cat back here... and once again, Gatsby and Mickey walk in slow motion on that porch, as if that blasted orange cat were going to jump out from a corner of the porch and scream "Gotcha!"

When the weather turns warm, Gatsby prefers to sleep on the porch, and the last few nights have indeed been warm. Gatsby came into the house to eat a late dinner last night, then sat by the kitchen door till it was opened for him, and out he went.  By that time, Mickey was safely enclosed in the garage, with his little trap door open so he could get into the fenced-in coop. (Both areas are equipped with cat-beds and cat-sized chairs and little tables... a plethora of cat-napping/sleeping choices.)

During the night, I heard not a sound from outside... no hisses or howls, no screeches or cat-fights. When I woke up this morning, I actually thought the orange cat had gone off to another property for the night, as he often does.  I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, and peeked out the back door.... and there were Gatsby and the orange cat..... both of them sleeping soundly in the chairs by the back door... Gatsby on the left side, the orange cat on the right. Sleeping nice. Playing nice.

I poured Meow Mix into two bowls before I opened the door.... Gatsby had jumped down from his chair as soon as he heard me turning the lock, but the orange cat stayed right where he was and just watched me. I put the food dishes down on the porch, each one on a different side of the back door. Gatsby started to eat immediately.... the orange cat left his chair and walked to his dish when I came back into the house.  I waited for them to finish up before I went into the garage to feed Mickey and let him out for the day.

These cats are testing me. As of right now, everyone is quiet and friendly and playing nice.  They've been like this before.... and then when I least expect it, one of them will be rumbling across the porch intent on making the other jump from between the porch railings and land in the flower beds around the porch.

Cats. It must be my destiny to have cats. They always find their way to where I live... and they tell their whiskered friends.  But that orange cat.... unfixed, unbroken. still on the feral side, no matter how nicely he has behaved since he found his way back here. I still look at him and shake my head in wonder.