But more about that later. Monday also could have been one of the worst days of my life. Some background first, before I sound like a total moron: Otto, Wanda and Reggie are all allowed out on our porch and around the outside of the house with supervision, as you already know. Mister is allowed out on harness, for reasons I've elucidated elsewhere. Elroy has neither been outside with supervision nor on a harness because he will not allow us to put a harness on him, and we've never really been sure how he'd react to being outside. We see him on the other side of the glass door, looking longingly at Otto and Reggie's adventures, but he doesn't come out.
Until Monday. "Maybe we could see," I thought. "Maybe he'd be fine," I surmised. I was wrong. It was a terrible, TERRIBLE idea. Elroy gingerly stepped out to the front porch, looked around, then promptly bolted down the walkway to the driveway. There, he hung out under the car for what seemed like days, but was really probably only a few minutes. Our contractor came by to start work for the day, and we waved him off. He's a big-time animal-lover, so I know it frustrated him not to be able to help, but Elroy would have been terrified (more than he already was) if he'd tried.
Elroy, as they said on Ghostbusters, had gone bye-bye. You could see it in his eyes--he had completely checked out. His eyes were doing that moving-slowly-back-and-forth thing that cats do when they're really, really stressed. And he was definitely stressed. This was no joyride for poor Elroy. This was a nightmare dreamscape in which rabid raccoons lurked behind every corner and hurricanes came roaring through to pummel him with rain and wind. He was back in North Charleston again--you could see it on his face. And he did not. Know. What. To do. He had no clue.
So he just hung out under the car, wanting desperately to be rescued, but so confused that he didn't know how to come out from under the car to allow that to happen. Eventually, he did, and bolted back behind the house. I opened the front door, hoping to lure him inside. He was terrified of the door, and ran the other direction. We have all the post holes dug in the front and side yard for purposes of creating an upstairs screened-in porch for the buddies, and I had terrible visions of him falling in and hurting himself, not to mention the scary basement stairs that Reggie nearly expired on.
I rounded the corner to the back of the house to see Sean on his hands and knees on the other side of the deck. "Stay back" he whispered loudly at me, throwing his hand up to emphasize his point. I stopped. I saw him move forward just a bit, underneath a small tree that overhangs the deck. Then, in what seemed like the longest fifteen seconds of my life, I saw him stand up with Elroy in his arms. I slammed open the screen door to the back as fast as I could, and Sean brought him back into the house, where he promptly ran away and hid.
I literally thought we would be losing a buddy and gaining a buddy all in the same day. Thank the Universe and all that is good in the world that this was not the case.
Elroy still hasn't completely recovered. (It didn't help that he accidentally ran into Sean's legs while Sean was trying to mush them on Monday night, and so now he's scared of mush, too.) But I think with some time and some patience, he'll be fine.
Now if we can just convince him not to be scared of the new girl.
Until Monday. "Maybe we could see," I thought. "Maybe he'd be fine," I surmised. I was wrong. It was a terrible, TERRIBLE idea. Elroy gingerly stepped out to the front porch, looked around, then promptly bolted down the walkway to the driveway. There, he hung out under the car for what seemed like days, but was really probably only a few minutes. Our contractor came by to start work for the day, and we waved him off. He's a big-time animal-lover, so I know it frustrated him not to be able to help, but Elroy would have been terrified (more than he already was) if he'd tried.
Elroy, as they said on Ghostbusters, had gone bye-bye. You could see it in his eyes--he had completely checked out. His eyes were doing that moving-slowly-back-and-forth thing that cats do when they're really, really stressed. And he was definitely stressed. This was no joyride for poor Elroy. This was a nightmare dreamscape in which rabid raccoons lurked behind every corner and hurricanes came roaring through to pummel him with rain and wind. He was back in North Charleston again--you could see it on his face. And he did not. Know. What. To do. He had no clue.
So he just hung out under the car, wanting desperately to be rescued, but so confused that he didn't know how to come out from under the car to allow that to happen. Eventually, he did, and bolted back behind the house. I opened the front door, hoping to lure him inside. He was terrified of the door, and ran the other direction. We have all the post holes dug in the front and side yard for purposes of creating an upstairs screened-in porch for the buddies, and I had terrible visions of him falling in and hurting himself, not to mention the scary basement stairs that Reggie nearly expired on.
I rounded the corner to the back of the house to see Sean on his hands and knees on the other side of the deck. "Stay back" he whispered loudly at me, throwing his hand up to emphasize his point. I stopped. I saw him move forward just a bit, underneath a small tree that overhangs the deck. Then, in what seemed like the longest fifteen seconds of my life, I saw him stand up with Elroy in his arms. I slammed open the screen door to the back as fast as I could, and Sean brought him back into the house, where he promptly ran away and hid.
I literally thought we would be losing a buddy and gaining a buddy all in the same day. Thank the Universe and all that is good in the world that this was not the case.
Elroy still hasn't completely recovered. (It didn't help that he accidentally ran into Sean's legs while Sean was trying to mush them on Monday night, and so now he's scared of mush, too.) But I think with some time and some patience, he'll be fine.
Now if we can just convince him not to be scared of the new girl.
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