(no subject)

For a number of reasons I've kept Sirius as an inside cat. Late yesterday afternoon he slipped outside when I went out to do a little watering and I didn't notice. After watching a couple episodes of Downton Abbey in the evening, I realized he hadn't been pestering me at all, so I needed to look for him. I checked all the closets and rooms I might have closed him in, and then got worried. I went out back. Didn't see him. Went out front to look. Didn't see him. Went inside and started calling him a little louder than before. No luck. I went out back again called and just about the time I'd decided he was lost for the night at least, I thought I heard a soft meow. I called again and soon there was another soft meow. I moved toward it. There he was crawling out from behind a stand of plants. I picked him up and brought him in. I closed the door and set him down. He was as dirty and bedraggled as I've ever seen him. He was scared. Maybe he tried to scratch at the door and I didn't hear him. Maybe he had a run in with one of the neighbors' cats and was hiding. At any rate, he slunk around for a few minutes with very sorry posture. As soon as he felt a little better, he was off around all the rooms rubbing himself on absolutely everything as if saying, "This is mine! And this and this!" He rubbed himself a lot on me, but wouldn't let me hold him to try to calm him down. He's still a little excited today, but I hope his experience by himself outside was unpleasant enough that he'll be slower to dart out when I'm not looking.