The Patio Incident

So you know how cat's get nine lives, well CJ seems to have used a lot, if not all, of his.

One of his lives was used up in the spring of 2002.  I was living in a one bedroom appartment, on the third floor.  I had three cats at the time, CJ, Star and Amy.  It was warm out, so I went to sleep with my patio door open a little.  I wasn't worried about anything because I was on the third floor and the railings were round, so the cats couldn't go up on them.

I woke up suddenly.  It must have been the weekend, because I was planning on sleeping in.  After my morning routine I went into the living room to relax for a bit.  Two of my three cats were sitting at the patio window, staring outside. "Hmmmm, where is CJ?" I thought.  I checked the entire apartment (this didn't take long, it wasn't very big.)  Then I got this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomache.  I ran out on the patio and looked down.  There was bushes three stories down, but no cat.

Quickly, I grabbed my keys and ran down three flights of steps and out the front door (in my PJs with crazy morning hair).  I hurried over to the bushes and began searching for CJ.  It didn't take long.  There he was, curled into a black and white ball of fur with these big, freaked out yellow eyes. I scooped him into my arms and carried him up to the apartment.

Star, Amy and I checked every square inch of him to make sure he was okay, and, well, he was.  He was actually better than okay because both Star and Amy were showering him with affection, cleaning him and rubbing up against him.  All of his girls were very relieved to see that he survived such a great fall without even a scratch.

Needless to say, I didn't leave the sliding glass door open again, unless I was sitting right there.