His next overnight trip didn't take place for two weeks and they didn't see each other before he left. She had called him one night to ask how Mr. Coffee was getting along, chatted about the weather and the advent of fall, and then said goodnight. She had the feeling she had interrupted him at his drawing board, so decided she wouldn't do that again.
Russ's trip was just one overnight, returning Friday evening. Melanie was really looking forward to playing with Mr. Coffee again. She really missed him. But when Russ came in at five on Friday and called, "Hi, Honey. I'm home." there was no answer. He looked through the house but couldn't find her anywhere. Finally he went to the basement, checked it out, again with no results, so he went out the patio door. She was sitting on the deck, her head in her hands, and he could tell she was crying.
"Melanie! What's wrong?" Sitting down beside her, he put an arm around her. "Talk!"
Between hiccups, she told him that Mr. Coffee had disappeared while they were playing hide-and-seek the evening before, and hadn't come home all night. She hadn't wanted to go to work, but had two appointments scheduled with clients, so she had no choice. She had come back from work early and had called until her throat was raw, but he was nowhere to be found.
"What if a fisher or an owl caught him? What if he went out on the road and got run over by a car? What if someone found him and took him home with them? Oh, Russ, I'm so sick about this!"
"Melanie, my dear, Mr. Coffee is just being a cat. It's not the first time he's stayed out all night and all day. He's exploring and marking his new territory. Our first choice was to let him have his freedom and trust him to become street smart - or, in this case, bush smart. The second choice was to let him be a fat lazy house cat with no claws. I don't think either of us would want that for him. Okay?"
"Not okay, until he's back where he belongs." She blew her nose on a very damp tissue.
"Um, Mel, speak of the devil..."
There he was, stepping daintily through the grass, on his way over to greet them.
"Mr. Coffee, I should whup your butt for this. You just gave me about fifty gray hairs. Come here, you brat, I need a cuddle." She picked him up and held him close for the few seconds that he would tolerate it. "Hey Russ, how come you know so much when you've never had a pet?"