Feline Fugitives

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

“MARK, HAVE YOU SEEN Frankie or Freddie?” Mia asked her husband.

“Not since early this morning,” Mark answered. “Did you check the girls’ room?”

“That was my first stop,” Mia answered, expecting to find their two tabby cats hiding in the bedroom of their one-and-a-half-year-old twin girls.

The tabby brothers were no strangers to mischief. But now that the human twins could run and climb and feed them table scraps, the feline duo had been inspired to up their mischief game.

After searching the house for Frankie and Freddie to no avail, Mia decided to put LuLu and Laurie down for their naps. Where could Frankie and Freddie be? Mia wondered. They must have found a secret hideout.

With the girls settled into their cribs, Mia took a cup of coffee and her laptop out to the deck. After spending a few minutes in prayer, she opened the laptop and logged into her email. She deleted four advertisements in a row, then almost spit out her coffee when she read the subject line of the next email from their neighborhood group:

Are these your cats?

Mia had a bad feeling. She chewed her bottom lip as she clicked on the message. A blurry photo of Frankie and Freddie peering into a glass door filled the laptop screen.

“How in the world?” Mia whispered, trying to figure out how her cats had gotten out of the house.

The email explained that Frankie and Freddie had been standing outside said neighbor’s glass door meowing loudly and pawing at the door—all of which was apparently sending the neighbor’s anxiety-prone cat into hysterics. “Please do a better job of controlling your cats,” the irritated neighbor concluded.

Mia wanted to disappear into her chair. How did they get out? How would she get them back? And should she respond to the email? She recognized the neighbor’s name. He frequently sent emails about dog owners not picking up after their dogs, people leaving tire marks in his grass, and lawn companies making too much noise in the morning. She decided to wait to respond. But she did need to find her cats—and soon.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry long about locating the prodigal brothers because the two were back by dinnertime, feigning innocence as they pawed at the back door.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Mia scolded from the kitchen, as she stirred spaghetti sauce. “You two landed yourselves on the neighborhood’s most-wanted list. Don’t think you can just stroll back in here like everything’s all peachy.”

Mia turned the burner down and was wiping her hands on a towel when LuLu toddled into the kitchen.

“Kit-TY,” she said, her face lighting up as she pointed to the two felines outside.

“Mee-ooww,” Laurie called to the duo.

Laurie looked at her mom, then the cats, ran over to the door and pushed down on the handle, opening it enough for Frankie and Freddie to scoot right in.

“Well . . . that solves that mystery,” Mia muttered, making a mental note to buy childproof door handle locks.

The handle locks worked well at keeping the cats—and the humans—inside. Mark, however, was late to a meeting because he couldn’t figure out how to get out of the house after Mia first installed them. Several months later, Mia decided it was safe to take them off. Surely, Frankie and Freddie’s neighborhood mischief had been a one-time thing.

But three weeks later, another neighborhood alert went out about a pair of peeping cats who were taunting indoor cats. Hours later, Frankie and Freddie appeared at the back door of their house without a hint of guilt on their faces.

Mia looked from Frankie and Freddie to their two little blonde accomplices and went to retrieve the childproof locks. This time she vowed they would remain on the door for many years to come.

PAWS & PONDER . . .

What does it mean to walk in integrity? How does walking in integrity enable you to walk securely? What do you think “crooked paths” refers to in this context? What steps can you take today to avoid journeying down a crooked path?

Paws & Pray

God, please walk with me. Keep me far away from paths of temptation, distraction, and sin. I want to be someone with integrity who never lets go of your hand.