After a super late night of eating yummy leftovers, watching a Netflix movie, and just hanging out chit-chatting, we closed up shop for the night as usual and we all hit the sack. I love this time of year... for it's not super blistering hot yet, but it's not bone-chilling cold either. The weather is somewhere in the middle and when all the windows are open the house gets a nice cool breeze flowing through, not to mention how much the Key-Dens love listening, smelling and looking out wishing they were big & brave enough to be outside cats!
The last thing I remember was looking & calling out for Ming & Bing as I headed for bed... and then very quickly giving up as my tired head hit the pillow. Jei & I both thought it was pretty weird not being woken up, smothered, bothered and annoyed by the cats throughout the night and early morning, but we really didn't pay much attention or care... as our uninterrupted sleep was much more important. But that only lasted until we both were rudely awakened early the next morning by the unmistakable sound of a cold, hungry, & frightened little kitty "meow" that was coming from the front porch. Our bedroom window was open, so it was quite impossible to try and ignore the sad cry for help and go back to sleep.
Neither one of us really recognized the distinct "meow"... but we just figured it was one of Bing's new friends he had made from the week prior. I tried my best to sleep through it and ignore the repeating "meow's", but being the crazy cat-lover I am, there was no way I could ignore a poor homeless cold little Key-Den. So I got up, slipped on some flip-flops, opened the front door and barely made it out of the threshold before my jaw hit the floor and I froze in complete shock! I'm pretty sure if I had seen President Obama himself standing on my front porch, I would have been less surprised than I was when I saw who it actually was!
There on the railing stood our precious little Ming on all fours... with the most horrified look on her face! Naturally, I was in complete shock and wondering two things: if I was still sleeping and all this was a dream... and how in the world did she get out of the house?! I quickly grabbed her and she clung onto me for dear life! I brought her back in and as I walked into our room with her in my arms, Jei raised up out of bed with the most bewildered look on her face. Like me, she couldn't believe it was Ming that was "meowing" outside our window, nor could she understand how she got out in the first place.
After briefly giving Ming some lovings on our bed, we quickly turned our attention to Bing. He too was missing and not in the house... so I went back onto the front porch to try and find him. There was no sign of Bing out front, so I went back inside to go check the back of the house and as soon as I approached the sliding glass door... there went Bing running up to the door "meowing" telling me to let him in already!
Needless to say, we were extraordinarily relieved to know our two sweet Key-Dens were okay and safely inside the house. And after a few minutes of deep thought... we finally realized what had happened. We recently got into the habit of leaving open both the sliding glass door as well as the sliding screen door that leads to the screened-in back porch... both for cool air purposes, but more importantly, so that Ming & Bing can roam freely out onto the porch, which they thoroughly enjoy.
So as we all got ready for bed the previous night, Jei & I went around the house and closed some of the windows... to include the sliding glass door, so we wouldn't freeze come 4 O'clock in the morning. Of course without us knowing it, as Jei slid the glass door shut and locked it, we inadvertently left Ming & Bing out on the back porch... without any food, water, or warm little place to sleep! I'm sure by early morning Ming had had just about enough of the cold... and told Bing to standby, for she was going on a mission!
Ming had somehow managed to push out on the screen door just enough to wiggle herself out. Once she was out, she amazingly found her way to the front of the house, climbed up the stairs, jumped up on the railing, and cried her little lungs out: "Hey Jackasses... you left me & my brother outside all night in the cold without food and water! Wake up!!!"
Naturally, Jei & I felt absolutely awful and couldn't believe we didn't notice them being gone throughout the night! Needless to say, after feeding them a nice big meal, we gave them both as much loving attention as they could possibly handle. But that still didn't make us feel any better about it... and with us being a little over five months pregnant, the last thing we wanted to think of ourselves as was... bad parents!
