I didn’t really know how much time I had until “the lovely people” arrived. Therefore, I started my exploration immediately after Anne and Mary had left me in the garage (unfortunately not without locking the door behind them). What I needed was either something to crawl into or to hide behind. Either way, it would be difficult for the two-leggers to find me. It was one of the rare occasions where I thanked mother nature for the natural coverage provided by my tabby coat. I just had to be careful not to show my white bits - which was not too difficult: “Just keep you head down and curl your paws up well.” I thought to myself. On my search for the best hiding-place, I strolled by several big boxes that smelt of old fabrics and clothing. Unfortunately, all of the boxes were closed very tightly - otherwise, they would have been a great ambush. I scratched on a few corners to see if I could rip the box open just wide enough for me to get in - but then I figured that it would have been far too obvious if there were bits of shredded cardboard lying on the ground. That would have given me away immediately…I could not risk that - so I went on looking around: Maybe behind the pots of wall paint? No way - I was positive that the smell out of them would make me sick pretty quickly. How about on top of the shelves? Nothing big enough there to hide behind. The longer I went on, the more desperate I became. What if I could not find anything suitable in time?
Even though I knew that, realistically, I could do very little to avoid being caught and catnapped, I wanted to try my best to make it as tricky as possible. For that purpose,  I kept on  searching. I checked out every corner of the garage, looked under every shelf and crawled behind everything that looked big enough to lie quiet. The left corner on the far end of the garage looked the most promising:There was a stack of smaller boxes of different sizes. They were piled up in such a way that there were little gaps between them. I reckoned that, if I could manage to hop up and get behind one of the middle boxes, it would give me enough space to curl up. The only catch to it was that this particular stack of boxes stood right opposite the door - if anything went wrong, they would see me at first glance. Could I risk that? I decided to keep the “box-option” in the back of my head and use the rest of the time I had to try and find something better.Suddenly, a noise from outside distracted my attention: The sound of another one of those “car-things”. Hearing is a very handy ability for us felines. It helps to judge distances and directions. The new sound was clearly moving towards our house and it was not a car that sounded familiar to me.

Three options were possible:

1. One of our neighbours returned home - unlikely because I normally recognized the cars of the people in the area and that sound was totally new to me.
2. Somebody came in as a visitor for someone in neighbourhood - in that case, the sound of the car would stop somewhere close but not in front of our house.
3. The car belonged to those “Alex and Vicky-people” - my new enemies. The most likely and most undesirable option.

I stood there motionless and waited where the sound was moving towards. It came off the main street and took a right turn into our housing-estate. There, I heard it stop for a couple of minutes (it must have waited at one of those tricoloured light-things). I had seen cars do that occasionally but I could never figure out how the system worked. When I want to cross a road, I just wait until the cars stop moving - no matter for what reason.
But anyway, back to the job on paw: Which way did that unfamiliar sound take? Did it come for me? Out of nowhere, there was a new sound disturbing my concentration: The phone inside was ringing. I heard Mary answer it. What I heard next drove another shiver through my little body:

“ Hi Vicky, are you on the way yet?” - The following pause only got broken by a couple of “mmmhs” and “I see”s.
“ Ok, so you just got into the housing estate”.

For meowing out loud - THEY WERE COMING FOR ME.

I needed a couple of seconds to focus again. Obviously, they were lost. Excellent. That would buy me a bit of extra time to hide. Mary was obviously trying to explain the best route to them:

“What direction did you come from?…..Aha, I see……Tell Alex to take the next turn to the right, go straight to the traffic-lights and then turn left.”

While Mary was speaking, I heard the sound get closer - NOT GOOD. I suddenly realized that I would be better off to go to my ambush rather than standing around here dropping ears. I decided that - for lack of another option, the stack of boxes on the opposite side of the door was the place to be. Therefore, a took a longish leap to get on top of them and then settled at the back. There was just enough space for me between tow of the middle size ones. I squeezed myself in and curled up.

“Yes, Kitty is waiting for you. We got her locked up in the garage. I am going to put a bit of food down for her now. With a full tummy, she might just fall asleep in the car” - OH NO, I was about to get my last meal in this place and there was nothing I could do about it.

After having realized that, I spent the next couple of minutes rolled up in a little ball in the my little hiding-place between the boxes. Was that it? Was I not even going to get a chance to take a last wander around the premises to memorize all the scents and noises? Suddenly, I was very, very sad. All my anger and panic suddenly disappeared. What replaced them was a very odd feeling of emptiness and desperation. I had always been happy here, I had my mates and a good place to sleep in. Why did all of this have to change now? I did not want this to happen.

If I waited behind the garage door, would I manage to get passed Mary or Anne when I was due my evening-feed? But where would I go from there? I surely could not stay with them anymore. They had betrayed me once already and would probably just ring those Alex-and-Vicky-people as soon as I reappeared. How quickly could I find myself a new place?

I was contemplating the different scenarios possible when I heard the door-bell ringing. That was it - THEY HAD ARRIVED. I curled up tighter and made myself as small as possible. I did not move, even when Anne came in a few minutes later with a bit of food and water for me - did she really think I felt like food now???
After she had called me a couple of times (undoubtedly in order to lure me into the open), she finally gave up and went back out again.

That was interesting: Why did none of my two enemies stick the head in here to have a look at me? Suddenly, I was rather curious about them. What did What kind of people were they? Had they been looking after cats before? What was the new place going to be like? Why did they not show any more interest in me?
Oddly enough, being left alone for another little while, I was toying with the idea of sneaking over to the food bowl to have a bit of dinner. But how could I  be sure that they were not coming into the garage in exactly that moment when my little nose was down in the dish?
That would have given them the impression that everything was ok while it most decidedly WAS NOT. I figured that it probably was more clever to relinquish food and play “badly treated cat”.

I gathered that my hide-away would not work for longer than half an hour. After that, they would have found me anyway. If I didn’t manage to get out of the garage and do a runner, it was up to me to make the best of the new situation.
Mary and Anne were not going to keep me - I was sure of that. Therefore, I might even have to do the unthinkable and APPEAL to the new two-leggers.