Surprise!

      Yesterday, I drove over to look after my hospitalized friend's three black cats.  She has more (and more colorful), but the most sociable ones are being looked after in the house of another friend while these have stayed home.

      Her hospital stay was unexpectedly lengthened, so all of this has been very much after-the-fact.

      I fed the cats and checked up on them.  One cat hides from me and I don't know all of her locations; she wasn't in either of the usual spots, but that's not uncommon.  In the basement rec room, there's one who hides behind the washer/dryer and watches me warily, and he did so.  The other cat kind of likes me; he sleeps under an armchair, and if I lift the flap of upholstery at the front, he comes out and wants to play.  That's just what he did.  Eventually, the behind-the-washer cat came out and watched us.  He's done that a few times.  He still doesn't trust me, but he doesn't want to miss out on the fun. 

      After that, it was time to clean the litterboxes, rec room and upstairs.  She uses clumping litter, so it's not too bad; I wear a mask to block the dust.  Noticing the cats had been tracking litter from one of the upstairs boxes, I swept up the excess and then got out the vacuum cleaner to pick the last traces.

      As soon as I turned the vacuum on, two cats -- two! -- practically levitated from behind the furniture, hit the floor running and vanished down the hall.  One was the shy little black cat.  The other one was a big gray cat with white paws that I have not seen in several weeks of feeding and cleaning up after these cats.

      I texted my friend, DO YOU HAVE A GRAY CAT WITH WHITE PAWS?  Sure enough, she texted back that a very timid fellow had eluded the round-up and she had been worried about him.  He's probably the cat who keeps opening cabinet doors, too.

      So I guess I have been looking after four cats.