The Night the Cat Got Out

"Mom, dad needs a flashlight." flicking on the bedroom light, Matt rummaged through one of the dressers. Without finding what he was looking for, he turned to his mom who had put her phone down on the coverlet, "I know you have one."

"Check the top drawer of the dresser, no not that one, yep, that one," his mom pointed in the direction of a third dresser on the other side of the room, "You got it."

"You have too many dressers," Matt said, holding up a flashlight from the top drawer, "I knew you had one."

"For storage, and what does your father need a flashlight for?"

"The cat got out," Matt said as he ran from the room, a Cheshire grin alight on his face.

"Turn off the light, will ya!" his mother called after him, "Darn kids... Who let the cat out?"

Popping his head back into the room with an apology, he answered with a shrug, "Ryan was afraid to take the garbage out, so dad was standing outside with him..."

"With the door open? He knows Houdini will slip out quicker than you can say 'stop'..."

"Well, that's not exactly how it happened, mom."

"How did it happen, son."

"I kind of opened the door to tell Ryan he was being a scaredy pants and he needed to stop being a baby..."

"And that's when the cat got out?"

"Yep, so it wasn't dad's fault."

"No, I guess it wasn't. Have fun rooting around under the porch with the cobwebs, because that's usually where he likes to hide. Wash your hands when you come back inside, I think something may have died under there, too."

"Do we have any ham to coax him out with?"

"Try cheese."