This morning, we walked Briar with his buddy Kona all the way to town for a cuppa joe and back on Scenic. Somewhere along 13th we lost track of him. I had to get to work so we left.
Around 2:30 I received a phone call that he was seen stalking a butterfly at Scenic and 13th (pretty much where we lost him). I told the lady I would be by to pick him up in 2 minutes.
When I arrived, there was a circle of people around him. One of the ladies had him by his underarms with his face all squished and he seemed quite bothered, like he just wanted to be put down. She handed him to me and said, "He's starting to get upset with me", I'm thinking, "Yea, probably because you wont put him down".
Then she proceeded to ask me, "How did he get out?"
Soooo wanting to say the smart alec remark "DUH, I let him out", I was nice and said, "I usually let him out during the day, he comes to play at the beach all the time".
She then said, "We'll believe me, from experience, if you don't keep him in, he won't make it, you're too young to know this, but he won't make it". (First of all, what does me being too young have to do with anything?). She then went in detail about coyotes and bears and dinosaurs (she might as well said dinosaurs, she was making this area sound like a big bad prehistoric wilderness) and seemed really bothered that I didn't take her same opinion. When she realized there was no convincing me, she quickly scurried off.
A visitor out of town was in the vicinity of the whole happening. It seemed she wanted to follow up the negative with some positive and reassured me, "He's a beautiful cat, I think you should just keep him in at night, that's when the bad animals come out", and then said, "You're lucky to live here." I love positive people. Thank you for that, no need to be cranky and scolding on such a beautiful day!