the changing of the guard

The kitty guard, that is.

I haven't seen Coco outside since he spent the night with us a couple of weekends ago. I guess his people learned their lesson after leaving him out all night, because they seem to be keeping him inside exclusively now.

But... and you knew there would be a but... someone else has taken Coco's place as the resident stalker cat.

Little Miss Boots.

She has been here every day since Friday, when she showed up in our backyard to raid the dish of dog food I had set out. Thinking she was lost and hungry, I brought her in. As I expected, she wolfed down the canned food and the dry food I had set out for our cats. Then she proceeded to play with all of their toys. They were terribly offended.

So I called and left a message on her people's machine, and soon enough the little girl she belongs to came over to retrieve her.

On Saturday she showed up again. I let her in for a little while, but eventually scooped her up and took her back over to her own house. The little girl answered the door and we completed the hand-off. As I was walking down the driveway this woman came walking up and started talking to me about how I don't need to bring Boots back every time, because "we let her out." And I'm thinking, lady, who are you?

The first and second times Boots was here, Crazy Navy Wife came to get her, once with the little girl and once without. So I assumed that CNW was the girl's mother. So who is this other lady who was telling me what to do with Boots? I know that Navy wives tend to get all up in each other's business, but seriously, I am so confused.

And to make it even more complicated, there is a distinct difference in the ethnicities of these three people who seem to have a claim on Boots. My imagination has been going wild imagining the possibilities of how they might be related or otherwise involved in each other's lives.

It's getting all Wisteria Lane up in here, people.