Fitzgerald the cat furthered his limited boundaries somewhat last night when he discovered how to leap from the railing of our deck to the roof of our third-story apartment. Hearing the thump, I assumed he had just jumped up on the railing itself, something which is expressly forbidden by Josh and I in word, but not in deed. However, there was no sign of him when I went to check. Assuming he had come in and I had just not seen him, I called for him in my stupid-ass cat talking voice. No, I will not demonstrate it for you.
He poked his head over the rain gutter two feet above me, and mewed.
I gasped and called Josh to come grab him, but it was just high enough that grabbing him was not effective. It was clear he wanted help down, but we were having difficulty offering it. Then he got distracted and ran off.
I spent the next forty minutes running around the apartment complex parking lots surrounding my building so that I could follow him. And running around the house looking for a suitable ramp that I could use for him to walk down to the deck.
At the end of it, I had broken into another apartment and torn the doors of one of my closets, before Josh lured him to jump a six-foot gap from the next door awning over to our deck. That six-foot gap was thirty feet deep, and I covered my mouth with my hands when I saw him land on the deck railing and skid.
Then, to avoid bursting into tears, I spoke very firmly to him and pointed inside. He sauntered in, flopped on one side, and began calmly licking one paw.