I will tell you a good story.

The sTory is about witchcraft. So I have a balcony with a closet. I have put all my cleaning supplies and tools, as well as laundry detergent (I poured Tide and Oxiclean powder into large clear plastic containers with tight fitting lids, so that the powder would not cake from the moisture of the air outdoors), into that closet. I thought it would be smart - I am not breathing in tide powder because of how I store it.

Then I started organizing the balcony itself and discovered that two wooden boards were rotten. I reported it.

Two months later the landlord asked me to remove everything from the balcony because repairmen would come fix it. They did come on Tuesday, and I had by then removed everything into the living room. Plants and all.

Well, they discovered that the whole deck was rotten. They removed the deck, and the manager says that the extent of the damage is so major that they do not know when they would even start building a new deck. Maybe there is even structural damage. So it is all on a grand scale, and not just two wooden boards.

In the meantime, I have a visitor coming from Moscow tonight, and he has special needs (diabetes type I childhood onset, partly blind due to it, walking with a cane, needs a special diet - a long list). And I could not do the laundry or clean because I was essentially locked out of tools and supplies - since there is no deck between the balcony door and the balcony closet, I would have to fly to get to the closet, but I can only fly on a broom, but the broom is in the closet, so I was without means of transportation and without cleaning tools.

I did buy a liquid laundry detergent - it won't spoil. I did not buy replacements for cleaning stuff because it would be ridiculous later to have extra brushes, brooms, etc. so I called a cleaning service. They did a good job, but when they left, I heard the meowing sound that was all too familiar. I figured that Tommy, my black cat and a tenured escape artist, must have gotten outside when the cleaners were leaving.

So not only was the witch without her means of transportation, but her black cat has abandoned her. Poor witch!

Several neighbors had already gathered outside when I walked downstairs planning to chase the cat.

Our complex' grounds are covered with low dense prickly thorny brush (low bushes). The cat can squeeze under the thorns and crawl. We the people do not have this ability. So the cat was winning the race, even though he was alone and we the people outnumbered him.

So I went home, poured canned chicken into a bowl, and set the bowl just above the stairs.

The cat went up half the length of the stairs. There, he literally froze, and I could read his mind by the look of his green eyes. He was comparing the freedom and fun of running away from people and having them chase him with the pleasure of eating chicken. While he was pondering his dilemma, one neighbor approached him from below, captured, and handed to me.

On the picture is the cat back at home. Now I just need access to the broom to be back in business.