Chapter 2 · The Fight Club Years
Bug Becomes a Regular
Aug 26, 2026
As the weeks and months of the new & weird Covid world progressed, Bug became a daily visitor. Sometimes twice a day — for breakfast and then back again at dinner time. Sometimes he would spend the night in the bed we made for him on the front porch. He was very friendly — we could pick him up and hold him without any complaints — it was pretty clear that he wasn't always a stray and probably didn't grow up feral, BUT… he wasn't fixed — that was super obvious! One of our favorite things Bug would do — which was really sweet if you think about it for a minute — was he would always say thank you before leaving to go to his next adventure or next nightspot. It took a while to actually notice. Even when we would sit with him on the front porch he would usually hang out with us for a while before he decided to go prowl and search for ladies, so we sometimes went outside and didn't always see him leave. After a few weeks we noticed a pattern. When we were still outside with him and he was ready to leave he would announce his pending exit — loudly. I don't speak Cat, but it pretty much sounded like, "Thank you. I'm leaving. I might be back." Probably not too uncommon… the fun part here is we noticed that he did the same thing even when we weren't outside with him. He would decide after he ate and rested for a bit that it was time to move on… but unlike a scared stray cat that might just slink away, he made a big point to let us know. He'd meow loudly a dozen times in the direction of the front door, do a quick few circles, look back at the door, and wait for it to open. Often it did; if it didn't, he would give it a minute and then scamper down the steps. You may be thinking… "he actually wanted to come in the house?" Reasonable POV — we thought the same — but no matter who opened the door or what time of day or night it was when the door opened, he simply gave one last look and meow and went straight down the steps. We have a standard Ring doorbell camera, so we got to see all the antics even when we weren't spying on him. Very sweet boy, and clearly grateful for the care — which is heartwarming for anyone who has helped animals that don't know where their next meal is coming from. This is how, over a period of time, Bug came to be a regular part of the family (albeit extended family), and we became very fond of him. I'm guessing some of you out there would like if we were a bit more aggressive with us fully adopting him and him becoming a spoiled housecat? If so, you'll appreciate where my wife — my lovely wife, whom I'm ever grateful for — comes into the story… well, in Chapter 3, that is.