We know there are myriad reasons why you keep us inside. We are not going to argue with those. We happily except the consolation of occasionally running up and down the hallways of your building.

The hallway is, in many ways, the perfect environment for us to exercise our bodies and our minds. The long straightaway allows us to sprint or simply amble adequate distances and the tight turns we must make when you try to catch us keep us agile. When we feel our climbing skills need some polish, there is always the staircase where we can twist in and out of the wrought iron railing or walk nimbly down the outside ledge of the stairs.

There are always new and mysterious smells for us. Sometimes they are stains on the floor, and sometimes they emanate from the other doors. Occasionally, we hear sounds from behind the doorways, too. It is always an interesting puzzle trying to figure out what they are.

When we say it all together, it seems rather obvious. But you must understand where we are coming from. One of us was an indoor cat in a previous life, but in some grand, half-vacant palace. And one of us has never been an indoor cat before. We thought we hit an indoor cat jackpot. We had a safe place to run and investigate and had so much fun giving you the slip to get out the door.

You don’t have to imagine how frightened we were the first time we heard a noise coming from the stairwell. We both have seen that mysterious locked door at the bottom of the stairs, although only a few times since you try your best not to keep us on your floor. But we both knew that must be origin of the footsteps that grew louder and louder coming up the stairs toward us.

Luckily, you were there to save us. We only had to spend a few seconds cowering at the door waiting for you to catch up with us and let us inside. But of course, our quick retreat to safety left the source of those footsteps entirely up to our imagination. Now, whenever we hear footsteps ascending the stairs, or bolts turn in one of the closed doors along the hallway, our minds turn to the worst. You might think these rare but terrifying sightings would keep us out of the hallway all together. But in fact, they make it a much more exciting adventure.

-Harry and Dash

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