My Roomate Almost Killed My Cat

  You all remember how much I love my cat, right? So much that I paid a fortune to fly him over here with me. So it goes without saying that when I received a panicked call last week from my roommate, saying that my cat had escaped while the front door was open, I wasn't exactly pleased. But when he explained why he left the door open, I was pissed.
   Background info: my roommate likes to meditate. He had a small altar in his bedroom, a cardboard box covered with fabric. That morning, he lit a candle and read a book during his session. He then left the apartment without putting out the candle. Which was burning beside the book. And both were on top of the fabric-covered, cardboard altar.
  He came home hours later to find the apartment filled with smoke. He suddenly remembered the candle and ran into his bedroom, only to find smoking remains.

  Not only had the altar burnt down, he'd also charred a wooden desk, which luckily didn't burn. A piece of fabric that hung on the wall caught fire and burned, melting the plug of the air conditioner that sits near the ceiling. Luckily we're not in Canada, where there's carpet, whereas Spain has non-flammable, marble tile floors.
  When my roommate called, saying the cat had escaped because he'd left the door open to clear the smoke out, what had actually happened was that my cat became scared of the fire and smoke, and hid behind the television. My roommate found him several panic-filled minutes after calling me.
  I came home, furious, and checked on my anxious cat. Normally I'd forgive a mistake such as leaving a candle burning, but he obviously hadn't learned his lesson. Right before I arrived home, we had run into each other in the street, as he was throwing out the burned book. I went upstairs alone, only to find stick incense burning, which in itself is safe but not on top of paper and not near the sofa (!). I also saw that he'd left the gas on while boiling a pot on the stove. When he returned to the flat, I asked if he wouldn't mind putting the damn incense out. Needless to say, my cat got extra cuddling from me this whole week.