On the day after I returned from my slog through the South, Honey and I discovered the kittens. I don't mean to suggest that we discovered kittens in the sense that no one had ever seen one before. In fact, we were well aware that this brood existed before we saw them. The feral cat we feed had them and brought them to semi-maturity under our house. Kittens under a house don't sound all that dissimilar to rats in an attic, for what it's worth. Anyway. Slinky (as we call her) had brought her kittens around to the front of the house.
Honey went to look and reported three in the brood.
We know we needed to trap them. We understand.
As we speak, in fact, there is a cat trap with tuna in the front yard. I just checked and Slink is lying next to it. I asked her why she wouldn't go in. She had no reply. Her momma didn't raise no fool up under the house.
So, on Monday morning, still weary from my journeys, I get in my trusty truck to drive to work.
About seven miles in to the 8 mile drive, I think I hear a sound. Then I hear it again.
It sounds like a kitten.
When I get to campus and park my car, I pop the hood of my truck. And there, sitting on the battery, is one of the kittens. I reach for it but it dives under the minivan parked next to my car.
I call the people who do feral cat stuff on campus, but no one can locate the kitten. And the other kittens seem to have disappeared too.
All week I can't get that image out of my head. The kitten on the battery. Sometimes you go places you don't expect and don't like it much when you get there.
7 comments:
Yeah, the Slink didn't reach the ripe old age of whatever years by walking all willy-nilly into cages just because she's hungry. Nuh-uh. It's gonna be a standoff. In the meantime, I'm hoping the other two kittens weren't elsewhere in your truck's engine compartment on that fateful journey.
How on earth do you make a story cute, alarming, and dejecting all at once???
If Scout's right about Slinky's street smarts, I hope you have lots of tuna on hand. Mmm, sun-baked tuna.
Well damn. I was expecting a happy ending, with you and scout taking in those kittens on your way to becoming crazy old cat ladies.
Instead I get kittens on batteries disappearing beneath mini-vans. That's almost as bad as our neighborhood fox, who would definitely make a midnight snack out of those kitties.
Wish I could have seen the look on your face when you opening the hood of your truck!
that must have been a hell of a ride for that kitty.
keep you eye out for her - she may turn up again near work.
Was your slog through the South by choice, by coercion or did it just happen?
KITTIES oh kitties.
ST
We trapped Slink the next night. She's recovering from her spay as I write. She preferred Iams salmon to Chix of de Sea. Go figure.
I'm going with coercion, ST, but at least I knew what was happening, unlike the kitty.
I'm SO not making an inappropriate remark about pussy (cats) and tuna. ;p
Thank you for the happy ending.
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