I do the yard sales on the parking lot of the shelter where my daughters work. I have these yard sales on Saturdays when the weather permits. I wasn’t able to have one last Saturday because of rain. But the Saturday before, I had a nice hot yard sale.
Setup starts about 9 or 9:30. So by that time on this particular Saturday morning, there was a lot going on. My daughters don’t have to be at work until ten on Saturdays, but they go in early and help me set up (on their own time). Lots of noise and chaos during the setup. Then they head in to start their workday, and I keep setting up and arranging and pricing until the shoppers start showing up. Cars are in and out, people are coming and going, talking and shopping. The picture I’m trying to paint here is one of activity and noise. Keep that in mind.
The day moved along. About mid-afternoon, my daughters came out of the shelter to say hi and to see how it had been going. They had their regular Saturday volunteer with them (a young teenager who loves being at the shelter and is good help). They started walking towards me and I walked in their direction. We congregated right at the edge of the shelter building. Right next to the shelter are the two “yard sale” buildings – the small one that used to be the only one I had, and the new wonderful bigger one that has allowed me to continue doing the yard sales. The girls were asking if it had been a successful day, and I was telling them about some of the things I’d sold and how many people had been there so far. Right in the middle of our conversation the four of us all stopped talking. Silence. Then an undeniable sound. What was that? Didn’t that sound like a cat? A kitten? Wait. Where is that coming from? The four of us realized at the same time that somewhere VERY close to us there was a kitten crying. And within only a few seconds, the cry turned into a scream. Over and over it screamed.
There is a deep woods behind the shelter buildings. To the south of the woods and directly behind the shelter is a “dog yard” – an area for the dogs to run and play in. The four of us shot into action. Volunteer and Older Daughter got on each side of the first yard sale building. I got behind it. Younger Daughter tore away and raced through the shelter and out the back to corral the dogs who were out. We did not need a kitten to shoot through the chain link and end up in a yard full of dogs. Younger hurriedly joined us then, and we managed to be on all four sides of the building. Finally, Volunteer spotted it - an orange kitten creeping low to the ground under the building - moving in the direction of Older Daughter. Older was ready to grab it, but it turned and darted the opposite direction. Volunteer was ready, but it turned again. It darted back and forth under the building; the four of us each guarded one of the sides. We were calling quietly and making no sudden movements. There was no way this little guy was going to escape us.
And then he did. He made a diagonal dash, shot out at a corner and straight into the woods.
We raced into the edge of the woods, but he was long gone. We all just stood there. As we walked back to the buildings, we started discussing how improbable it was that this kitten never said a word all day long. There was no doubt about how it got on the shelter property. This kitten was dumped. (Unfortunately, this is something many shelters have to occasionally deal with.) But clearly he had not been dumped at any point during this day. People were everywhere. He’d been dumped early that morning or even the night before. But where had he been all day long? With all of the commotion and cars and people and noise, was he just hiding out under one of the yard sale buildings? Why did he start scream-crying at that particular moment? Was it our four voices, calmly discussing the day, right beside the building he was under? We don’t know. It didn’t make sense. And now he was in the woods. That was not good.
The volunteer had her dad bring their cat trap. Shortly after I left for the day, the trap arrived and was set. By closing time, no kitten. Younger said she would be coming back to town that evening and she would check then. That would give some time for everything to go completely quiet on the shelter property.
I’ll just summarize the rest of this because we went from hopeful to nearly hopeless over the next week. The kitten never arrived into the trap. It was set daily for days, left in the evening if anyone was going to be near town. No kitten. By the end of the week, everyone had given up. This kitten was gone.
But I don’t give up very easily. (Remember my Wisher Theo? First tried to trap him during the month of June. Finally got him in December.)
A week later when Saturday had rolled around again, I didn’t go to town for a yard sale because it was pouring rain. I texted my girls and asked if they were going to set the trap for the kitten. Well, no, not with it raining so hard. And besides, Mom, I’m sorry but we don’t think that kitten is around anymore. I reminded them that I had trapped in every kind of weather. Do it for your Mother. Just throw a towel over the trap – I said. They did. But no catch. And there was rain predicted for days and days to come. But I drove my daughters crazy and continued to go on and on about trapping anyway. They set the trap on Sunday in the pouring rain. No kitten. They set the trap on Monday in the pouring rain. No kitten.
And then . . .
Late on Monday afternoon, my cell phone started ringing. When I saw that it was Older Daughter, I picked up right away. (Odd for her to call rather than text.) And she said – You know what you’re good at? - she asked. No, what? – I responded. Trapping! – she said. We just got that kitten! I’m gonna be honest, Mom, I did not think that kitten was even still around here. And never would I have thought anything would go in a trap in the daytime in the pouring rain. But we’ve got him. And I couldn’t be happier. Just like you, I had not stopped worrying about him. And now it’s all good.
He’s a terrified little thing. My daughters always ask me to foster the really scared ones and the really young ones. So I have him here and we’ll work on becoming a little less afraid and a little more friendly. The main thing is that this baby is not living in a woods all alone trying to fend for himself. And for that I’m grateful.
Teenage Volunteer did the honors of naming him. Here’s Brier.
Please keep sharing about the GoFundMe Spay & Neuter Campaign. We really aren’t that far from GOAL. See you next week.