After two days of doing a job I do not love and dealing with a few very difficult personalities, I was happy to be heading to Woodstock for the day. I was carting up the props and costumes for the cast of an upcoming show by a friend, as well as carting up said friend and a cast member with his little dog. I dragged Tab along, too. Brad stayed home to have a geek date.
The drive up was great, the show was fun, dinner afterwards was nice and at around nine pm Tab and I were back on the highway for the drive home.
That morning, Brad had taken money out of my purse to get coffee as he was picking up his geek date from the subway. I thought for sure I still had enough for the tolls but on the drive home realized I did not have enough to cover the last toll of $5 on the Triboro Bridge and Tab had used her last bit of cash for a tip. I’m thinking fast to figure out where we can stop before we hit the Triboro…..at this point we’re at about Yonkers on 87 but there’s not much off the highway. Then just before we hit the Bronx we see a gas station - the kind that is basically on the highway, less than 20 feet from the speeding cars are the gas pumps and the only divider is a small curb.
We pull up and unbelievably there is no ATM. So I pull past and at that moment see a little kitten, not in the least startled by the cars, rolling around, swatting at weeds growing out of the concrete, being extremely playful all by itself. I quickly tell Tab not to look. We’re both very sensitive to animals misfortunes, but she is more haunted than I am. I tend to be pragmatic in these situations and always have - what can I DO about this because I cannot possibly leave a kitten that isn’t afraid of cars next to a highway….
As a kid I would bring home hurt birds, take in strays. As a teen I stopped a car to make sure a turtle got across the road. In college I found a baby bunny by itself and took it home and fed it with a syringe. Once after college I called in to my job waiting tables because I found a bird with a hurt wing and refused to leave it. It has just never occurs to me that SOMETHING can’t be done. So, I got out of the car to see how close I could get to the kitten.
At first Tab said she was not ready for a kitten. All I knew was if I had to end up with five, we’d deal. Brad would understand and in my situation he would not have left the kitten behind either. The kitten was not staying here - the details could be worked out later. I spent probably ten minutes trying to inch closer - this cat was curious, to say the least. Tiny, not more than eight weeks old, feeling like it should run and hide but always coming back to figure out what I was. Before I made much headway, Tab decided she’d take it (I am sure without knowing why, my four at home breathed a sigh of relief and said a little prayer in honor of their Auntie Tab). So, I stepped away and she took over. I hid on the other side of the car while she made friends. She had the great idea of finding something to entice it - a string! A gold, shiny string that we had in the car - I took it to her and the kitten loved it.
After probably half an hour, I was trying to think of a way to actually get the cat. The kitten was playing with the string, and coming pretty much right up to Tab, but if she’d reached to pick it up, the baby would’ve bolted. So, how about enticing it into the car?
I yelled the question over to Tab and she said ‘yeah, back up the car’…..again, the kitten didn’t flinch when the car was moving. So, I backed up the car next to where she was with the kitten and left the back door open. I got out of the car and stood on the driver’s side while Tab sat in the back of the passenger’s side and lured the cat to the car. After a bit of running away and coming back, and two almost-completely-in-the-car attempts, he (we’re pretty sure it’s a ‘he’) finally was all the way in the car and I, creeping around the car, quietly and quickly shut the door - We kidnapped a cat!!!!
For all of two minutes the little guy was scared - ran under the seat, one little meow, jumped into the back window….then within moments he and Tab were fast friends and he was giving up the belly to be rubbed. He found his new mom.
So thanks to Tab’s patience, Magnus Atherton is now living in Tab’s bathroom until he can see a vet. Tab is madly in love. I’ll update later with a photo after I go over to check on him this afternoon - That kitten has serious cuteness powers and so far is perfectly content in a bathroom - I think he’s just excited that he’s not fending for his life in the woods behind a Mobil station and some neat lady keeps bringing him fish flavored paste!
