| One of my favorite, "I couldn't make this stuff up" moments.....
A couple of years ago a client of mine calls saying that he has a new cat that adopted him. He'd like to bring the cat in to be checked out. Mind you, I had known this fellow for years. A wonderfully nice guy, but sort on the, shall we say "simple" side?
I'm watching as the guy pulls up later in his car in front of my office. He parks at the farthest end of the parking lot from the office entrance. He gets out of his car with a cat carrier. He sets what turns out to be an empty cat carrier on end in a parking space two removed from where his car sits. He walks back over to the car, opens the back door of the sedan and grabs the cat that apparently rode outside of the carrier. Loosely holding the cat, he walks back to the carrier. Realizing that he didn't open the front door of the on-end carrier, he reaches down to try to open the door. The cats sees the opportunity to scram and does just that.
The cat winds up running to the opposite end of the parking lot and climbs a tree that sits behind the dumpster. Seeing this whole episode prompts me and two of my office staff to run outside to attemt to be of assistence. Four adults calling, pleading and attempting to coax the cat down from the tree are unrewarding. Finally, "Mr. Simple" decides that maybe if he shook the tree the cat would surrender and come down and possibly just walk into the office. The cat chose the "F-this" alternative and came shooting out of the tree only to disappear at warp speed into the wet-lands behind the office.
We gave up on trying to find the cat after hours of searching through some foul muck. Mr. Simple returned with treats, open cans of cat food, sardines and stuff that I'd rather not know what it was for several days, calling and pleading with the cat to come out of the swamp. No luck. I'm sure Mrs. Simple, who has her own story was part of his inspiration for the continued hunt.
A happy ending ensued. Some three-plus weeks later, the cat was discovered on The Simple's back porch, which is some 5-6 miles distant from my office.
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Happy Trails |