Now, Here's a Story

Look at this.




















This is a picture of the engine of my car, podmobile2. As you know, I've had my share of happenings with cars. Podmobile1 was my dream car, right up until the day its steering wheel came off. Then came podmobile2, which has hit a dog (grieved over the dog, and my bumper, which had to be replaced), the oil pan cover has fallen off (badly replaced during a servicing), and currently several items are being held hostage in the back of the car because the back hatch is broken and stuck in the "lock" position (a new one's on order).

Today, podmobile2 hit a new height. And I'll give you the punch line first. I've lightened the above photo - now look down towards the bottom.




















Yep. That's a kitty in the engine of my car.

It started very strangely, as you may imagine. I was going out my door, heading back to work after lunch. The minute I opened the door I heard, "Mrow. Mrow."

I thought, "A cat? Where's a cat?" There are no cats at all around my house.

I spent a good 10 minutes walking around my house saying, "A cat? A cat?" and looking around, but there was no cat to be found. I was dangerously late, so I tried to forget about it and I headed back to work. The trip back was quiet. Upon arrival, my first question to the workmates was, "Is there some kind of bird that sounds like a cat?" That's what I'd decided, because the "mrow" was short, not drawn out like a full-fledged meow. And it never varied. It was the exact same "mrow" every time I heard it. Yeah, it was a bird. A catbird.

Well, no one in the office knows any more about birds than I do, and I was stumped, but I kept thinking about it till five o'clock, when I went back out to the car, which was still quiet, and headed out. I dropped the work deposit by the bank and headed off to the store where I buy hair goop. I bought said goop, and when I opened the door of the shop to head across the parking lot, I could hear the "mrow" from the door of the shop. So the sound was attached to the car and not my house and its surroundings.

I headed home, popped the hood of my car up, and started looking. I got a flashlight. I laid in the driveway. I looked like an idiot, laying and standing in the driveway, putting my head in the engine of my car going, "Meeeowww!" I came inside and caught Mr M online, and asked him if it was possible there could be a cat in my car and he said absolutely it was.

As I was typing I heard it again. "Mrow! Mrow!"

I headed back outside with the flashlight. And for the first time, I finally saw it. Little kitty feet.

I tore back inside, typing as fast as I could. "It is a cat! There's a cat in my motor!"

I went back outside with, yes, I know, an unbent coat hanger. I poked at the feet. And heard more, "Mrow!" I walked around to the side of the car and looked into the engine, and there he was. He was looking up at me saying, "Mrow!" which I guess at that point meant, "Stop poking me with that coat hanger, you harpie!" But I was just trying to get him to move.

See, it was, besides being bizarre, frustrating. He was about six inches away from a ledge which would lead him right out of the car with a little jump. But he wasn't budging. I poked again. He moved to the other side of the car, where there was no little ledge.

And I really started to worry.

It was obvious he was just a kitten. His precious little face kept looking up at me. He didn't understand why I was there, why I was making him move. I knew he had to be hungry, and scared, and that if he didn't soon get out of there he'd end up in a spot where a start of my car would mean no more kitty.

"If I only knew a really skinny person who could get under my car," I thought. Then I thought, "How dumb. My nephew's so thin he only has one side." I called and put out an APB for Taytie. He was mowing a lawn for someone, but his mom said she'd send him over afterwards.

But I couldn't wait. I called my dad, good old Paw. Paw suggested a garage, where they could put the car up on a rack, but it was after six o'clock and everything was closed.

Except Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, the people who put the oil pan cover on my car wrong, causing it to fall off. But I was desperate. I called. A girl answered. I began, "Please, I promise you I'm not a raving lunatic...."

And so I told my whole story to her, she was very entertained, she left to go talk to some people, and said if I could bring the car in, they'd look at it. After they checked with management to make sure it wasn't against store rules to pull a kitty out of a car's engine. After a short wait, I got the go-ahead.

I put the hood down, girded my loins for one more start of the car, and headed to the Wally World. I parked and went inside.

I waited in the waiting area for quite a while, thinking two things. 1 - Would they be able to dislodge this cat, and 2 - If they did, what in the hell was I going to do with him? I love all animals, and don't want any little creature to be homeless, but I really didn't want a cat right now. If ever. I was getting depressed, and after not seeing my car come into the garage, I decided to get up and walk around. That's when I saw three people at my car, which was still parked in the lot.

I headed out, and almost immediately heard the "Mrow!" There was a girl who worked at the garage under my car, and two of her friends were standing there offering support. One of the girls, a redhead who was maybe 20, had already fallen in love. I said casually, "Want a cat?" She said, "Oh, absolutely. I love cats."

And so we stayed out there for about 45 minutes, two of the girls sticking hands in holes under the car forcing Mr Mrow-Mrow this way and that. At one point he got so close to that little ledge we all started screaming, but he refused to jump down to the parking lot. Instead he took a turn upwards, and was so close to my hand I thought I was going to be able to grab his head. But he still wouldn't have fit through the opening.

"He's going towards the axle!" said Wal-Mart Garage Girl, and about that time, I saw the kitty's head pop out from behind the tire, then duck back down. "My cat's been in the axle of my car before, I can get him now," she continued, and said, "We'll get your kitty for you now."

"He's not my kitty," I replied. "That's why I asked you if you wanted one."

The redheaded girl jumped all over that, and said please could she have him. You bet, I replied.

The Garage Girl then went around to the side of the car and slid underneath it. And in about a minute, out she came with the kitty.

He was teeny. Teeny tiny, and he was adorable. And still going, "Mrow!" I know he had to be hungry.

The three girls were just going ga-ga over him, I made the redheaded girl promise to give him a good home, but I don't think I need to be worried. She was in love with him before she even saw him.

I gave him a little rub on the head and said, "Have a good life, buddy," and he said, as I was walking away, "Mrow!"

"Awww, he's saying goodbye," said the Garage Girl.

And so my car is quiet and there are no signs of life in my engine. Redheaded girl has a new pet, and Garage Girl has a work story she can tell for months to come.

And I don't have to worry about finding a kitten a home.

He sure was a cutie, though. "Mrow!" indeed.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Mrow!