Sam's Happy Ending!

MY WISH LIST:  As you all know, I feed over 100 cats a day.  I use disposable bowls because of the number of times daily people throw them out so the cats have nothing until the next morning.  I also go through a lot of AAA batteries due to using the headlamp for 1.5 hours each morning.  I also go through a lot of food - I spend over $100 a week on dry cat food alone.  Those three things are helpful and needed.  

To sum it up - I am in need of paper bowls, AAA batteries, and dry cat food - preferably any Purina brand.  Thank you!

And now, the final chapter, but not the last!, of Sam from Short Street, the cat I've fed for over 5 years now - he has greeted me and followed me back to my vehicle every morning since, hoping to be one of the lucky ones that I rescue, but never could...  

A Guardian Angel Chapter 15 - Sam's Happy Ending

 

Sam - Finally Rescued!

  

…Who remembers Sam from Short street ? Sam has decided to stop waiting for a rescue from a willing human and go find one for himself ! …

  

Sam snuggled deeper into the man's cradling arms, purring his loudest and thinking he must be the luckiest cat in the world to find such a nice human on his very first day of trying to get himself off the streets.

He had left his lonely existence back on Short Street just a few hours ago, and had made his way over to North Goodman street where he had managed to find a very nice human man who had made an effort to communicate with him. After successfully impressing the man with his lovable charm, he was now bobbing slowly up and down in the man's arms as he walked down Goodman, and soaking up all the warmth and friendly scents from the man like a giant sponge. Sam could hardly believe his good fortune, and looked all around at the busy city streets where cars zoomed by him like a wide-eyed kitten from the height of the man's arms as they moved along. Sam relished the sharp contrast between the cool winter air ruffling the fur along his back and the warm heat coming from the man's arms under his belly and legs. He kept his purr motor going the whole time, hoping and praying the man would not put him down or cat-forbid - bring him back to Short street again.

After several minutes of walking along the man turned up a short walkway to the front of a modest looking house. The man fumbled for his keys to unlock the door, holding Sam against his chest while he did so. Sam did not squirm or try to jump down. Sam was very happy to stay right where he was, thinking that if he made it all the way inside this human's house he would never try to leave again. Sam watched, fascinated, as the man inserted a metal key into a little slot in the door and turned it, then reached down and turning the knob to open it. The smells of the man's house now wafted into Sam's face, and he snuffled in a lungful while twitching his nose like a rabbit. He drew the air over his Jacobson's organ in the roof of his mouth (a special organ that allows cats to pick out very small traces of scents) and filed away all the different scents that he could detect. There were lots of good food smells, some sharp cleaning chemical smells, and even a human females smells. Sam realized that this man must also live with a human female. He hoped that she would be friends with him too, and not force the nice man to turn him back out on the streets.

The man turned and closed the door while still holding Sam in the other arm, before gently lowering him to the floor. Sam reluctantly climbed out of the man's hands and stood on his paws, looking up at the man and repeating his pleas to let him live here with him and his female human companion. The man bent and stroked his head and back again then straightened up and walked slowly down a short hallway and into a brightly lit room that smelled like all different kinds of human food.  Sam followed closely at his heels, his belly now rumbling with that old familiar hunger again - the same one that was never far away back on Short Street. Sam kept his gaze locked on the man's hands as he stopped in front of a row of cupboards and opened one up. The man took out a can of something (cat food Sam hoped) and set it on the counter. He then opened another cupboard and took out a small bowl. The man used a tool to open the can and Sam began to meow out loud at the man when the smell of fresh tuna fish wafted down toward his level on the human's floor. The man smiled and made a few encouraging sounds, scooping the contents of the can into the little bowl. He then bent slowly down to Sam's level and set the bowl on the floor. Sam couldn’t wait to chow down on those juicy chunks of meat. He'd had tuna before a few times as a reward for begging the humans that lived along Short Street for food, so he knew how good this was going to taste.

Sam gobbled up the tuna like he hadn't eaten in days. It hadn't really been that long, but he was so happy to be in this man's warm house and filling his belly that he couldn’t help it. He kept his ears swiveling back behind his head where he knew the man was watching, but he did not feel any sense of danger or fear. When he'd lapped up the last morsel of tuna, he pulled back from the man's bowl and licked his chops with satisfaction. He had never felt so content and relaxed as he did right now. He looked up at the man and meowed his heartfelt thanks, getting up and winding his body all around the man's feet to emphasize his appreciation. The man reached down and stroked his head and back while he did, then straightened up and pulled a small device out of his clothing pocket. Sam watched as the man pushed some buttons on the device, then began talking rapidly into it, pausing once in a while to listen as he held the device up to his ear. Sam guessed the man must be talking to the human female that he smelled when they first came in. He hoped the man was saying good things about him, and was convincing the women to let him stay in their home forever like he so much wanted to do.

After a few minutes the man stopped talking into his device and put it back in his pocket. He walked back over to Sam and bent down so he could stroke his head and neck again. Sam closed his eyes and purred with pleasure for a few minutes, then the man straightened up again and then walked slowly into another room where he sat down on a long comfy looking piece of human furniture. Sam followed closely on his heels and only hesitated a few seconds before he hopped up onto the cushion next to the man. He hoped the man would not be angry or annoyed that he was being so bold, but everything that had happened so far led Sam to believe that he might have finally found a human that would make his dreams come true. The man did not get angry at all, and seemed very happy to have Sam up there with him, so Sam plopped himself down on the cushion next to the man and was soon getting sleepy as the man gently stroked his head and back.

Sam must have fallen asleep because he awoke sometime later to the sounds of another human coming through the front door of the man's house. Sam hopped down off the cushions and watched warily as the new human came into the room. It must have been the man's female as her smell matched the scent he had picked up earlier when the man first brought him inside. The female had several bags full of bulky items which she set carefully on the counter surface just inside the man's kitchen. She bent her long legs and crouched down near the floor and extended her hands toward him, making encouraging sounds. Sam was delighted that she was also trying to be friends with him so he padded cautiously over to her and allowed her to stroke his head and back. Her scent was friendly and accepting just like the man's, so Sam was very relieved that he would not have to worry about being turned back out on the street. The human female also made encouraging sounds as she stroked his fur, making Sam purr with pleasure.

After a few minutes she stood up straight and went into the kitchen to empty the items she had brought home in bags. Sam watched with wide eyes as she took out a large plastic box, a huge container of something that looked like tan dirt, and two brand new small bowls. From the last bag she took out several cans that he hoped contained cat food - or at least more delicious tuna. He watched as the human female set the plastic box down in the back corner of the kitchen and poured the tan dirt into it where she spread it out in a deep layer inside the plastic box. Sam strolled over to it curious, and sniffed all along the lip of the box. Something about the look and smell of the dirt that was layered inside must have triggered some instinct within him as he suddenly understood what this box was supposed to be.

A pooh-pee place ! (cats called anyplace to safely deposit poop or pee so that predators could not find it a pooh-pee place)

The humans had provided him with his very own pooh-pee place within their home. For Sam that could only mean one thing - his dreams had come true. He had found a place where humans would accept him and make him part of their family. He hoped the nice human female that came every day back on Short street would not be worried when she found him not around anymore, and hoped she would know how her basic acts of daily kindness had inspired him to go out and make a friend of a human for his very own.

  

With great thanks to Doug and Yolanda for taking Sam in and giving him the loving home he so deserves. Having met Sam personally while riding along with Janine in 2016 I was very glad to hear that he had found someone to take him off the streets and save him from a life of hunger and misery …

Author - Joel Schmid