Brother Can You Hear Me

Interesting weekend.  I want to say thank you to those that go out with me in the mornings – obviously thanks to Kings, he has to – ha!  But then there are the volunteers.  Joel, for one, who is always willing, but I mostly use him for his muscle.  HA!  When I need help moving stuff.  Jackie occasionally rides, and is a great help.  A girl named Maria went with me recently, and that was awesome.  Then there is Sheryl who has gone out with me just about every Saturday for close to five years.  Melissa, my friend Paula’s daughter, has been offering to go with me on Sundays and just made her third trip with me?  Its so nice to have your company, and help. Thank you.

I delivered the kittens and Buddy the cat to their new home.  What a wonderful family, and what a wonderful set up they had waiting for them.  They have a room that must be an addition to their older home, that serves as an office for the Dad.  It has a huge picture window in the back with a bench in front of it, to ‘perch’ on.  There are lots of cubby holes for the kitties to hide in.  Paradise, if you ask me.  They were quite nervous at first, and from what I understand from today, Mara is still very scared, but as I told Mom Amy, she has gone through a lot in her short time in captivity – she went from the ‘family’ she knew there, to Melissa’s house with older cats, and then Pebbles joining, and then being uprooted to my house for a night, and now at this new house with more new people, and Buddy!  Its easier for older cats to transition, and easier still for kittens, but Mara is in a formative kitten stage, and that might be why she is still scared.  I have every confidence with over attention and love, she will come around.  They always do.  Some take longer than others.

I had an interesting Sunday morning, where Melissa rode with me.  We were on Second and Central, doing the mailbox kitties, when a man was walking toward us with white pants, a red cap, and NO SHIRT ON.  It was 31 degrees.  I was out of the truck pouring food, Melissa was tucked in in the back seat.  As he got closer he asked if I had a light.  I told him I didn’t, and he kept walking.  I yelled after to him – ‘are you all right?’  He said he was fine but he was going to kill his parents – as he pulled out an 8-inch knife from his pocket’.  He seemed a bit incoherent, and I just thought he was drunk, which he probably was.  He kept walking.  Well, if there was ever a time to call 911, this was it.  I did, and gave them all the details.  As I drove off, I thought – I wonder if they will show up.  There have been times where something crazy is happening, and they are no where in sight, and I have to leave because of timing.  Like the dog, for instance.  The little pup I found dead in a carrier this summer.  This time, I drove around and got back on Bay Street, which was the way this guy was headed.  Looking up and down, still no sign of the police, and the guy was walking down Bay Street now, heading west.  I drove past him, made a turn around farther up ahead, and started to drive back.  He was gone.  He must have gone down a side street.  I drove to First Street, where its one way, heading north, and I saw him still walking.  I turned left onto the street, going the wrong way. Hey, its 4 in the morning, and there are no cops around!  I decided to start talking to him, keep distance and safety inside the truck.  Long story short, I began to ask him questions, and offering a blanket I had in the car.  I asked him why he wanted to kill his parents (father and brother jumped him for defending his uncle), where the knife was (he threw it down, thinking I was a cop), where his parents lived (7^th Street), what his name was (Ulysses ________ ) – he told me he was a welder.  I told him he would mess up his life if he did harm to his parents – he told me he pays child support, he’s on probation, he was going nowhere – he didn’t care …  I told him his child needed him.  I told him that tomorrow is a new day.  I told him, today is Sunday, go to church.  He began to cry and said he had no one to talk to.  I told him I would talk to him as long as I could.  My eyes teared up.  Meanwhile, I am still going 2 miles an hour while he walked on the side walk.  Finally, after more talk, (and no cops!), he said he was going to take a short cut to home (through a vacant lot) and I told him good bye, wished him well, and turned around.  Of course, two minutes later, the police called me asking where he was.  I told them, but God only knows if they found him.  I just pray he didn’t do anything stupid, and finds peace.  He obviously has problems, and a life that is different than us, but he is still a human being who deserves at least someone to talk to.

On a brighter note, I got a call from a girl a few weeks  back, who knew someone who had kittens and a mother under their porch. This guy was feeding the kittens on his porch, and needed help.  This girl reached out, and reluctantly, I said I would take the kittens if she could trap them.  I told her time was of the essence, and if she was going to do it, it needed to be done, and come get my kitten traps.  She did, and voila, here we have four beautiful sweet kittens that we got just before they turned feral.  This girl is going to try to trap momma.  Thanks to foster Sue, they are now bathed and warm in her house, playing for the first time in captivity, with real  toys! 

We also have an adoption pending by my neighbor for Katie!  The sweet old gal that Foster Carol is harboring!  Fingers crossed!

"Too often we

underestimate the power

of a touch, a smile, a kind

word, a listening ear,

an honest compliment,

or the smallest act of

caring, all of which 

have the potential 

to turn a life around."