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Thursday, July 22, 2010

BLUE

Blue is my favorite color. You can probably tell that from all the pictures I've posted on this blog.  Funny thing is that purple was my favorite color for more years than I care to admit to (don't even try to guess my age!).  My closet is filled with clothes in every imaginable shade of purple and my favorite jewelry was of course, amethyst. I even painted the walls of my room a fuchsia-leaning purple (what was I thinking??!!). It was only after shopping at sales for new sheets and curtains and scouring craigslist for free paint that I noticed I was picking out shades of blue.

My yearning to get back to the ocean? Perhaps. Blue is the color of my eyes so maybe it's a familiarity thing. Or maybe because it truly is a soothing color and these days, I hold on for dear life to anything that soothes the soul. Whatever the cause for the change, it looks like blue is my new signature color. 

Blue was my mood last night and all day yesterday. All because of the cutest little thing I've EVER found on craigslist:



We rescued this little angel from a person who posted an ad that read, "7-Week old female kittens, litter box trained, weaned from mother and ready to be adopted for a 'rehoming' fee of $40."   Feeling my B.S. meter rising, I donned my supergirl attitude, grabbed my keys and iced tea, yelled "let's go" to my teenage son and flew out the front door.   I could hardly drive fast enough to get to the tiny kittens listed on craigslist for a "minor re-homing fee."  I've heard stories about scams involving stolen felines being stolen and then sold for medical research. I'd recently read a story about kittens grabbed from the large colonies of feral cats that we have roaming around our city. Evidently the dregs of society have found a new way to make money: Grab a litter of feral kittens, acclimate them to people for a couple of weeks and sell them on craigslist.  Shameless bastards.

Do you think that people scanning the ads on Craigslist really believed the nonsense that this was a 7-week old kitten?  Surely they must see what was so obvious to me. Were hustlers truly going to look me in the eye and try to sell me too-young kittens?  Boy, where they in for a surprise. I hoped.



Arriving at the evildoer's home, there was just one kitten left.  Dirty but adorable, I took the kitten from the arms of a man while assessing his gullibility and whether or not a kitty-nap would be dangerous to my son and I.  Thankfully gifted with the ability to distract with fast talk, I volunteered to give the kitten the best home. Smiling, complimenting, asking question after question as I walked out the front door with the kitten in my arms.  Almost sprinting to my car, I kept them talking"Thank you so much" --  opening the car door --"she is just so adorable" -- handing kitty to son -- "You did the best job raising such a cute thing" -- starting the engine -- "I have your email, I'll send pictures" -- put the car in drive -- "Gotta run to beat the rush hour traffic" -- go, go, go!!  

Sixty seconds later the guy was calling my phone, reminding me that I forgot to pay the fee for the kitten.  Hahaha. I laughed and hung up. Better pay the fee or else. Sure, sure. I'll be right over. Better yet, consider it a donation to my own kitty rescue from jerks like you.



For the next four hours, the SOB had the audacity to threaten me with all kinds of things, including the police.  As we arrived at the vet's office, the threats continued but we let every call go to voicemail. Explaining the situation to the veterinarian, he graciously waived his fee while assessing the condition of our kitten that he now held in his arms.

Three weeks old, malnourished, not litter box trained, not enough teeth to eat dry food and a little boy - there was not one true thing in the craigslist ad. The vet was almost as shocked as I was by the audacity. 


Three weeks old, malnourished, not litter box trained, not enough teeth to eat dry food and a little boy - there was not one true thing in the craigslist ad. The vet was almost as shocked as I was by the audacity. 

And it so happened that there was a couple in the vet office who had lost their beloved kitty a month ago.....they fell in love with my "Lil Kitty" .... but I had grown so attached to the darling little boy over 48 hours.

I bathed him (normally you don't bathe a kitten this young but we had to get the dirt and grime off),  dribbled kitty formula down "Lil Kitty's" mouth, pulverized dry food in the coffee bean grinder, mixed it into wet food and coaxed him to eat, slept with him in my lap and laughed because he kept trying to sleep next to my bottom. We played "I'm a ferocious tiger" as he pounced on my hand, snooped through everything, including the bird cage, followed my feet everywhere. The vet vouched for this couple who would devote the 24-hour-round-the-clock care that "Lil Kitty" would need for awhile. I listened to the woman story and felt my heart giving in as the woman's eyes welled up with tears over her beloved lost cat.  I kissed his little face and handed Lil Kitty over. Silently willing myself to show strength, I got to the car before the kitten's new owner could see my own tears. Bye little kitty.


So I am blue and sad and missing that sweet little face. I still hear that mew --- not even a whole meow. Doing the right thing is hard sometimes.

 See how his eyes are blue? 









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