Mother and I were simply going to get her car and head to a relaxing night at a movie. Of course it couldn’t be just heading to the car and to the movie…
We parked Mom’s car at Kohl’s so we could only drive one car while we hit a few stores for a front door curtain. After hitting the stores, we headed back to Mom’s car so we could drive to the theater. I parked my car directly next to hers, she jumped out of mine, opened the door and got into hers. I then looked up and saw a concerned lady talking to her. I rolled down my window thinking Mom had a flat tire or something b/c I saw her looking down at the bottom of the car. All tires were inflated properly, thankfully, but when I asked what was going on, the concerned lady promptly said “There’s a young kitten under her car.”
Of course there is….
This started about 8:50pm. We searched, searched, and searched more, and yet found nothing. We searched w/the flashlight, honked the horn, meowed, called “kitty kitty” and rocked the car back and forth. Finally, after much debate and figuring it ran off w/o the concerned lady noticing, Mom eased into starting the car with little spurts, and as gently as possible, eventually starting it . All was fine. She rolled an inch at a time, just in case, and nothing. So, we said “Well, it had to have run off.” About that time we hear from a distance “Are you looking for a kitten?” We all jerked our heads around and said “yes” in unison. “It’s right there under your car…right there.” All 3 of us went down in unison, yet again, and saw no kitten. Could it have been the small can of food he saw? Must have been.
“I HEAR IT!” Mother exclaims! The two of us hit the parking lot floor (in unison, of course), flashlight in my hand. Now we had a crowd. A plastic coat hanger and a nudge later, a Kohl’s employee named Crystal and I pushed the little orange tabby kitty out from underneath the car…and it tore off across the parking lot, up and under another before we could catch it.
Again…hanger in hand, Miss Crystal and I on our backs, under the car, we nudged it out….and into/under the next car over. I think I said a dirty word at this point. Again, on our backs, armed with the flashlight and handy dandy hanger, we saw this kitten tucked up high. This dislodgment took a while longer. It’d wedged itself on the rod that goes front to back, underneath the car, and was holding on for dear life, meowing the entire time. We must have spent 15-20 min trying to get it out, and we finally did….and although a grand effort was made to catch it, it tore off across the parking lot and back under Mother’s car…again.
This dislodgment took even longer…at least an hour. We had no choice – we had to get it out. It was so far up there that it was in very tight quarters. The crowd had grown significantly, providing “oohs, ahhs” and encouragement (along with a few laughs). We had umbrellas, a long fake fern looking thing that we hoped might tempt it to play, flash lights, Mom, Crystal and I on our backs, and even a girl’s crutch. I almost got it out at one point, but being a cat , it insisted on climbing higher once it regained his grip. We pulled out the car jack.
A guy jacked up the car, and we could finally see it again w/the assistance of his mac daddy, fancy, red flashlight. Still the kitty climbed up….when I finally got a glimpse of the face, it didn’t look good…I immediately grew concerned. Somehow it’d gone so high up, and into the smallest point, and lodged itself so tightly, that it was somehow restricting its own breathing. It’s eyes couldn’t stay open, it’s mouth hung open, and movement and consistent meows were diminishing. At that point, it became urgent.
We found a way to view it through this itty bitty spot above the tire, for it was at that point on the gas tank, so we jacked up that side of the car to try to make more room for it. Mom grabbed another employee who brought out one of those garment sticks that is used to get clothing off the top of the wall hangers (long silver thing w/a hook on the end that holds the hanger). At the same time, I searched my car for something…lo-n-behold I found THE WATER BOTTLE!!!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Kohl dude w/the hanger pole nudged the kitty, and I squirted the poo out of the kitty for stimulation to wake it, some water in it’s little mouth, and to move it the $()%**$()$*@ out of that position. It worked, and it started to climb down (little ‘yeah!’ as to not get too excited). Miss Crystal and I did a drop and roll, sliding under the car, praying for the jack not to collapse, and I held the flashlight while she was able to grab it. I think pure exhaustion from the kitten was our friend.
She was covered in water and oily grime, looked horribly pitiful, and she was light headed and dehydrated a bit, but at least breathing and more alert. It was now 10:25pm as she rode in my lap on the way home, trembling, wrapped in a towel, seat belt over the both of us. She looked at me with those huge eyes and snuggled. I brought her inside Mom’s house, forced water in her, and she started to liven up.
She hissed when we first tried to catch her, be it in a kennel or during free roam of the kitchen, yet snuggled close and purred when you held her, and let us kiss all over her….b/c, you know, that makes sense…. ???
The debate continued on names….she was found at Kohls, under a Crown Victoria, so choosing the appropriate name hung in mid air. So far we had the pretty bad options of:
Kohl
Kohlie
Kohleen
Car-ly
Victoria
Kohlita
Yes, these are all pretty lame, so I asked for suggestions from friends. It must be significant, of course, to the events of the evening. My brother came up with Kohlette…it stuck.
As if I needed another cat…let alone a baby kitten.
My brother was DARN lucky he lives 40 min away vs. only 10 or his backside would have been covered in oil, dirt and grime just like mine, Mom’s and Miss Crystal’s.
I mean really….we really couldn’t leave it, now could we? I mean really….
