The Intergalactic Cowboy

It was Thursday morning. My next door neighbor, Mrs. Britt, was out of town having surgery. I went over to take her dumpster to the street. The calm atmosphere was broken by the sounds of a cat in distress. Upon further investigation, the sound seemed to be coming from underneath an SUV in the driveway. There was not cat inside the vehicle.There was no cat on the ground, below the vehicle. The cries were coming from the reccesses, under the floorboard of the vehicle. The pavement was rough, so I went inside my mom’s house to put on some long sleeved clothes to protect my skin from the rough pavement. I crawled under the SUV and began probing the receses with my hand. Then a kitten’s head poked out from above the differential of the car. I let him smell of my hand and attempted to grab him. He then jumped down, demonstating that he was not stuck, only frightened. I introduced myself to him and petted him. He ran into the tall grass nearby.
That night, I came home from dinner and the kitten started crying from the tall grass. I sang, ” here kitty kitty kitty” and he walked out of the tall grass crying. I picked him up and took him inside to show him to my mom. She mixed some powdered milk with water and even opened up a can of canned chicken for him to eat. I then put him, the milk and the chicken outside, because my mom has never liked cats or dogs and I knew better than to even ask if he could stay inside. He drank and ate well and stayed outside Thursday night.
On Friday, he returned and I brought him in for my mom to pet. She, uncharacteristically, suggested that we should let him stay inside for fear that a larger animal might kill him. So, I bought some dry cat food and made a toy ball out of aluminum foil for him to bat around. We let him stay overnight in the kitchen and then let him out to play on Saturday morning. I got in my car to go to the health club. When I cranked the motor, I heard the sound of a cat crying. I stopped the motor and found no cat under the car. I then opened the hood and found the kitten under the hood of my car !!! Fortunately, the fan and the belts did not kill him… So, from now on, we will have to look under the hoods of our cars unless we know the cat is inside the house.
Close call,
I.C.