“He's gotta be in there somewhere.” Zach gingerly removes the dried cat turd with a paper towel and tosses it to the ground. Two days ago we were in Spokane, Washington visiting Zach's friend Kathy, who had been storing Zach's Subaru while he was climbing the highest peak in each state for a Coleman-sponsored project (www.coleman.com/50states) We had stopped in Spokane to pick up the Subaru our way to move all of Zach's stuff to Columbus, Ohio before he flies off to the Netherlands for his next project (more about that another time).
A call from Kathy this morning prompted us to pull off the road. “I can't find Stella. Can you see if he's in the U-Haul?” Stella is a cranky 13-year-old orange-and-white cat. It's been two hot days since the trailer was last opened. After searching for several minutes we found dried-out cat feces and urine, but no cat. Stella wasn't responding to our calls; it seemed clear that the cat was onboard but unable to respond. We'd have to unload the trailer to find the cat, dead or alive.
An hour later in the Wal-Mart parking lot, after partially unloading the trailer and crawling on top of the remaining furniture and boxes with a flashlight, we finally found him on top of a box under the dining table. He's alive, and hungry! A handful of kibble in the back of the Wal-Mart cat carrier is enough to encourage him into new captivity.
The plan: Kathy found a PetSmart/ Banfield about two miles away from our Wal-Mart. She arranged with Ramona (the vet) to check Stella over and keep him until Kathy could arrive later that day to pick him up. Kathy is a Banfield customer back in Spokane, and all her pet records could be transferred between vet centers. (This is one instance where national chains have an advantage over locally owned businesses.)
Seven hours later: Zach and I are well away down I-90, Kathy is reunited with Stella in Billings, and all is well.
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