by Focus
© 2002 M. Myska, all rights reserved
When I strolled out, about 8:30 that night, to bring the mail in, our gray cat, Grizzy, slipped out too. But when I came back in, she refused to follow me.
So about 11 I decided to go check on the cat. I stuck my head out the driveway door, only to hear this AWFUL sound, like an animal screaming! I thought, "Oh my God! Have the dogs cornered the cat? Did a car hit her? Did a coyote rip off her leg?"
I hurried toward the sound, and discovered that the yowling came from within our water softener tank! I grabbed a mop handle from the trash, and stuck the mop in, thinking perhaps the cat could grab onto it, so that I could pull her up - but she couldn't get a grip on the plastic handle, and she kept falling off.
I didn't want to stick my hand in where I couldn't see, especially as, in the dark, I could not positively identify the animal in the tank; so I ran inside and got a flashlight. Back at the tank, I shone the light down, and there, among pieces of broken plastic water softener lid, swam my gray cat, looking more like a drowned rat, and frantically yowling. I couldn't quite reach her, so I got the mop handle again, hooked it under her, pulled her up within my reach, and, despite fear of claws, grabbed hold and pulled the soggy critter out. (She did not claw me.)
We went inside. I got a beach towel, and dried the poor animal as best I could. Grizzy shook long after I'd finished drying her (soaking the beach towel and myself). I changed to dry clothes and sat on the recliner. Too tired to tolerate petting, too upset to sleep, she huddled between my legs with her head down for about an hour, slowly calming.
Piddles, our other cat, did not help matters. She saw a stranger, not her friend Grizzy. This cat dripped water, looked different, sounded different, and she certainly smelled different! Piddles arched her back and snarled and hissed at Grizzy. Piddles made to attack the interloper - but I stopped her! Then, Piddles sat distrustfully on the other side of the room and cast hostile looks in our direction.
Grizzy recovered. The next day when I petted her, her fur felt fluffy, clean, and soft. When I went out that evening, she slipped between my legs and came out too, as usual. She rolled in the dust of our driveway, as she loves to do. But when I came back inside Grizzy did not stay out; instead, she decided to come back inside with me. And this time, when she came in covered with honest dirt, Piddles recognized her as a friend.