Whose Cats Are These?

The big Maine coon she wasn’t worried about keeping up, nor the wily alley cat, but the one she was holding upside down and wiggling? The splayed-leg wobbly cat? she wasn’t sure if she could make it. But she couldn’t put her down and leave her so she held tight and ran. They all ran.

Turning a corner, she could sense the cats keeping up as she headed for her grandmother’s house two blocks ahead. It would have to do as she had a way to enter it and it was two stories with roof access if necessary. Already her feet were ankle deep in the flood water which was rising so fast she wasn’t sure if there was really any help at all/

That’s when the cat in her arms had diarrhea. Right under nose and oozing between the cat and her body. She started to gag but kept running. By the time she reached the door of the downtown building where her family had owned a little cafe with a shop underneath an apartment where generations of her family had lived and worked until her grandmother entered hospice, the alley cat was having to swim. After opening the door, she grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and tossed it on the stairs where it quickly scrambled up. The coon caught on to the idea and swiftly followed. Before ascending herself, she dunked the poop cover cat in the rising water and rinsed the foul-smelling excretion. Once she was a few steps above the water line, she stripped off her clothes and chunked them over the rail. Some of granny’s old clothes would have to do.

Safely on the second floor, she decided to turn off anything electric. She didn’t know if that was necessary, but she was having trouble thinking straight and decided just to follow through. The water was still working so she decided to take a shower while she could and washed herself and the smelly cat in warm water then filled up the tub as that seemed like something she heard about doing.

After drying both of them off as best she could, she rummaged up some old cans of sardines and fed the cats. She considered hoarding it but it was so expired, she was willing to let the cats test it out and see what happened. Plus, they looked so scared it was the only thing she could think of to comfort them. She set out a bowl of water which gave her the idea to find as many containers as possible and fill them up. An old 5 gallon water jub was in the back of the pantry and she had to let some of the bathtub water drain to fill it up, but felt better once she accomplished that.

Then she crawled into Granny;s bed and fell asleep immediately. It had been a crazy morning so far.

She woke to the smell of poop. It was evident more than one cat had diarrhea from the stress or questionable sardines, but now all three cats were cuddled around her. Purring. She was happy to have helped them but was at a loss as what to do now. So she went back to sleep until she3 woke up starving.

She had discovered some tuna pouches (not expired) and some saltines earlier and sat down to brunch, but the poop smell was too unappetizing. She had to clean it up first. She walked to the stairs and glanced down. The water was still rising though it had stopped raining. All the cats were up and following her now.

“You might as well go back to sleep,” she told them, “there’s nowhere to go now and you three have already eaten.” The water was over halfway up the staircase. She hadn’t actually expected it to get this high but was glad she forced herself to run this far for the two story building instead of giving up for something closer along the way. She had been tempted especially after the cats started following her and she realized she had to carry one with special needs. The poor thing wobbled around as she headed back to what had been her grandparents' little kitchen with a small table where they had breakfast.

Most other meals were eaten downstairs in the cafe. Many family gatherings were held there because it was big enough for everyone in the family. They had thanksgivings and christmas dinners and little reunions there when she was growing up. They continued after Grandpa died, but as all the grandkids grew up and had to start dividing their time with spouses’ families and such, the size of get togethers dwindled. Then Granny’s cancer came back and she was eventually moved to hospice. No one had wanted to use her cafe as she lay dying in a nursing home. It had been almost 11 months now since anyone had lived here. Now it was dusty and smell like cat diarrhea.

She found an old trowel Granny had used to replant houseplants and tried to scrape up the poop and throw it out the window. It took several attempts and was very messy. For the second time today, she was covered in it. The water was no longer running and she didn’t want to waste her clean supply by washing off the smelly globby goo in it, so she walked down the stairs far enough to submerge her arms before going to the sink and following up with soap. The wobbly cat followed her the whole time which annoyed her and made her more endeared to that one.

“Please stop following me,” she told it. “It takes you forever to get anywhere and I’m just going back and forth.” By the tie the cat got to where she was, she was already turning around to head back the way she came.

After spraying some lysol to cover the smell, she finally sat down to eat. The cats went crazy when she opened the tuna pouch and stared at her as they meowed frantically as if they hadn’t just eaten breakfast. As she ate, first the Maine coon then the alley cat jumped on the little table.

“Stop!” she yelled while trying to defend her lunch. As soon as she knocked them off the table, they jumped back up. Resignedly, she opened another pouch and divided it three ways. It bought her enough time to scarf down her meal.

She was trapped and board but at least full. She went to each window to try and see what was going on. She didn’t learn much. The water was up to some people’s roofs from the direction she came. She didn’t have time to grab her phone when this all started, so she had no way to contact anyone or get updates. Since the hurricane had moved on, she assumed or hoped the flood waters would be receding soon and rescue would be possible or at least she would be able to forge her way to somewhere more safe. Despite the recent storm and flood, it was a hot August day. The lack of air conditioning was making her cranky. To kill time, she used an old pack of cards to play solitaire then raided her grandmother’s collection of romance books. It was not a genre she was fond of, but it was that or nothing. Grumpily, she spent a few hours reading about a princess who was raised by the peasants who found her not knowing who she was. As the wedding, to the man she loved, a stable boy, neared, it was discovered that she was the long lost princess and she was taken to the castle where her biological parents wanted her to marry a prince to combine two kingdoms. Though there was an immediate attraction, she loved her stable boy. Conflict ensued. When she couldn’t stand the sex euphemisms and sappy language any longer, she stopped for dinner. She gave the cats old sardines again and ate cold Campbell’s chicken noodle soup with more saltines.

Now she regretted napping because she was so bored she longed for sleep. She played solitaire til it started growing dark then used the cards to build a house of cards until it was absolutely impossible to see. All four of them found their way back to the bed. She regretted not looking at the water’s height before it was too late. She assumed it was receding as she lay there longing for sleep. She woke up to the smell of poop again and wondered how long she had been out. It was still dark but it seemed to be on the morning side of the night. She wasn’t going to bother trying to clean poop in the dark and went back to sleep.

That turned out to be a mistake.

She woke again a couple hours later to the cats crying. She was wet. The water was just rising to the top of the bed. Of course the poop had floated in her direction.

“Crap,” she said.

At least she could sort of see now. There was a door off the kitchen that opened tp a landing that led to a spiral staircase that went to the roof proper. She waded that direction leaving the cats behind. They cried.

“Let me check it out!” she responded. “Give me a minute!”

Since she was able to get the door open and reach the stairs, she waded back and tried to pick up all three cats. On her way, she walked through one of their poops. And gagged.

One by one, she transferred them to the stairs starting with the coon and ending with the wobble cat which she carried all the way up. The roof was already hot and miserable and the sun hadn’t fully risen yet. Plus, she wasn’t sure how long she’d be safe here if the water din’t start receding soon/

About an hour later, after regretting not bring a few of those romance novels, a helicopter passed by overhead. She jumped for joy and waved her arms. They waved back and flew away.

“Dammit!” she screamed.

About half an hour later she heard a motor. A little boat was heading her way. It had two men in it and what appeared to be two dogs. As they got closer, they started yelling at each other.

“Are you okay?” one of the men shouted.

“Yes,” she yelled back.

“Good,” he responded. “The helicopter told us you were stranded.”

“I am,” she screamed.

“Is anyone with you?” he yelled less emphatically as they were closer now.

“No, it’s just me,” she said loudly. “There are three cats here.”

“Oh,” said the other man. “I don’t know how that will work with these dogs.”

“They aren’t mine,” she informed them, “but I’d feel bad abandoning them.”

“Well,” he said back, “you can either come with us and we can come back for the cats later, or stay with the cats and we’ll come for you after we drop of the dogs.” She didn't know these cats; they weren’t her responsibility. However, she’d been taking care of them and felt a responsibility. Plus, what if the water kept rising. She felt like they were all running out of time.

“What will it be?” the first man asked. She looked at the cats and knew what she had to do. She wasn’t a long lost princess and this wasn’t such a complex dilemma.