The park in my neighborhood was always a favorite for me and my mom to walk to in the summertime. The play equitment had just been re-painted bright florescent orange, and had a dog park right next to it, which to an eight year old, was the greatest thing in the world.
The walk to the park was a familiar one, out of the cul-de-sac to the main street in the neighborhood, and down a side street for about a block or two. We had just reached the end of the cul-de-sac and turned right down the road, passing my favorite tree of all time. It was a great big weeping willow that desperately needed its branches trimmed, but to me, it was a fort, a club house, an amazing hiding place. Right next to the tree, off the curb, there was a storm drain and most of the time it wasn't something that caused any interest. On this trip however a strange noise was coming from the drain, my mom said over and over again it sounded like a raccoon, but being a curious eight year old I had to get a closer look. I peered into the drain and staring right back at me was a white and gray kitten, one of the smallest I'd ever seen. No need to say eight year old girls plus a kitten involved means lots of squealing and excitement, though my mom was cynical about trying to get the kitten out, and tried to get me to press onward to the park.
However it quickly became my lucky day when our neighbors rode by on their bikes, when we showed them what we found they became just as determined as I was to set the kitten free. With the combined effort of my neighbors and my mom, the storm drain was lifted off and we were able to reach the kitten. The kitten however was skittish and wouldn't come to us, but my neighbors, who had a cat at home, left, and returned a few minutes later with soft cat food.
With the help of that, it took no effort to get the kitten to come to us, and to lift her out. After that we tried for a good hour or so to find someone in the neighborhood who had lost a kitten, but no one had. My mom agreed to let me take it home for the night and the next morning, gave me the okay to keep her.
3 comments:
That's a very well-put-together story. I like the way in which it starts out as just an ordinary walk to the park, but becomes something much more interesting with the addition of the kitten. Do you still have it?
This is a good piece... I liked the description of the willow tree: "a fort, a club house, an amazing hiding place." It made me smile. I also love the appearance of the kitten, and the line: "No need to say eight year old girls plus a kitten involved means lots of squealing and excitement," because it's so very true. I'm afraid I'm going to ask the same question as Kwame did: do you still have the kitten ?
Thanks Breanna [: The tree was a fun description to come up with.
As for the kitten, we had her for quite some time, and she was a welcomed member of the family. Unfortunately when we tried to adopt a new kitten from the humane society about 4 years later, we found out I had allergies and had to give her away. We ended up giving her to a family friend and I saw her every once in a while for quite some time. Unfortunately she died around February last year
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