The Three Little Kittens

The Three Little Kittens

Once upon a time there were three little kittens. They were born in a shed in south Denver in the early spring. They were the cutest little kittens you ever saw. Each one of them had gray and black stripes. One day, their mama brought her kittens to a new place, a place where there was food. That place was the back yard of Mark and Mary, an older couple whose children were all grown and who were now caring for stray cats. Mark and Mary had fed the grey mama and watched her grow bigger and bigger. Then with the birth of the kittens, Mark and Mary waited to catch a glimpse of them. It wasn’t until the kittens were about two months old that the grey mama kitty brought the kittens over the fence into the back yard. When they jumped down off the top of the six-foot fence, they dropped like little rocks. But they never got hurt from the fall. They had young bones that could take the impact. They would come trotting up from the corner of the back yard to the park bench where Mark and Mary had put out the kitten chow. Grey Mama always watched over her kittens and made sure they were safe. Then she would eat too. After everyone was fed, they climbed the fence and went home to the shed. Oh, that was difficult for the little kittens at first, and they had to try several times to get all the way to the top. But their muscles developed as they got older and they never had to make the attempt twice. They always reached the top on the first try.

A month went by and the spring turned into early summer. The three little kittens and their grey mama were visiting the back yard of Mark and Mary every day. They would even stay and play with the cat toys that Mark and Mary placed in the yard. They liked the yard. They were safe. But the kittens didn’t know that the yard to the north was not safe. There was a dog. The dog to the north was kind to humans but vicious to other animals. Her name was Lulu. She wasn’t evil, it was just her nature to chase the little animals like squirrels and cats.

One afternoon, the three kittens explored the yard to the north. Lulu was inside the house but she started barking furiously. The neighbor opened the back door and Lulu went racing out the door. She tore after the kittens, who raced in all different directions. They all made it safely out of the yard by climbing the nearest fence. But one of the kittens was so scared, it didn’t stop climbing once it got to the top of the fence. It climbed the telephone pole that was adjacent to the fence. The kitten didn’t stop climbing until it got to the cable wires, about 20 feet above the ground. Mary saw all of it. She was terrified at the start and then happy that the kittens escaped from Lulu.

Mary watched the dog lose interest and trot back to the house. The owner opened the door and Lulu ran inside. Whew. But what was going to happen to the kitten on the telephone pole? Mary watched and wondered if the kitten would know how to climb back down. Then to her horror, she saw the kitten start crawling out on the cable line in an effort to get home! The kitty took about three steps out on this cable and then lost its grip. It seesawed back and forth on the cable and then it froze. What could Mary possibly do? She needed someone with a 20-foor ladder to go up and get the kitten right away. But Mark was already asleep and Mary knew that they didn’t have a ladder that tall. She had an idea. She called the non-emergency number for the Denver police. The woman who answered the phone transferred Mary to the animal control officer on duty who said there was no one who could help. And the fire department didn’t make rescues like that anymore. She said the cat would come down when it was hungry. Hungry, hmmmm. Mary thanked the animal control officer and went to the kitchen. She opened a can of tuna fish and took the can down to the telephone pole. She talked to the kitten soothingly and placed the can on the ground. Then she went back up to the patio to watch. The kitten still clung on to the cable and didn’t budge an inch. An hour went by and the kitten did not budge. It was getting dark. Mary didn’t know what to do! She wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that the kitten was still in danger of falling off the cable. Yet she couldn’t do anything about it. It was hopeless. She had to get that kitten off the cable.

With Mark asleep, she thought about her neighbors to the south and it gave her an idea. She was good friends with those neighbors and she had their phone number. She would call them for advice. John-Michael answered the phone. Mary told him about her dilemma and the lack of help from the police and the impending darkness. John-Michael said, “well if I were you, I would attach the high-pressure nozzle on the garden hose and give that kitten a blast of water. That’ll knock it off the cable.” Oh, really? Really? Mary thought. I could never do that. So Mary thanked John-Michael and went back to the patio to ponder her predicament.

Mary wracked her brain to think of a way to get the kitten down off the cable. The result was nothing. Reluctantly, she got the high-pressure nozzle and attached it to the garden hose. She thought that the kitten would stand a better chance of falling safely now because it would still have some energy to swivel its feet down and have a safe landing. Mary turned on the faucet. The water coursed though the hose and the spray shot out. With the greatest reluctance, Mary pointed the spray at the kitten on the cable. Instantly, the kitten let go and plunged to the ground. Mary turned off the faucet. It was dark now. She hoped for the best. She knew somehow that the kitten would find its way home now that it was down on the ground.

It was too late to call John-Michael back, but she was Facebook friends with him. So she went to the computer and wrote on his Facebook wall.

“J-M, I took your advice and I attached the high-pressure nozzle on the hose and blasted the kitty off the cable.” What Mary didn’t realize was that when posting on someone’s Facebook wall, EVERYONE can see the message. She thought she was sending a private message to John-Michael. Well. The next day her Facebook friends were sending Mary videos of squirrel catapults!

The moral of the story is, be sure you know how to use the social media properly, or you will suffer the catapult consequences!