It was a dark and stormy night. Not really. It was a hot August afternoon in 2006. As I waited in reception at the vet’s office to pick up our cat, an older man and a young-adult woman came in. She carried something wrapped in a towel. All I could see were two little white ears sticking up over the towel. The young woman explained that her father was driving her back to college when they spotted a kitten on the side of the road. They pulled over and rescued the kitten, but the rescue left them with a hard decision. Neither of them could give the kitten a home, so they reluctantly decided to stop at the first vet they came to and arrange for his humane euthanization.
Before starting on the paperwork, the young woman asked if I would hold the kitten while she wrote. That was when I saw the owner of those little white ears. I held a beautiful grey and white kitten. Fleas were visible all over him and there was a bloody hole where his left eye had been, and he was still beautiful.
As I checked him over I was moved by the kindness and generosity of these people. Even though they couldn’t keep him they were willing to take the time and spend the money to save him from a grisly death. I’m not sure when I decided to take him home but it was probably when the vet tech asked me to hand him to her. The $35 euthanasia fee was returned to the young woman. We hugged and remarked on Karma and how the cosmos works. Everyone was happy with the outcome.
Even though we weren’t looking for another cat it was hard to argue: destiny, fate, or some other cosmic force converged at the perfect time for Jack. In the end, we all came together, and we all saved Jack.
TUCSON, AZ
