My friend lives in an apartment complex and we were unloading her car from a trip. It's almost 2am and, miraculously, between thunderstorms. As I was getting the last of my things I heard the cry of a kitten. It took us a few seconds to figure out where the noise was coming from; the car parked right next to hers. Using the flash on her phone my friend managed to locate the kitten on the muffler. The light scared him and he jumped down and ran off into some nearby woods. My heart sank. Luckily, he was still meowing his little head off. I knew that he was saying, "I'm hungry, lost, scared, and nobody cares!" I couldn't leave him. My friend owns cats so she got some cat food. We spent about 45 minutes luring the kitten out of the woods. He fought me at first when I grabbed him, but he soon calmed down. No way was this kitten feral. He wasn't that dirty and seemed a good weight for his size. He had a major flea problem, though.
So I took him home and gave him a bath and spoiled him with attention and affection. And I fell in love. He loves to play and the first time he gave me a kitten headbonk my heart was sold. I couldn't keep him, though I wanted to very badly. Well, it turns out my grandmother was considering getting a kitten, since her cat passed away last year. So I called her and she wanted to meet him!
She liked him, even though he pulled a disappearing act on her that first night. The next day my father, sister, and I took him to the vet who said he's about 9 weeks old, weighs 2.1 lbs, and looked great for a stray. My sister took him back to the truck while we paid the bill. With doors closed and windows up, he almost escaped into a small opening in the floorboard!
Thus, the name Houdini; master escape artist, ventriloquist, and con-artist of the human heart :).
Huntsville, TX
