I had just moved into a strange City with only a 4 year old, 4 suit cases and a cat. I was desperately looking for an apartment and was staying in a friends tiny highrise apartment. It was incediably hot outside, I had, no money for transit, So I had been walking the neighbourhoods looking for rent signs in the windows of houses. I came back to my friends place so tired and discouraged.
We were on the 11th floor and directly across from my window was an identical building. There was a courtyard between the two buildings. So looking out the window I was looking at the 11th floor of the other building. To my Horror, I saw a cat dangling out the window, flayling its legs in an effort not to fall. The court yard below was full of little kids playing, and I was terrified for the cat and the kids, thinking of what an awful sight it would be when the cat would fall all that way down into the playground. I screamed and ran to the elevator,telling my roommate to call the Super Intendant.The cat could fall any second, I had to do something fast!
Along side of the two buildings was the back parking lot of a police station. I knew that the other building would be locked and so as I ran through the parking lot I saw three Officers who were just standing by their cars. I ran up to them and pionted up to the 11th floor,where they could see the black cat hanging out of a window. We all commented on how we could hear the poor thing meowing. One officer agreed to rush over to the building with me, to help me get in. All while in the elevator he was saying how horrible it is that people are so thoughtless with their animals. He was an animal lover himself and admired my wanting to help this poor kitty.
We get up to the 11th floor and we could hear a dog barking madly in the apartment. No one was answering the door! I said that the dog was probably freeked out a well, and barking for help. Just then the elevator door opened and two girls about 12 years old stepped out. I asked it they lived in the apartment. They said yes. I was so angry for them being so thoughtless about leaving a window open like that, so I said angrily "Well, you cat is hanging out one of your windows and about to die!". They gave me this blank look and said that they didn't have a cat. "Liars!" I snapped.
The Officer calmly asked if he could step in and see for himself. I tried to push in too but he told me to wait n the hallway. He came back a moment later with this stunned look on his face. I thought that we had been too late...the cat had fallen. He looked at me and said "Lets go". "But wait" I said, "what happened?". "It was a bath mat, hung out to dry" he replied.
Yep folks, a bath mat. Black and fuzzy on one side, white rubber on the back. The builing was also white, so as it flapped in the wind, up that high, the mat looked like an animal kicking its legs. My convinced panic had even made three Officers comment on the meowing -that we all felt we heard. We said nothing as we went down the elevator. That poor Officer probably never lived it down with his precinct.
Moral of the story; never call the police for help when a cat is ..uh, what ever...I was trying to do the right thing...
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