Fire Station 10

You know that story of the old lady who calls the fire department to come and get her cat out of a tree? I always thought it was a bit silly. Just enforced the notion of «scaredy cat» who climbs so high he cannot get down. Who would ever call the fire department about a cat?
We went on vacation and had our cat-​loving friend come over to the house and feed all 5 of our babies. Mind you, I always considered myself a «dog person» and I was raised to believe that there ARE «dog people» and «cat people.» When I met My Sweetie, and learned of the 5 cats, I did pause. I am allergic to cat dander. But I fell in love with all 5, sneezes and all. My favorite was Jan which is pronounced «Yawn» — so shy and skittish that «Yawn» really described him well. Sleepy but aware, painfully shy. This was one cat who never needed anyone. The other cats were pretty open about asking for help when they needed something. Not Jan. He seemed afraid of the other cats, especially the alpha male who Jan would never look at, EVER.
When we returned from vacation, 4 kitties were happy to see us but not Jan. Disappeared. We thought we heard a cat’s slight meow when we walked around the backyard. Haunted by Jan, the memory of the little shy gray persian smooshed face beauty, we went about our lives. Still, every now and again we thought we heard his cry. This was not a constant «meow» but we heard it once at say, 2 in the morning and another time at 6 a.m. Whoever heard it though, said it was clear even if it was ONE meow. Memories… he has run away to another family who WASN’T on vacation.
One night at around midnight as we were trying to get the kiddos to bed, we all heard it. All four of us at one time and we all screamed. We ran to the back porch and there it was again. A shadow of a whimper of a «meow» and it was coming from under the deck in the backyard. We got out the lights and sent our boy under the deck searching for Jan. Boy Wonder said he saw him, but every time he would try and reach for him, he would skittish away. SO SHY. Not wanting to ask for help. SO NEEDING HELP.
What to do?
Rip up the deck. It is midnight and we are going to rip up our deck. We have to. NOW. The four of us look around for tools and then we realize this is a job for professionals. People who know what they are doing. We might hurt him as we rip into the deck with the Sawsall, hammers, and sundry tools that we were frantically gathering but… who to call?
At approximately midnight: thirty the XXXL fire-​engine-​red fire truck pulls up to our house. I know our neighbors were completely freaking out. Four burly firemen quickly rip up our back deck and find a very emaciated grey furr ball who always looked sad in that persian sad kind of way but now looked REALLY sad as he tried to evade capture. He was TINY. This was 2 weeks after our vacation ended, and we were on vacation for 2 weeks.
His collar had gotten caught on a nail under the deck and he had tried to escape it but it had wrapped around his right front leg and he had rubbed the area raw trying to get out of this strange jail. All of the skin was GONE — raw like when you cut a chicken breast. Shocking. And the smell…
The guys from the fire station just kindly stared at the 4 of us bawling our eyes out… Jan, what has happened to our Yanny Pooh? Really, looking back at it, I think they were some of the kindest, strongest, bravest men in the world. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! HUGS FOR EVERYONE!!!
They saved our scaredy cat and for that I will always love them.