Reblogged
by Smorgasbord Magazine – Variety is the Spice of Life – September 18, 2022
A Kitty Story of Callie
Reintroducing My Big Red Kitty
Back on November 8th of 2021 is when I wrote my first kitty story of Callie and introduced her as my big red kitty and one of her misadventures as a feral cat. As noted at that time she was watched by one or two feral cat watch people on some of her escapades. The first retold in November was with a giant Bear entitled “Callie My Big Red Kitty”. So it is time to reintroduce my girl Callie.
Callie’s Next Adventure
The next related interesting exploit for my kitty story of Callie is with a commercial construction site not too far from one of Callie’s “camping” lairs. ”Her” construction crew evidently found their new found kitty many times on unsafe terrain in their half-finished 10-story office building. So, one good thing, they were getting use to spotting her.
And another in her favor was that she was only 8 years old and in somewhat decent condition. She was getting food from a couple of cat-loving construction guys and girls. Not to mention the wee rodents she found on the site. No wonder she kept going back!
The Elevator
As it went, they did have a construction elevator on the site. One unfortunate day Callie slipped inside unbeknownst to the guy inside. His arms were full of coffee cups from the local food cart which he was delivering to the upper floor crew. The door opened and Callie zipped out and then the construction guy noticed her. Our Callie found herself 7 stories up on partially laid flooring. No familiar sites anywhere did she spy. She looked around and down and, as the crew guy said, “Big Red just froze and let out a very loud ‘MEOWRRR.” Callie was known at the construction site as “Big Red”.
Callie – Lost?
The workman went on to make his deliveries and came back to help ‘Big Red’ get back down to earth. Bless, she was no place in sight. He searched the nearby area and not finding sight or sound of Callie, he went back to his work. Word quickly spread that “Big Red” was somewhere on the 7th floor.
As the cat story was retold, Callie or Big Red spent the night and most of the next day on the 7th floor huddled in behind some ductwork. Daylight hours wore on and she was beginning to get quite hungry not having eaten for over a day. She started moving stealthily from her hiding spot fearful of being so very high. Since she was unnoticed yet she started meowing a bit but not loud enough for the workers to hear over their hammering and drilling.
Falling
Callie ventured further out looking wildly around and started falling through an opening in the floor – “Mew” – but caught herself and was able to jump back up. The area she occupied was a bit unstable. Now she started Meowing in earnest and as loud as she could: ‘MEOW” “MEOW” “MEOW” — going non-stop. A construction guy named Tom happened to just step off the elevator and heard her M-E-O-W s. He didn’t see Big Red but had heard the rumors and started calling to her. She was actually only about 10 feet from where she had jumped off the elevator.
Tom didn’t stop calling to Big Red until he finally discovered her whereabouts. He said he had never seen a kitty so happy to be found and brought back down to earth!
The moral of this animal story for Callie or Big Red: DON’T TAKE THE ELEVATOR.