Oh Lord, she’s got that gleam in her eye.
It had been a while since I had seen this particular look. The very look that at one time was a common occurrence in my life. It had even been known to send a chill down my spine. Because it usually meant my household was about to increase by at least one.
You see, my daughter Allie sees herself as a savior of Mother Earth’s creatures. If she was a superhero her mission would be the protection and safety of animals big and small.
This particular morning, we were discussing the ceiling kittens.
At the studio where my daughter works out and trains her clients, kittens were literally raining down from an opening in the ceiling. In the course of only a couple hours not only Allie, but also my son, Caleb, who by the way is allergic to the feline species, had rescued two small, frightened babies.
The gleam inducement was her discussing returning to the scene of the kitty downpour and attempting to rescue more. “I’m sure I saw at least two more kittens peeking at me through the hole and I want to rescue them before they fall and get hurt. I’m going to drag James so he can hold the ladder while I attempt to reach them up through the hole.”
I say nothing while thinking to myself, “better James, than me.”
While the rescue of kittens is fairly tame, it’s her other more perilous missions that caused me concern. And at those times I preferred the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom host Marlin Perkin’s method. “While I stay back in the safety of the truck Jim (Fowler) will attempt to rescue the baby zebra from the quickly encroaching hungry lions.”
Bats, birds, rabbits, ducks, raccoons, whatever the wildlife that Allie is attempting to aid, I am always safely many feet away with a large thick door separating me from the action.
Later when I checked back with her progress at capturing the cats she reported two more kittens had fallen through the hole. Both were fine but one fell on top of her friend while she was vacuuming the studio. She also happily told me that so far each and every kitten was already placed in a loving family.
Then in the hopes of catching the last of the kittens and mom, someone other than Allie set an animal trap. While the trap proved successful their catch wasn’t a kitten. Nope, it was a raccoon.
Unfortunately, the party responsible for the trap was busy and neglected to keep an eye on the containment device. And so the poor raccoon was held captive for numerous hours on a warm day.
While trying to locate the responsible trapper Allie became frustrated at the handling and amount of time the raccoon was contained. Then after being told “It’s just a raccoon!” Her outrage grew and she immediately set upon a course of liberation. Free at last! She watched while the raccoon promptly climbed back up towards the roof.
My daughter is one of those people that animals gravitate towards. They instantly feel comfortable around her and trust her. Allowing her to get close to them..
Last summer there was a wounded domestic cat spotted out to Johnson’s Park. Others had attempted to rescue this cat. Others bore no success. Enter Allie. One day while at the park she spotted the cat that she had read about on Facebook.
Sans superhero cape and tights she calmly, patiently and persistently wooed this skittish cat. Soon the wounded animal was safely wrapped in a blanket and headed to medical aid and the animal shelter where attempts to home the pet would begin.
Which causes me to wonder, “Just when did she finally give up the notion that the animal needed to live with her and be nursed back to health under her care?” Obviously, James is much better at reigning in her critter hoarding tendencies than I ever was.
When I asked her about this fact she quickly replied, “James hasn’t reigned in my animal hoarding tendencies. I am just biding my time until I own property out in the country. When that happens there will be no one telling me ‘No.’ If I bring home a duck, three dogs and a horse he is just going to have to deal.”
And though I read this reply through a text, I knew with every fiber of my being that in that moment the old familiar gleam shone brightly in her eyes.
