Hope

Before we get to far into this particular post, I feel the need to remind you: We are cat people. We travel with two of them, and love the rest. Simple as that. OK, then. Now, we can proceed.

I love the day after a travel day. We make them lazy and purposeless...quite on purpose. Today was no exception. We lounged about over a pot of coffee and surfed the internet like a couple of newbies. Yes, it had been awhile!

One of the things Paul had checked out online was geocaches in the area. He discovered two just down the road a mile or so. So, we planned a geocaching stroll after our mid-to-late-morning breakfast.

With breakfast behind us we were strolling down our country lane searching for caches in the Alabama sunshine. It was such a gorgeous day! En route to Cache #1 I thought I heard a cat. I quickly chalked it up to my imagination. Cache #1 was found, then we were down the road to Cache #2. With two successful 'Bama caches under our belts, we headed back up the road for home. As we were strolling just past the vicinity of Cache #1, I heard the sound of a cat again. This time I mentioned it to Paul. He listened for it and heard it, too. Moments later he found the source: a tiny kitten crying on the side of our dead-end country lane.

People often say they are of two minds. In this moment, I was of two hearts. One of my hearts wanted to keep a healthy distance from this helpless little creature. I barely wanted to lay eyes on it. And, nooooooo I didn't want to hold it. My other heart, of all things, named the poor little thing. Paul said she was a girl. As we stood here in Hope Hull, Alabama, in my mind I named this little kitty. Her name is Hope.

We estimated Hope was eight or ten weeks old. She was a gorgeous little gray girl who seemed pretty healthy, with a little wound on her head. Although the cold hearted side of me was never going to let her live with us, we could not leave her there on the side of the desolate road. Paul scooped her up and carried her home. My immediate thought was that our campground needed a cat. Paul's was that we would surrender her to the local humane society for adoption. We would work that out. First, we needed to get her some food.

We brought Hope home and put her in one of our cat crates under our rig. I went inside and found the Montgomery Humane Society online. Paul took a saucer of milk out to serve our guest. As he opened the crate to serve her, she darted out. She escaped to the comfort and safety of several bales of hay behind the campground office.

We've called to her there several times, but she is choosing not to answer. We're thinking she's happy and better off being here, in this campground. Like us, she may find everything she needs here. Perhaps a traveler will adopt her. Or, she may become the mascot of the place. Whatever the case, she was not of the mind to be loaded in a Jeep and sent off to the Humane Society today.

Tonight we find our thoughts wandering to Hope. We wish her a safe and warm night. If we see her in the morning, we'll take her with us into Montgomery tomorrow. And, if not, our wish is that she will be a sunny ray of hope for this little sliver of Alabama.