We have two cats. Their names are Tobi and Pluto, and though they are brothers, they could not be more different.
Pluto is large, clumsy, nervous, and reserves most of his affection for me. Perhaps the fact that both he and I required CPR to restore our life has created a bond of sorts, though admittedly, he’s always preferred me over any other member of the family.
Tobi, on the other hand, is thin, lithe, and athletic, He gets into places that Pluto never even attempts. Tobi is also insatiably curious, which has led to him sneaking out of the house on more than one occasion, including one overnight excursion that left him under the deck, terrified and crying.
Yesterday morning, as I was brushing my teeth in the wee hours of the morning, I noticed that Tobi was not underfoot. I started to get nervous. Tobi usually sleeps on my legs or beside my head, but he’s also been known to sleep with the other members of our family, too. But as soon as my feet hit the floor every morning, he is usually awake and underfoot, waiting for breakfast.
If he doesn’t make a quick appearance, it usually means that he’s stuck behind a door or in trouble
As I made my way down the hallway toward the stairs, I noticed that the doors to the kids’ rooms and the closets were all slightly ajar.
No Tobi in any of those rooms.
When I got downstairs, I checked the office, the pantry, and the entranceway, opening the doors and hoping he’d emerge.
Nothing,
On rare occasions, he’ll sleep in the basement and not hear me wake up, so as I opened the can of cat food and placed it on a dish, I made a lot of noise, hoping he’d appear.
Nothing.
Now I was worried. I knew that during the previous day, none of us had gone outside. It had snowed, and I taught and performed via Zoom all day long, so it was unlikely – if not impossible – he had escaped. I went to the basement and poked around. I checked the garage, which has an adjoining door halfway down the basement stairs.
Nothing.
Now I was scared.
I began a top-to-bottom search of the house, looking for my boy. Cabinets and cupboards. The trash cans. Under beds as my family quietly slept.
Still nothing.
Then I heard it. A cat crying from somewhere in the basement. I made my way to the stairs and found Pluto standing at the door to the garage, crying. Staring at the door. I nudged him aside and entered the garage for the second time. Then I heard him. Tobi. Above my head. Somehow Tobi had managed to climb into the rafters of the garage, where several boards are strewn across, creating makeshift walkways large enough only for a cat. The rafters were about 10 feet off the ground, too high for me to reach and too high for Tobi to get down.
He looked at me and started to meow incessantly. He was crying.
I sprung into action. First, I positioned a small wicker table atop a wicker chair and ascended. I was able to get my arms and a portion of my head above the rafters, but as I reached for Tobi, he backed away, too frightened to approach,
Next I took a ladder, positioned it against a rafter and climbed. The problem was that the space between rafters was narrow, so with the ladder, there was barely enough room for me to squeeze between the two rafters, meaning even if I could get Tobi in my arms, there might not be room for him and me to squeeze back through to climb down.
But I had to try.
Tobi came to me immediately, desperate for help, but when I reached to grab him, he clawed my hand. This caused me to pull back, which dislodged my footing from the ladder. I slipped down three or four rungs, smacking my chin on a rafter on the way by, then I regained my footing for an instant before falling backwards from the ladder entirely onto the concrete floor, square on my back.
Needless to say it hurt like hell. Had I hit my head on the concrete, I might not be writing this.
After catching my breath and allowing the pain in my back to subside, I tried again. This time I managed to get Tobi into my arms, but as I started to descend, he panicked, clawing my chest. I slipped again, releasing him as I did, but this time I grabbed hold of the rafter on the way down, saving me from another fall but loading up my hands with splinters.
I wondered what to do next. Asking Elysha for help never even crossed my mind. It was about 5:30 AM, so waking her seemed unnecessary.
In retrospect, perhaps I should’ve asked for help. Upon hearing this story, she thought so, too.
I thought for a moment about driving a car into the garage and climbing atop the hood to give me more stability, but I had come so close on the ladder that I wanted to try one more time. I ascended again, and once again I managed to convince Tobi to come close. This time he rubbed his body against my head and purred, giving me hope.
Maybe he had come to his senses.
I decided that I would simply accept any pain and refuse to let go, so I grabbed him one more time, pulled him close, felt his claws sink into my chest, gritted my teeth, and descended. Once we were past the rafters, Tobi retracted his claws from my chest and wrapped them around my neck in mortal terror. I completed the descent, and without stopping, crossed the garage and reentered the house.
As soon as I put him down, Tobi ran over to the food dish and began eating.
I was covered in dust. My chest was bleeding. I had six splinters to remove from my hands. My back and knee were throbbing. My chin was sore. My ears were ringing.
Tobi was eating. Other than also being covered in dust, he was acting like nothing had happened. Our adventure was something of the past, gone and possibly forgotten.
Clara, who had been awake and in her bedroom for the whole time and knew I was looking for Tobi (but hadn’t bothered to look herself), entered the kitchen as I sat in a chair, pulling our splinters, and said, “Oh, I found Tobi. He’s right here.”
I could’ve killed her.
Had there been a camera running in the garage during our adventure, I have no doubt that the half-hour of footage would be hilarious.
The only person failing to find humor in the whole situation was Elysha, who didn’t think images of her husband falling from ladders onto concrete floors was amusing at all.
She’s probably right. But it’s a perfect example of thinking your actions are completely reasonable and entirely justifiable in the moment, only to look back and think, “What the hell were you thinking?”
The answer is simple. I was thinking about Tobi, who I love dearly. I couldn’t stand to see him in those rafters, frightened and alone, for a second longer than necessary.
Loves makes us do crazy things sometimes.
