Turning the corner on the highway, I noticed the little blob of fur about 3 feet off the road and wondered if it was dead. I couldn’t tell kind of animal it was, but I noticed a slight movement as I drove by.
I hate to see animals suffer so I pulled over and backed up to see if I could help. I watched it in my rearview mirror and, as I got close, I opened the door to see what it was. It was a calico kitten who shot under my Toyota Tundra pickup. I knelt down to look under the truck but couldn’t find it. I walked around the truck and looked in the tall grass in the ditch and still couldn’t find it. I knelt down again to look under the truck before I took off. I assumed it was okay and was hiding in the grasses.
Several miles later pulled into my son’s home to pick up the grandkids for the day. I turned the truck off; the engine stopped but the meowing started.
I opened the hood of my truck and there it was! 
I started to reach in, but I’ve had enough skirmishes with wild kittens to know that in a nanosecond they can be a cupful of hatefulness wreaking the destructive equivalent of an entire school of piranhas or a gaggle of middle school cheerleaders. I did not want to turn up on Funniest Home Videos for the fool that got decimated by a kitty. Slowly, the kitten crawled in my hands that, apparently, were connected straight to my heart.
Walking to the door with a new kitten made me a hero in the eyes of my 4-year-old granddaughter, KK, and 2-year-old grandson, Evan. They immediately began lobbying the Grand Poobah of the house- my son Caleb- who gave me a look that said, “Really, Dad? What were you thinking showing up here with an abandoned kitten?” We had a discussion over mergers and acquisitions and it was decided his firm was not interested in assuming my liabilities and assets. There was further, and considerable, disagreement over what one person defines as an asset and another deems a liability.
So what do I do with my new friend? My wife and I had numerous discussions over having a house cat and, while she is a passionate lover of animals, she has not been interested in another animal. Therefore, I knew that taking the new kitty home to be a house cat was not an option. However, we do have a barn on our place and- being from the country- I know that a good mouser is an asset to ecosystem.
I called my wife- who was shopping- and told her the story. That’s all it took.
She came home with a kitty litter, kitty toys, kitty food, kitty bowls, and a kitty bed. I’m surprised she didn’t have a set of jammies for me with kitties all over them. This kitty will never get within a hundred yards of the barn.
She didn’t even have to see the kitty; all I had to do was tell her the story.
We have a new kitty in our house.
It’s not just any other kitty; it’s a kitty with a story.
Her name is Tundra.