Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Seven Warehouse Cats

I got called by a man yesterday who acted like I should know him and know what he was talking about. I didn't know either. He said, in a husky drawl, "Well, them cats, let's get started on it then."

I said, "Huh??"

"Well, I guess it has to be done, you just going start on it?" he repeated.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said.

"Well, you know Cheryl, your friend Cheryl, married to Carlos you know, set it all up."

I stuttered around, trying to go through my brain files for any couple I know might be named Carlos and Cheryl or something close. I came up with zilch. "I'm sorry. I still don't know what you're talking about or who you are talking about," I apologized.

"So you don't know nothing about them cats at the warehouse or Cheryl or Carlos?"

"No," I pleaded, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, I got a bunch of cats out here, running in the warehouses, and I better get them fixed and Carlos knows you and gave me your number."

I said "I don't know Carlos, but that doesn't matter. How many cats and where and you're taking them back, right, because I can't take on more cats."

"Well, there's ten. Maybe there's 13. There could be more. And we're down here south of Corvallis."

"Ok," I said, "Where south of Corvallis exactly, and I'll come down in the morning and start up. YOu going to pay for the fixes?"

"Well, we might pay for some of them. Here's my cell number and we're down there off 99. Just come on down."

I said, "So you're a grass seed farmer? Do you know Roger?"

"Course I do. Everybody knows him."

"You going to see him anytime soon?"

"Course. I see him every night." I already knew where. Pioneer Villa. They all gather like clockwork, especially Roger. You could set a computer clock by him.

I said, "Tell him hi and you can ask him how many I trapped for him."

"Oh so you know Roger, eh, well how many you catch for him?"

I said, "Try over 200."

"Naaah, not that many!" he says

"Oh yeah," I said, "that many! So it's good you're taking care of these now, before you get like Roger. He'll tell you that."

This morning I caught seven at the warehouse. I don't have that many traps anymore. I took seven traps and caught seven cats within half hour or less. There are more than ten. There are more than 13. But there are far less than 200!

Carlos's wife, Cheryl, works in the same place as the Albany woman, who wrote that letter to the editor, in response to a cat hater letter, and admitted she fed strays and needed help getting them fixed. I got I think 12 or 14 fixed there. So Kelly (from letter writer colony), gave Cheryl, whom I've never met, my number, who gave it to her husband Carlos who works at the seed warehouse run by the husky voice man who called me.

5 comments:

  1. I don't feel so amazing currently, Pagini. Long story, but I've been taking flack from someone, who thinks I should be able to easily get a great paying job. It's not enough to tell her I"ve been trying to find work. I suppose it sounds like excuses I'm making to her, but the fact of the matter is, the economy here, in Albany, is very bad, and a 54 year old woman without a job history or any people skills is going to have a tough time of it in finding work. Hasn't stopped me from trying, though.

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  2. don't have to tell me how hard it is out there. especially when young people will do work for less than other..plus finding a full time job with benefits is almost inpossible now..they're all part time to avoid extra costs to owners.

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  3. You should get paid to rescue cats.

    Here's my plan: A tax on rental units that don't allow pets.
    Reasoning: Many "stray" animals are dumped by people who can't find a rental unit that takes pets. Therefore those landlords, while protecting themselves, are creating a problem for the general public and they need to pay for the problem they create. It would only be payable on a per unit basis for places not allowing pets.

    That would pay for people to go out and correct the problem the landlords created.

    Anyway, jobs ARE rather hard to come by - anywhere.

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  4. I love it! Kelly, who knows Cheryl, who is married to Carlos,who knows Roger, ....talk about a story...and Carlos calls you assuming you are already "in the know"! So does every stranger who calls you automatically assume you know who they are and the situation they are calling about>?

    ReplyDelete

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