The Sixty-Five Mile Per Hour Cat
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:46 am
Have you ever seen a domestic house cat running at sixty-five mph?
I have, and a sight it was, but it was so quick, I had to think really hard about what I'd just seen in order to recreate the event in my mind.
Several years ago, I was driving to work early in the morning. It was Spring or Summer, as it was good daylight and it was only about 5:30AM.
I was on the Interstate, clipping along with most everybody else at about 65 mph, the usual 10 mph above the posted speed limit that we all drive here.
I was a few car lengths behind the vehicle in front of me, a late model silver-grey pick-up.
We were in the outside lane, headed west.
All of a sudden I saw a grey tabby cat drop out from under the rear-end of the truck. He must have been clutching onto the spare tire or possibly the differential.
That cat hit the concrete at 65 mph, tumbled head over heels twice and caught his footing before the third flip. His little legs were moving so fast they were just a blur.
Well Sir, he crossed the inside west-bound lane on the diagonal, cut a six or seven inch wide swath through the somewhat tall and not recently mowed grass in the median, down across and out of the drainage "V" in the center, up through the grass on the other side and then across the two east-bound lanes, over the shoulder, into the tall grass on the other side of the Interstate and on down the hill and out of sight.
I know his claws must have been worn down to nubs and his foot pads must have been smoking hot when he finally stopped, where ever and when ever that might have been.
I guess he had been taking his repose under the back-end of the truck when the guy came out of the house, got in, started it up and drove away. He should have gotten off right then, but he hesitated.
I watched the papers for a couple of weeks to see if anyone posted a missing cat ad. I was going to call and ask if they owned a silver-grey truck and if they'd said yes, I was going to suggest they place some ads in some Mississippi papers as well, as they might actually have a better chance of finding him there.
Charlie Noyes
I have, and a sight it was, but it was so quick, I had to think really hard about what I'd just seen in order to recreate the event in my mind.
Several years ago, I was driving to work early in the morning. It was Spring or Summer, as it was good daylight and it was only about 5:30AM.
I was on the Interstate, clipping along with most everybody else at about 65 mph, the usual 10 mph above the posted speed limit that we all drive here.
I was a few car lengths behind the vehicle in front of me, a late model silver-grey pick-up.
We were in the outside lane, headed west.
All of a sudden I saw a grey tabby cat drop out from under the rear-end of the truck. He must have been clutching onto the spare tire or possibly the differential.
That cat hit the concrete at 65 mph, tumbled head over heels twice and caught his footing before the third flip. His little legs were moving so fast they were just a blur.
Well Sir, he crossed the inside west-bound lane on the diagonal, cut a six or seven inch wide swath through the somewhat tall and not recently mowed grass in the median, down across and out of the drainage "V" in the center, up through the grass on the other side and then across the two east-bound lanes, over the shoulder, into the tall grass on the other side of the Interstate and on down the hill and out of sight.
I know his claws must have been worn down to nubs and his foot pads must have been smoking hot when he finally stopped, where ever and when ever that might have been.
I guess he had been taking his repose under the back-end of the truck when the guy came out of the house, got in, started it up and drove away. He should have gotten off right then, but he hesitated.
I watched the papers for a couple of weeks to see if anyone posted a missing cat ad. I was going to call and ask if they owned a silver-grey truck and if they'd said yes, I was going to suggest they place some ads in some Mississippi papers as well, as they might actually have a better chance of finding him there.
Charlie Noyes
