My daughter and I were driving on Central near the UofM when traffic started slowing. When the car in front of mine drove on, I could see the problem. There was a tiny white and gray kitten struggling to get out of the road. She’d already been hit by a car — one of her legs wasn’t working right. She looked incredibly scared and frantic.

I put my hazard lights on and slowed to a stop. By the time the traffic got around me and I could safely get out of the car, I couldn’t find the kitten. She had just been right there and I knew she couldn’t go very far in the shape she was in. I looked under my car just in time to see her tail disappear as she climbed up into my wheel well. Now what was I going to do? I couldn’t get to her and I couldn’t drive anywhere.

Gracie and I fretted about what to do in between futile bouts of trying to coax the kitten to come to us. One of our cats just died last week, and it seemed very important for us to save this kitten.

About that time, a nice young man rode up on a white hors– I mean truck. He asked if something was wrong, and when I told him what happened he jumped down from his truck, got down on the ground and pried the kitten from the wheel. But while we were trying to figure out what to do with her, she got away and climbed into the front wheel well and crawled into the engine area.  The Rescuer forced her back down to the wheel with a long-handled ice scraper, and I held that in place while he found some work gloves to put on – she wasn’t going to come quietly.

He got down on the ground again and scootched under my car. Finally he extracted her, and it was a good thing he had on those gloves…. By that time a nearby homeowner had found a 5-gallon bucket to put her in and the Rescuer fashioned a top from a small box he had in his truck and a couple of bungee cords. I decided to take the kitten to the animal hospital on Summer. He apologized for being in a hurry and not being able to take her himself.

He had been on his way somewhere and was late, and now, dirty and sweaty. He was a good guy.