incorrigible

Some of you may have heard about my sister's dramatic day in Bozeman MT, so here is the story as I know it. There may be slight embellishments, but those are just for me.

So, my sister lived directly behind the three buildings that blew up due to a natural gas leak. She was getting in her truck when she heard the boom and bricks started raining from the sky. Her truck saved her life. She went to check her house, and all the windows were blown out and on the floor, and there was no sign of the cats. Nina, a six year old Hemingway cat, was not a major concern, but Nooks, the elderly tomcat hasn't been able to jump very well lately, so he needed to be found before the winter storm came and temperatures dipped below zero.

The area was cordoned off as the gas line was still on fire...and still, is I think....so Mollie couldn't get back to her house or her vehicles. The local news had an interview with her pacing up and down the street with her empty cat carrier. She said she really felt like the crazy cat lady character in an apocalypse movie. This is a downtown area in a small town, and there are very few residents, it's mostly just businesses. So she ended up at the City Hall, listening to press conferences and neighborhood rescue committees with the building owners. The basic information they had was the power was going to be out for days, the street closed off and the area evacuated until the gas lines were deemed safe. Mollie contacted animal control, spoke to search and rescue, and finally she told a fireman that she had to go back in for the kitties. At about 4pm someone finally listened and a firefighter named Keven escorted her and her landlord into the debris covered block. She entered the house and Nina was in plain sight, and even made an effort to run around to evade the cat carrier. And dear old Nookses was under the bed. There was no fitting his fatness into the carrier with Nina, so Mollie cradled him tight and Fireman Keven took the carrier and they took off. The house where Moll lives is over a hundred years old, and there is some concern the structure might be compromised, so they were only allowed to be there for a minute. As they came down Main St. everyone was so happy the crazy cat lady found her babies. The crowd at the police line applauded.

There are still quite a few problems to overcome, obviously, but the cats are safe. The rest is just stuff. And homelessness. She might have to find another apartment, and right now everything she owns is probably being snowed on, but mental health has been saved with just the rescue of two little animals. We'll figure the rest out later.

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