A co-worker and I decided to walk into town for lunch today. We were just getting started, still wondering where to eat as we approached the first intersection in town, when suddenly we were yelled at, quite insistently and surprisingly forcefully, by a kitten under a thorn bush.

“I BET YOU’RE TOO CHICKEN TO WALK PAST ME,” the kitten seemed to scream. “OH YEAH. I MEAN YOU. I’M NOT SCARED AT ALL, I TELL YOU. NOT. AT. ALL. I’M BIG. I’M STRONG. YOU WOULDN’T DARE WALK PAST ME. (please don’t walk past me. please)”

And so we stopped.

Our plan was to be non-threatening and to entice the kitten out from under the thorn bush. I got out my earbuds to use as a make-shift cat toy, and both of us sat down and refrained from facing the kitten directly or even looking straight at it.

And we sat. … And sat… And the kitten rolled on its back and played with leaves and meowed and poked its nose out at us. It even took a teeny nap, happy as long as we were in sight but pretty sure that we couldn’t be trusted (and on that point he was right, actually).

Our plan didn’t go beyond “entice out” so I’m kind of glad all of this didn’t work. What would we have done with a freaked out kitten and its 20 claws and many teeth?

After a while, my co-worker went out to find food for both of us (which reminds me, I owe her a meal!), and when she got back, I left to drive home and collect a cat carrier and some cat food. The carrier ended up being superfluous, but the food was quite another story. That little kitten ate in 5 minutes as much as my gigantic cat eats for breakfast! He didn’t even leave off eating when a bicyclist peddled past.

Tomorrow I’ll go back, and I’ll be armed with food, a carrier, and maybe a towel.