I Rescued a Cat [Cats]

A few years ago, I worked for a company that did fire and water damage restoration on buildings. In most cases, fans and dehumidifiers would be left running in those buidlings to dry them out after whatever happened there. My job was to do what was called "monitoring" which was to drive a box truck around checking on places and removing or adding equipment as necessary. I'd often drive a hundred or more miles a day and end up in areas where I'd go miles without seeing a single building. I had another guy who often came along with me to help with carrying the heavier equipment up or down stairs. One day I left the interstate highway and got onto a country road where I went for miles around bends and past thick trees on both sides of the road before finally finding where I was looking for. After finishing there, it was time to drive back to the interstate highway. Coming around a bend in the road not far from the highway, I saw something small and white ahead on the double yellow line that seperated the lanes. As I got closer I saw that it was a tiny white kitten standing on the line looking around as if it was the safest place in the world. An oncoming car passed it by as if it wasn't even there. In my rearview mirror I saw another car behind me and all I could think of was that the kitten stood a good chance of never making it off of the road. There was no real edge of the road to park on and there was only a thin strip of weeds there not even wide enough for the truck. Before I knew it I was stopping the truck in the middle of the road a short way from the kitten. As I walked up to it I saw that it was had pure fluffy white hair all over except that it had light grey ears and a fluffy light grey tail. It had tiny greenish eyes. It made no move to run away from me and it just looked at me as I bent down to pick it up. I already had two cats at home and I wasn't even thinking of keeping it. I assumed someone might be out looking for it right then and I was also at work in a work vehicle with a lot of other stops to make that day. I picked it up and carried it off the road as far as I could without going into woods. By now the car behind me had stopped too and the people in it were watching. As I ran back to the truck and began to get in, the other guy with me was laughing unusually hard for just seeing me carry a cat off of the road. I asked him what was so funny and he pointed past me. I looked back and the kitten had followed me all the way back to the truck and was sitting on the road looking up at me. I knew I couldn't move the truck now with it so close, so I once again carried it off of the road. Now there were three cars behind me and even one oncoming car had stopped and it had become a small event. This time as I set it down and began going back to the truck, I watched the kitten. Sure enough it began to make small gazzelle-like jumps through the high grass towards me and the road and trotted across the road right along with me. Now I was sure what I did next might mean the difference between this kitten living or not. There didn't seem to be a house around for miles so I couldn't imagine where it had came from. It was obviously comfortable around people and seemed to have no intention of leaving the road. As I saw more cars coming to a stop and a large truck being among them, I reached down, grabbed the kitten and put it in the truck with me. I began to drive as the other guy with me tried to contain his laughter. As I drove around bends, the kitten stood on the floor in the empty space between the two seats trying to keep its balance but seeming amazingly fine with what had just happened to it. The other guy finally stopped laughing enough to joke that I'd just violated the rule against picking up hitch-hikers in the company truck. The other guy asked if I was keeping the cat and since I still wasn't sure I just said I would if I had to. He then pulled out his packed lunch and began to eat a sandwich. About then we got back to the highway and the straighter road allowed the kitten to move around a bit easier. The kitten smelled the sandwich and jumped up onto the other guys lap in an attempt to get some of his sandwich for itself. Those who don't watch the show "South Park" or aren't familiar with Eric Cartman wont know what it means but he responded with "No kitty... These are my cheesy poofs!" He set his sandwich on the dashboard to keep it out of reach of the kitten and to free his hands to set the kitten back on the floor, but the kitten jumped from his lap onto the dashboard, still intent on getting some of the sandwich. There was a small thump as it bumped its head on the angled glass of the windshield when it landed, but it didn't seem to bother it at all. The other guy quickly grabbed his sandwich and put it away saying he'll eat when it's safer. The kitten was obviously pretty hungry but we were in an area of woods and farms without a store in sight. Now the kitten seemed to be agitated at being so close to food but not getting any and it paced back and forth across the dashboard meowing, which had to look a bit strange to anyone who looked our way. At the next highway exit I saw a sign for a convenience store and I got off of the highway to see about getting a can of cat food there. They looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if they had any cat food so I took that as a "no". A few miles later I did find a store that sold cat food at a ridiculous price per can, but I bought it anyway. Back in the truck I removed the lid and used a drinking straw to soften up what was in the can and the kitten was practically going crazy trying to climb up my body to get at it. I set the can between the seats on the floor and the kitten began to purr extremely loud while it ate. Within minutes most of the food was gone and I looked over to see the other guy pouring water from a bottle into the bottle cap and the kitten lapping up what was in the cap. After about half a dozen caps full, it seemed to have enough water and it began to explore which of our laps in intended to lay down on by going back and forth between us. I encouraged the other guy to keep it on his lap since I was driving. For the rest of that day the three of us went from place to place doing what two of us were supposed to do. Each time, the kitten waited in the truck and seemed happy each time we came back and got into the truck. The other guy even said that if he didn't have two dogs, he'd take the kitten home. But I already knew I was taking the kitten home, which we now knew to be a "her". As I pulled into the garage at the end of the day, keeping it a secret became impossible. The other guy told one person and soon everyone wanted to see the hitch-hiking kitten. The boss wasn't too pleased that an animal had been in his truck but he couldn't say much without seeming totally inhuman. Since the kitten was in fact a "baby", I referred to her as "baby" until I could think of a better name. But I never did think of one and "baby" ended up being her name. She turned out to be one of the most unique and amazing cats I've ever seen. Sometimes it seemed as if there'd been some plan for me to find her and as if she knew it.