How to Get Intimate With a Truck

By Joy Smith

                                               

I like trucks.  They pull the horse trailer that takes me and my horses to fun places.   They are great for hauling big stuff around.  

I’ve never been much into the mechanical part of a truck.  I know where to check the oil (I think) and put diesel in but that’s about it. I like the truck to be pretty with lots of cool features like heated seats, a good stereo and be strong enough to haul that horse trailer over the mountains.

But last week I got to really know what‘s under that hood. 

Of course, it was all because of a kitten.  Why on earth would I go under the hood of a truck for any other reason?

Last week a customer brought a car into George’s Friendly Auto in Lincoln for service work.  Out from underneath the car popped a mom cat and two kittens, obviously having hitched a ride.  The mom and one kitten were soon captured but one kitten remained loose in the garage. 

Kitty soon had a routine of scooting up in the wheel well of a truck in for repair.  She hung out there during the day and at night frolicked through the closed up shop eating the food the workers had set out for it.  She even set off the alarm one night causing the police to check out the two pound intruder.

On the day the truck was due to leave FieldHaven was called in to capture kitty so the truck could go home.

When we got there I scooted on a creeper under the truck with one of the mechanics.  The kitten was spotted and immediately headed up into the bowels of the engine compartment. 

We discovered that she had crawled into a space so tight that she could not get herself out. She was wedged  in a tiny cavity in amongst many metal – and greasy – parts.  Don’t ask me the names of the parts; I couldn’t tell you. 

I should have asked because over the next four hours several of us got very intimate with the most private parts of that truck.  We could reach her with the tips of our fingers from above the engine compartment and from underneath the truck.  But kitty was so wedged she couldn’t move – and we couldn’t get her out.

   

We had a team of four from FieldHaven;  myself, Kelly B., Scout and Dr. Peterson.  The mechanics  were all giving their opinions and expertise.  The conclusion was that kitty was stuck. 

Two alternatives were decided upon. One horribly unpleasant; the other expensive.  Thank you for the compassion of the team at George’s.   Out came the air wrenches and the dismantling of the truck began. 

Now with a somewhat more open but very circuitous route to the kitten we had a little more working room. Instead of just fingertips we could get more of our hands into the cavity. 

  

With Kelly underneath the truck and Dr. Peterson and I reaching from the top the three of us – with the aid of copious amounts of  KY Jelly – pushed, pulled, manipulated  for nearly an hour.  We had no visual on the cavity she was in, we worked by feel alone against the unmoving metal parts of the truck.  Each fragile leg and foot was unwedged and maneuvered around the corners of the cavity, progress hindered by the unyielding metal parts.  Each tiny movement towards the victory when she oozed out into Kelly’s waiting hands. 

We rushed her back to FieldHaven where she was found to be in remarkably good shape. At one point  I was fearful that I was going to fracture a leg in my efforts to unwedge each part of her body.  Fortunately, other than a mixture of grease and KY Jelly coating her entire body she was all intact and unscathed.  A couple of baths took care of the slimy mess then she feasted on Gerbers Chicken baby food while we buffed her dry.  Soon she rewarded us with a rumbling purr.

Everyone at George’s, you are the kindest men.  You are gracious, compassionate and really know the insides of a truck!   Thank goodness, because I hope to never get that close to the under-the-hood part of a truck again!