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Chapter 54. Time to Rock n' Roll!
"Can I help you to feed and water the cats?"
The young girl was about nine or ten-years-old with a slim build, light brown hair and a sweet, angelic face.
"Sure," I said to her. "Perhaps you can fill up the water bowls by taking them to the bird room. Come with me, I will show you." Normally, I wasn't fond of too many kids getting under foot, but this one seemed particularly nice and gentle around the cats.
It was a Tuesday evening at Petco. The young girl introduced herself as Jessica and had been hanging out with us for at least an hour. Susannah Goldhirsh, one of NYCA's regular volunteers spent time with the youngster, explaining to her, some of the highs and lows of rescue work. Susannah, being a kid herself at 16, related well to the younger children that frequented our adoption showings.
It was 8:30 PM and Petco would be closing in a half an hour. I had presumed Jessica's mother was somewhere in the store shopping, but now I began to wonder.
"Where is your mother, Jessica? You know Petco closes at 9PM."
"Oh, my mom had something to do," the young girl answered in a quiet voice. "She brought me here and told me to hang out with you guys and the cats. She should be here soon."
Over the two years we had been at Petco, I realized that many members of the public viewed us as everything from entertainment to free therapy. But, now we were apparently being utilized as a free baby-sitting service! I couldn't believe a parent would drop off a child and then disappear for more than an hour without any kind of notice. Where was this child's mother? What if she didn't return before the store closed? I began to feel a sense of panic. "Do you know where your mother is? Do you have a phone number for her?"
But, just as I asked the second question, the girl's mother suddenly appeared to wisk her daughter quickly away. "Come, Jessica. You have to get home to do your homework."
The woman barely looked at Susannah and myself. A quick smile and wave and both, mother and daughter were gone. I didn't get a chance to admonish the mother for doing something I felt both, irresponsible and dangerous. Suppose the little girl had wandered off?
The management at Petco had agreed to let us keep a certain number of cats in the store. The advantage to that meant I didn't have to desperately seek fosters or bring the cats to my home at the end of the day. The disadvantage was that I had to spend 10 or 11 hours in the store everyday. I was able to take breaks when other volunteers were there, but for most of the day, I was there to make sure cages were clean and there was constant supply of fresh food and water.
But, time on the second floor passed painfully slow. Mostly, we attracted curiousity seekers or people who just liked to talk. We would sometimes go three or four days without a single adoption. Those adoptions we did get, were mostly through the Internet. I was extremely frustrated with our poor location in the store and didn't hesitate to let my feelings known. Unfortunately, my complaints fell on deaf ears. Management was unsympathetic and unyielding.
"I think I would like to adopt one of your kittens," the young woman told me one evening at Petco. The girl was in her early twenties and had never had a cat.
"We only adopt kittens out in pairs," I told her. "It's important for kittens to have a kitty companion as they grow up. They make better pets, that way. More socialized, happier and less aggressive. But, if you only want one cat, we have several wonderful young adults who would be ideal companions."
The woman returned to us three nights in a row. I spent much time with her, informing her of the proper care of cats and general cat behavior. She listened intently and even took some notes. She bought supplies and prepared herself for getting a cat.
I promoted a wonderful and extremely friendly 2-year-old tabby cat named "Abby" to the young woman I now knew as "Danielle." "Abby would be a wonderful cat for you, " I told Danielle. "Look, how she loves to sit in your lap!"
Danielle seemed to like Abby very much. She spent a lot of time with the cat and seemed to enjoy Abby's loving ways. But, she just couldn't seem to take the step for actual adoption. "I think I need just a few more days to think about it," Danielle told me.
"OK. Well, you can come back tomorrow. I'm sure Abby will still be here. We've sadly had her almost a month already. I can't believe no one has adopted this wonderful cat."
After Petco closed that evening, I went across 86th Street to buy a couple of things from RiteAid drug store. When exiting the 24-hour convenience store, I noticed Danielle walking down the street with an "I'm on my way home" cardboard cat carrier in her hand.
She had just bought a kitten from the pet store down the street from Petco. Shock must have registered on my face as I opened my mouth.
"I can't believe you did that," was all I could muster in words.
"Sorry," was all Danielle replied to me and then quickly hastened her step to move as far away from me as possible.
I had spent three nights with this woman only to see her buy a kitten-mill pet from a pet store!
Even being used as a free babysitter did not compare to this. It was a slap in the face.
Whatever our (many) purposes at Petco, adoptions didn't seem to be among them.
A few days after the Abby-rejection incident, Supervisors from the corporate office took a tour of Petco. One of them walked up to me, commented on how good the cats looked and asked how we were doing.
"What do you think?" I cynically asked the gentleman in the finely tailored suit. "We're up with the birds, rats, fish and guinea pigs. Kind of hard to promote cats to people with birds, fish and rats."
"I see your point," the man in the suit answered pensively. "We're going to have to do something about that."
The next day I got word from management that we were to move back to the first floor. But, this time not in the back corner of the store, but in front of the 86th Street window near the main entrance.
Hallelujah!!!
I felt as if I had just won the lottery.
The long, lonely, frustrating days and nights up in "no man's land" at Petco were just about to end.
Within two days, Abby finally found her forever home -- as well as the other six cats we had at Petco.
It was time to run back to CACC to save more cats.
It was finally time to rock and roll!