I was on my mini-holiday in Hamburg with my sister when I
got a WhatsApp from Bill that he had driven home from work early (he commutes
for four days a week to Chicago) bc Laverne had been/was stuck in the bathroom
wall—our lovely neighbor had messaged him.
He mentioned that she had posted something on Facebook so I
went to take a peak: about 50 different messages had been exchanged on Oxford
page re: “cat stuck in wall, what should
I do?”
So, this is what had happened: our/my bathroom was being
beautifully remodeled and so far, everything was going to plan. The cats were
being taken care of by Bill when he was home and lovely neighbor in his
absence. During the day when the remodeler was doing his work they kept a low
profile.
Everything was in place for the new mirror/cabinet to be
attached above the sink. I think he left
for a couple of hours leaving that part of the wall open. So along comes
Laverne: who is, it must be said, a vexing combination of curious and clumsy,
who must have jumped up onto the new sink to see what was in the hole and then,
we surmise, must have fallen down into the wall. Plonk.
The remodeler returns and oblivious to Laverne’s plight (because
Laverne was too scared to make a noise) proceeds to attach the mirror to the
wall, thus encasing poor Laverne completely inside the bathroom wall. And off
he goes.
Lovely neighbor realizes pretty soon that something is up:
she has not seen Laverne, and the other cats -bless their hearts- seem upset
too and are not eating. Esp her darling
sister Shirley who keeps sitting by the sink cabinet and meowing—trying to do
her best Lassie impression: “LAVERNE IS STUCK IN THE WALL, PLS GET HELP!!”
At some point lovely neighbor actually hears Laverne
meowing—at that point she steps fully into action: posting for help on Facebook,
trying to get in touch with the contractors and also texting Bill—she got him
on the phone and apparently Bill heard Laverne screeching while on the
call—that is what set him off to come home from Chicago early.
Meanwhile lots of “helpful” suggestions have come in on the
Oxford Facebook page along the line of “smash the wall in” etc. An employee of
the local donut shop comes over to assess the situation and I think he detached
the mirror. The problem was that Laverne would not make any noise when a
strange man was there, so the employee had to believe lovely neighbor without
actually any sounds coming from the wall.
Eventually the contractor did come over (this is probably
about 8:30 pm or maybe 9?) and he made a small hole near the floor next to the
sink. Even with the hole poor freaked Laverne would not come out. So lovely
neighbor left food and water and left. Bill came home and went into the
bathroom and she came out almost immediately and apparently not much the worse
for wear, although she did keep close to Bill.
All the kitties were
relieved and assumed their normal “we’re so spoilt” cat existences.
 |
| Shirley, in the back, reunited with her sister Laverne. |
