Lil'Bit

Woohoo!

Time to take a short break from the furious editing pace I've set lately. Need to make sure I finish on time to
release Part 1 at the first of June as promised. Things are going well! I've rewritten then ending of Part 1, and
now just have two scenes left to fill in and edit. Then it's time for one last re-read. Woohoo!

Also, another little bright point of interest, I am over 13,000 words into Dreamland. Not bad for a book I'm not dedicating any serious time for! I have shelved my work on Book 2, though, at least until I finish the edits for Part 1 of After.

Now for a little story. This actually revolves around something that happened to me yesterday morning, but first I need to flashback to about 18 years ago.

My friend and I were out driving down a stretch of not-so-busy highway when I see what I think is a paper bag being thrown out of the window of the car in front of us. It's just a brown blur, and I really didn't think anything of it, except my friend gasps and stops the car in the dead center of the highway.

It wasn't a bag that was thrown out of the window, but a kitten.

Now, I'm not going to go into what a despicable person it was that did this. That's not what this story is about, but to this day I still remain horrified at the act of cruelty I witnessed.

So, we're stopped in the middle of the highway. The car behind us stops to check on us, not sure what had happened, and the Good Samaritan thought we might need help. My friend explains, and he fetches the kitten. Amazingly enough, it's still alive, although it's pretty much petrified from terror and pain.

I held the little thing on it's back in my cupped hands. The only thing he moved was his eyes. He was alert, and obviously panicked. He had bitten through his tongue and had a few other minor injuries, but the worst was his right shoulder. It was pretty much shattered and completely useless.

It was late in the evening already, and I lived very very far from civilization. This was before cell phones, kiddos, so I actually had to get back to my house before I could start calling any local vets. That also meant pulling out the old yellow pages. Remember those?

Not actual pic of Lil'Bit

Anyway, we had no luck finding someone that could help the poor thing until the next morning. I patched him up as best I could for the night, making a little splint and harness for his injured leg that secured it to his chest. We were't even sure if he'd live long enough to make it to the vet. He managed to surprise us, and was actually moving around the next morning a little bit.

Then the vet recommended we put him to sleep.

Really? Not acceptable. If I had been able to get a second opinion, I would have, but our options were very limited due to how rural our area was. So I nursed him back to health on my own, and he made a miraculous recovery. His shoulder never healed properly though, so he never regained the use of his front right paw, but he managed to get around just fine.

He was very feral though, and never got over his ordeal. I had two other cats at the time, and he wouldn't get near either one of them. The only person he would tolerate was me, and that was only on his terms. One day, he got out of the house, and that was the last time I ever got close to him. I saw him occasional, and always set food out for him, but he was no longer under my protection.

When it came time to move back to civilization, I couldn't catch him. I hope he lived a happy life up there in the wilderness. I had always called him Lil'Bit.

Flash forward to yesterday morning.

I was driving to work, and had glanced at my radio for a sec. When I looked back up, I saw the car in front of me swerve and a brown flash of fur flying through the air. It looked like the car could have possibly clipped him, or maybe he had just jumped out of fright, but it was a fuzzy little kitten. It hit the ground and darted off the road into the field. I slowed down and tried to spot him, but he had already disappeared in the grass. I hope the little guy was all right.

Then, at the next light, I pull up behind the little mini cooper that had almost hit him, and this is the kicker.

The personal license plate was "L'Bit."

So, there's my little story of cosmic coincidence. I can only hope for happy endings in this story; that Lil'Bit lived a long, happy life in the woods, and the little kitten from yesterday morning is fine and has learned his
lesson about roads. I thought the story worthy enough to share.

Now it's time to enjoy the weekend now, everyone! I'll have my nose to the grindstone again soon enough. I may not update much while I'm working on the last finishing touches, but the timeline is still looking good!

Get ready, everyone!!