Fight the Good Fight

Yesterday after work I was feeling hostile and aggressive. I'll get to the reasons for that in the next post, but it's necessary for this story to know that. All week, and this is seperate from the reasons for my hostility, Jen and I haven't been able to hang out, although we have been talking on the phone. I say "all week", but yesterday was only Wednesday. It just feels like longer. That's either sweet or sad; I don't know which.

So when I talked to her on the phone I was still feeling hostile and aggressive ... and frustrated. I wanted to do something, anything, instead of sitting around here or even sitting around the bookstore. I needed to release some of this energy. Jen started talking about how the cat had escaped and disappeared, and that she was worried that her step-mom (she lives with her mom and step-mom right now, if you get what I mean) would kill her when they got back (they're away). So she suggested I should get up there and help her find that cat, which of course is exactly what I wanted. After I got off the phone I even did a fist pump with a "Yes!".

I drove over there and Jen and I set about finding the cat. Her dog Sarah sniffed it out, and sure enough it was stuck up in a tree. It was too high to reach, so we had to devise a plan. I tried throwing sticks up there that would jostle the branch enough to knock the cat loose, which is how I got Tiger out of the tree back in Hartland, but that didn't work. There was no way to climb up there either. I'd moved on to a rock, but that also didn't work. Meanwhile, it was getting to be late and the clock was ticking. Once the sun went down we wouldn't be able to see the cat, let alone get it down.

I found a long branch, and used it to start poking at the cat, which only resutled in a) debris falling in my eyes, and b) the cat moving up higher. So we thought this out. I was determined not to give up, and she was certain that there's a solution to every problem (which is a really encouraging thought, all things considered). I went back to the house to get her safety glasses and some duct tape (so we could tape two of the branches together). While there I saw a step ladder and grabbed it.

So then I was climbing a step ladder on the soft mud while trying to poke a cat out of a tree using two branches taped together. At one point her mom called, and Jennifer described what we were doing. I said something about how whenever she hears about us doing something stupid she'll just assume I'm involved. Apparently, I was referred to as her "future son-in-law" again, too. I really really like that, by the way.

Even with the ladder the cat was a tough nut to crack. It moved positions twice more, the second time getting so high I could barely see it. At one point, I moved to the top of the step ladder while continuing to poke the large stick well over my head. "What the hell ARE YOU DOING?" It's nice to see her so concerned, isn't it? I didn't break my neck, obviously, but it remains true that the stupider things I'm willing to do invariably involve a woman.

At what was possibly the last minute before we ran out of light, I was able to dislodge the cat and get him to move to a different, but much lower, location in the tree. Then with Jen guiding the stick back where the cat was digging in, I was able to come up right underneath it and I finally knocked it loose. There was a second or two there where I thought it was coming right down on my head, which would have been sharp and painful. But it landed again on a branch right next to me, so I snagged it. And thus, I was the hero.

Then we hung out for a while at her house. We discussed some tentative plans for Friday, which I'm afraid to even write about here as they may evaporate. And we got on the subject of work today and not wanting to go in. It became something of a "I'll call in if you call in" sort of thing, and then I helped her smooth out her story for calling in. See, when I call in I don't give a story or explanation; I just say I'm not coming in. She felt she needed some kind of story, though, since she's so new. It will look, however, as though she and I both decided to ditch together ... which of course, is pretty much true ... even though I didn't see her today, but whatever.

I was there kind of late. And no, nothing happened. And here is where I question myself. I am swamped with desire for this girl. She knows it. And while I don't think I had a real good opening right then last night to make some sort of move, I really wish I'd tried to make one anyway. I have it bad. Real bad. Bad bad. And I'm so rusty and out of practice in doing the dating thing that I'm not even sure how to make the move.

I was there late. When I finally left she made sure that I'd call her when I got back here so she'd know I was all right. That's another nice touch.

I hope tomorrow's plans don't fall through. It would be really disappointing.