| A Lost Tale: A Neighbor's Story |
| Written by Alissa Antosh | ||||||
 Kingston is a place where neighbors take care of each other. When I was young, my mom, Alice Klucitas, R.N., would walk across the street to give Johnny and Hazel (brother and sister) their weekly shots, saving them a doctor’s visit fee. My brother Joe rescued Ms. Conyngham’s cat from a tree and even today, Joe and Diane Kelly give mom fresh cucumbers to make her homemade dill pickles.Each winter, the brothers at Fashion Floor take care of me. They snow blow, shovel, and plow for me every single time it storms. I tried to do my part in carrying on this tradition of neighbor helping neighbor this past fall when a neighbor on South Loveland needed a hand. One Monday, after waking and doing the usual chores of feeding my cats Poppins and Angel and my dog Mabel, I noticed how beautiful the weather was. A voice whispered to me, “Take Mabel for a walk to mom’s.” As my beagle-basset hound and I made our way down North Goodwin, across Market Street, and down South Welles, we stopped at every tree and yard—not an uncommon occurrence. Halfway down the street, Mabel stopped at a telephone pole that had a flier attached to it announcing a cat was missing. The description clearly stated Reba was a black-and-white cat with a missing tail. The family’s phone number, I thought, was easy enough to remember, so I didn’t write it down. Later that night, I mentioned the flier to my fiance Scott, who remembered that one of the cats looking for food on my front porch fit that description. See, about four months before, I started feeding the neighborhood cats. They looked thin and my heart broke for them. I still do. They might have homes and they might be strays. I don’t care. I feel a need in my soul to feed them, regardless. For people who think you shouldn’t feed strays, keep reading. I asked Scott to grab the flier on Tuesday for me. Tuesday night came and we both forgot to get the flier. I called what I thought was the phone number, but the man who answered had no idea what I was talking about. After work on Wednesday, something told me to go to the mall and look for the Chicago Bears cell phone cover that I wanted for the start of the season. Now, usually I’m too tired after a 10-hour day at Medical Oncology Associates to walk around the mall, but I felt an urgency to do it on this particular night. I found the cover and returned home much later than usual. I fed Mabel and put her in the back yard, when I heard two cats talking to each other. If you’re a cat lover, you know what I mean by cats “talking” to each other. Behind my next-door-neighbor’s house were two cats, an all-black one and a predominantly white cat with a little black on it, and a tail. Afraid that the black cat was going to pounce on the white one, I checked out the situation. Crouched on the back steps was a third cat, the tailless black-and-white cat. After running back to my home to get a handful of dry cat food, I coaxed it to me. It was so willing to be petted that I just knew it had a home. I picked it up and ran to my house, frantically calling my mom to get the phone number. In the back yard, I awaited her call. She read the number to me and I dialed. A man answered and I told him I thought I found his cat. Before he could ask me if it had a tail, I volunteered the information. He said he’d be there in 15 minutes. I didn’t want it to get lost in my house or climb out of my arms, so I got in my car, opened the windows and sunroof, and waited. As Scott guided two young, blond women to me, my heart raced. “Reba!” was all I needed to hear. I handed the 10-year-old member of the Sack family over to her momma. As I was telling her the story of how Reba came to visit Hotel Antosh, she put her hand to her mouth and started crying. She thanked me over and over and over and even returned the next day with her family to give me “thank you” gifts. But that wasn’t necessary. That’s what people in Kingston do. Bookmark with:
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