Coronado Eagle, Volume 8, Number 16, 16 April 1997 — Local Atomey Finds An Extra Gift In His New Coronado Home [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Local Atomey Finds An Extra Gift In His New Coronado Home

by Jeanne Danis

It was a weekend full of mysterious noises at the gabled house on C Avenue. Attorney Jeff Frank had been settling gradually into his Coronado home for the past five months, but the strange sounds he heard Friday around midnight were not the usual squeaks and creaks to which he had become accustomed. The noise sounded like it was coming from a kitten. Or was it two kittens? The screaming meows seemed to be emanating from somewhere on the second floor. But where? Under the bed? In a closet? Behind a chest?

Frank searched and searched all night, even calling for assistance the next day from police and firefighters. They were also baffled. Then the meows stopped. Frank was relieved. Still he had a nagging worry, and he found himself almost buoyant late the next day when he again heard the faint sound of a kitten. But he thought the meows were fainter and weaker. It was time to get serious. Frank called a plumber. Bay and Shore Plumbing arrived to the rescue. With a pipefitter’s experienced eye, the plumber decided that the kitten or kittens had to be trapped under the second-floor bathtub, which was fully encased on three sides by porcelain and tile. There was a tiny access through an adjacent closet, but not big enough for any kind of inspection. And so, the plumber cut a footsquare hole in the ceiling underneath the bathtub, but he could find nothing. And he departed, leaving Frank home alone with his mysterious noises. Late Sunday night, Frank heard the meow of a kitten again. Monday morning, the plumber returned and cut a second hole in the ceiling to search under the bathtub. With flashlight and mirrors, he shined the light around. And this time, he caught sight of not one kitten, not two kittens, but a quartet of plump little kittens, all alive and kicking. “There are four up here!” he yelled. But no sign of the mother cat.

Pulling them out, the plumber remarked how lively they were, how round, and, of course, how cu-u-u--te. Remarkably, they were all fine. With eyes wide open and pink tongues lapping up milk from a saucer, they were friendly and happy and appeared to be about two weeks old. One is all black, one is black with white paws and two are gray. And three are already spoken-for. Frank had never before owned a cat, but he exercised right of first refusal. His new home is now properly accessorized with a kitten. Or, from another point of view, the kitten is now properly represented by an attorney. And the attorney is ready to negotiate with a plasterer.

Photo by Jeanne Danis

Jeff Frank points to one of two holes a plumber cut in the celling while searching for kittens trapped in the woodwork of his Coronado home last week.