“Gee, thanks.”
Chapter 3
“These may look like cute, sweet, ordinary house cats, but they are tiny killers,” said Mitch. He stood before a crowd of about fifteen people near a Statue of Liberty replica in the parking lot behind the Brooklyn Museum. He’d already explained that a feral colony lived back here. They hid during the day, but came out to hunt at night, which is why Paige was now standing here, bundled up in jeans and a hoodie, as the evening grew increasingly cold and dark.
Mitch held up a trap, which basically looked like a cage with a door on it. “I’m going to put you in teams of two, and your job is to lure cats into the traps. Then carry the traps over to the van. Nina here—wave to everyone, Nina—she’s got a little scanner that she’s going to use to scan each cat. The ones we’ve already neutered have been implanted with a microchip between their shoulders. If the cat has already been fixed, we’ll let him go at the end of the night. The rest we’ll load into the van and take to the Whitman Street Veterinary Clinic to be fixed, then Nina and I will bring them back after they’ve recovered.”
“Sure, yeah, just lure wild cats into the traps,” said a bearded guy in flannel off to the side. “No problem.”
Mitch laughed, clearly impervious to the sarcasm. “Mostly we put the traps out with the doors open and wait for a cat to go in. When one does, close and latch the door. You can lure the cats in with tasty treats. There are cans of cat food piled up in the back of the van. I recommend the fish ones, they’re stinkier. You might even make a little trail of food to draw them out of the bushes over there. If a cat seems interested but won’t go in, throw a towel over the top. If it looks dark and hidden, the cats feel safer. There are towels in the back of the van, too.”
Everyone nodded.
“Donot,” Mitch said, “try to catch any of these guys with your hands. Theywillbite, and you can get not just rabies but a few other kinds of infections. You can use your bodies to try to guide them over toward the traps, but for the most part, we’re setting the traps and waiting.” He glanced back toward the van. “We just got a few new traps, and some have spring doors, so when the cats step on a pedal, the door will swing shut and trap the cat. In that case, you can keep a safe distance and keep an eye out.”
“Aren’t we wasting time coming to the same spot you’ve already caught a bunch of cats?” asked a woman with an Afro.
“Good question, but no. New cats join the colony all the time, and this is the largest colony in Brooklyn. The only way to control the population is to spay and neuter as many of these guys as possible. And some of them might be strays or cats that escaped or were abandoned. But there’s no way to know, really, since domesticated cats are freaked out by strangers with traps, too, so assume all cats are feral until proven otherwise.”
“What have I gotten myself into?” said the guy standing next to Paige.
She glanced at him. He was a good-looking guy. Dark brown hair, a strong jawline, a dusting of freckles across his nose. He looked like he was about thirty. He had an average build, a little on the thin side.
“There are, uh, fourteen of you, I think.” Mitch pointed to each person and silently moved his lips while counting. “Yeah, fourteen. Everyone find a partner.”
Paige turned to the cute guy. “Hey, wanna be partners?”
He turned and gave her a once-over. “Yeah, sure. I’m Josh.”
“I’m Paige. And…you look weirdly familiar. Have we met before?” Because it was a little uncanny. Paige felt almost certain she’d seen this guy’s face before, but couldn’t place it any context.
“I don’t see how. I’ve only been living in New York City for, like, a month, and I work crazy hours. But I have one of those faces, I guess. You’re not the first stranger to ask if they know me from somewhere.”
“Everyone come get supplies at the van!” said Mitch. “I’ve got gloves for everyone, too. Hopefully that’ll keep you from getting bitten.”
“You ready for this?” Josh asked.
“Not really. I’m still pretty convinced one of these cats will scratch my eyes out.”
Josh chuckled. “I’ll try to keep you safe.”
Mitch gave each pair two traps—which were surprisingly not very heavy—two pairs of gloves, and a couple of cans of cat food to start. Josh suggested watching Mitch and a few of the veterans set up their traps before they attempted their own.
As they set up their own traps, Josh said, “So I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m gleaning you haven’t either.”
“No. I’m an event planner. I like cats and all, but this type of thing is all new. But I run into Mitch at work sometimes, and he’s been trying to convince me to try this for like a year.”
“That’s a better motive than me. I’m here because my boss makes all of his employees do volunteer work. My sister knows Mitch, so she recommended I try this.”
“Interesting. What do you do?”
“Oh, I’m an evil corporate lawyer. The volunteer work is to mitigate some of the evil.”
Paige laughed. “Well, at least you’re upfront about that.”
They both stepped back from the traps. Following the lead of the more seasoned volunteers, they stood a few feet behind the traps and looked around.
“Corporate law, huh?”
