Love, Amor, Amour

《Chapter 21》

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"Harvey, where are you?" She took off her shoes one by one and placed them on the small shoe rack by the door. "Come here, come get your treat."

It was unlike him to not walk-in at the time his snack of delicacy was mentioned. She placed her bag of groceries on the island top, still searching for the sound of him with her ears. The hissing was heard from the fire escape, alerted to the situation she slid over the living room and to the window. Harvey was trying to pick a fight, was her first thought and the worst-case scenario was it being with one of the miniature dogs that also lived in the building.

Oh, how wrong she was.

She froze with half of her body out of the window and used her own catlike movements to ever so gently tug at Harvey fur. The fearless cat did not comply and hissed at her as well. She huffed as she inched closer to him, one of her legs already out the window and the other dangling inside.

"Come here, Harvey." The uncomfortable position was hurting her back; she carefully stood on the fire escape and kept both eyes forward.

"Go, shoo," Mina stressed, "Leave..." She whispered to it hoping, praying it would go away. In actuality, she wanted to run but was more frightened that it would spray them with its foul odor.

Harvey fought and scratched at her hands as she tried to pick him up. It was then they heard the barking from the window to the right. The neighbor's chihuahua was having a fit and that was enough to scare the skunk. "Damn it."

Harvey jumped inside and ran into the room. She closed the window and went after him; she was quick to lock him in the bathroom. She wasn't the one that smelled like a corpse but needed to change clothes and shower. It gave her a few minutes to think over what to do with her smelly cat.
When she looked at the time it was pretty late, Mina wasn't going on her date in twenty minutes. Harvey needed her and a bath that was a tough task knowing he would not let her soak him in water.

She called Elijah to tell him she won't be able to go out tonight.
"No, I'm fine it was a stupid skunk that got to him and now I have to wash a cat, it's going to be a nightmare."

Elijah asked if she needed help and she could not deny that she needed all the help she could get. "Okay, sure."

Originally Elijah went to her apartment with the grand suggestion to bathe Harvey in tomato sauce.
"Tomato sauce? Are you kidding me, that crap doesn't work."

"I'll google it, hold on," He tapped a couple of times on his phone and began scrolling as well as mumble words.

"And it's not that he hates water, he's just afraid to soak in it, fear of drowning I'm guessing." She sent an unhappy smile at the feline that was unwell hidden beside the toilet.

"Okay I found one that has the most views, it says: 'to get rid of the skunk smell, you must neutralize the chemicals in the spray. This home remedy seems to work well on animals or humans. Mix one quart of three percent hydrogen peroxide, one teaspoon mild dishwashing detergent, and one-fourth cup of baking soda in a bucket.' Lather, rinse, repeat."

Mina sat down in the bathtub as it allowed her to keep control of him at the time. Elijah placed the bucket directly in front and under the faucet.

Before bathing it was important to ensure that the water is okay for Harvey's safety. They searched for the temperature the water should be placed at which turned out to be ideally an equivalent-if not slightly warmer than the cat's body temperature. Mina let the water flow for a minute or two until it had reached a lukewarm temperature.

After rinsing her furry feline in lukewarm water, Elijah passed her the towel on top of the sink before Harvey could get too cold. Since this was the first time she had to really scrub him down so much for an odor to disappear she decided to use her blow dryer to dry him off faster. As cats are naturally hygienic animals, they keep themselves clean through their cat grooming rituals. Nevertheless, there are some instances where owners may need to step in and bathe their cats.