“I don’t know how she got there …”
The other day, truck driver Fitz Francois was nearing the end of a 12-hour shift when a strange noise from within his tractor trailer stopped him in his tracks.
After dropping off his final delivery, Francois was returning to the tractor trailer when he realized he’d left his hand truck inside the store. As he turned to walk back toward the store, he heard an unusual sound nearby.
Fitz Francois
Francois didn’t think anything of it at first and continued inside. But when he returned to the truck with his dolly, the noise intensified.
“I start hearing, like, meowing really aggressively and consistently,” Francois told The Dodo. “It was way too close. It felt like it was inside the trailer.”
Francois began to investigate his truck, scouring every inch for any sign of a crying intruder.
“I’m looking inside. I don’t find anything. I look underneath and still can’t find anything,” Francois said. “And then she finally poked her head out.”
Fitz Francois
To Francois’ surprise, a white-and-gray cat appeared from behind the truck’s suspension coils. A myriad of thoughts raced through the driver’s mind.
“I don’t know how she got there,” Francois said. “Maybe while I was doing my deliveries, she climbed up in there, but where she was in the truck … it felt like she was placed there, which is weird to think.”
Francois couldn’t figure out where the kitten had come from, why she’d chosen a cold part of the truck to sneak into or how long she’d been there. All he knew was that she was lucky to have survived after seemingly hitching a ride in the part of the truck that compresses when going over bumps.
The cat novice returned to the store to buy a treat before attempting to lure the kitten out. She was hesitant at first but soon allowed Francois to grab her.
“But she was very scared, very timid. She didn’t trust me at first,” Francois said. “I think she put her guard down after she realized I was trying to help her. That’s when she just crawled into my hand and [hasn’t] detached from me since.”
Fitz Francois
Francois plucked the kitten from the truck’s suspension and promised to take care of her. He took her to a hotel for the night, where he attempted to wash off the grease and dirt that had accumulated on her fur from her adventure earlier that day.
“I just put her in the sink and sprinkled some water on her,” Francois said. “I didn’t use any soap because I didn’t know what to use specifically. So I just put some water on her, wrapped her up in a towel, swaddled her for a little bit and called it a day.”
Fitz Francois
The two slept peacefully that night before heading to the vet the following morning. Francois, who’d never had a pet before, was already attached to the kitten — and she seemed to feel the same way about him.
“Within the first two hours of meeting her, I completely fell in love. When we went to the vet the next day, they had trouble keeping her still. She was just constantly fighting to get back into my arms,” Francois said.
Fitz Francois
When the vet team finally examined the kitten, whom Francois named Micki, what they found shocked everyone — especially her new dad.
“I didn’t know if she had fleas or anything like that, but her vitals were good, and she had no fleas or ticks,” Francois said. “She was just a perfect little angel.”
Fitz Francois
There was no question after that vet visit that Micki would stay with Francois forever. The duo soon returned to the truck and set off on their lifelong adventure together.
It’s been a few days since Francois and Micki met, and they’ve already built an unshakable bond. The unsuspecting truck driver may not have been looking for a new family member when he clocked into work that day, but he’s beyond happy that Micki found him anyway.
“She’s the one thing in my life that I didn’t know I needed until [she] just fell in my lap, literally,” Francois said. “It was the cat distribution system, and I was chosen.”
