Like a Cat with Nine Lives

Eye-Opening Moments Unleashed are real-life stories of adversity, encounters, and perspectives intertwined. In this episode you will hear about Like a Cat with Nine Lives.

                                                                                       
Website: https://inspiremereads.com
Books: https://amazon.com/author/emily-kay-tan.2021_

Chapters

• 0:21 Introduction
• 1:02 Like a Cat with Nine Lives
• 17:04 Key Takeaway

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode #208 of Eye-Opening Moments Unleashed where you’ll hear stories of adversity, encounters, and perspectives intertwined. They are moments that can lift your spirits, give you some food for thought, or move you. For the introspective mind that likes to reflect, discover, and find solutions or meaning in a complex life, this is for you. I’m your host Emily Kay Tan. In this episode, you will hear about Like a Cat with Nine Lives.

Like a Cat with Nine Lives                                                                    Wouldn't it be nice to have nine lives like cats do? But cats don't have nine lives. Like any other animal, including us, cats only have one life; however, they appear to survive multiple "lives" because of their jumping and landing skills. Because they are naturally able to land on their feet and are cautious, they can escape difficult or dangerous situations seemingly unharmed. My feet may not be as agile as cats, but maybe I am like a cat with nine lives because I can escape a few scary or hairy situations, or can I?

I shudder to remember my arrival in Sri Lanka. As soon as I arrived, I discovered that I could not exchange my money for Sri Lankan money. I had asked my travel agent before arriving, and she said I could, but she was wrong! Though I had a package deal and paid for my entire trip beforehand, I was cashless without the ability to exchange my money. What if I needed something badly or had an emergency? What would I do without some of their money? 

My driver directed me to a guy who would help me in the black market. I discovered the meaning of what a black market is. They charge an arm and a leg, so I wobbled away when I pocketed what little I could exchange.

Things got worse; every excursion I prepaid for demanded that I pay more. My safari driver demanded that I pay for the jeep ride even though I explained that I had prepaid for the trip. He insisted that the jeep ride was a separate fee and would not let up on it. I was tempted to walk through my safari, but my safety from the wild animals was more important, so I forfeited that excursion.

In my next activity, I was supposed to have an elephant ride, but the trainer demanded that I pay him to guide and control the elephant. I explained that I did not have extra money for him and had prepaid for the ride. He refused to lead the elephant to me. Frustrated and scared that attempts to scam me would drive me penniless in a foreign country, I backed out. I hardly had any usable money there, anyway. My eyes stayed wide open. Sri Lanka was a nightmare, but I survived one cat life by staying in my hotel until I could catch the airplane home. At least they didn't try to squeeze some more money out of me while staying at the hotel!

While staying at a hostel in San Francisco during one winter vacation during college, two Singaporean ladies approached and invited me to travel with them. They said I'd have fun with them. They didn't have a car, so they walked around the parking lot in search of someone to drive us around. They found three men in a van. The bench seats in the back made for plenty of room for passengers. The ladies said, "Let's go!" I hesitated. They said, "The guys are thirty-something, we are thirty, and you are twenty. Don't worry, we will protect you." Off I got into the van with them. I had nowhere else to go, and the ladies were friendly toward me.

The mustache guy drove, the other dark-haired guy sat in the front passenger seat, and the third guy with dirty-blonde hair sat on the bench seats with us in the back. He was cute, but when he stared at me, it made me feel uncomfortable. Luckily, the Singaporean ladies noticed, and one of them put one arm around my arm and said it would be okay.

We drove North up to Mendocino County. There, we found a big restaurant with all the tables, chairs, walls, and floors made out of wood. It emitted a warm and cozy feeling, but feeling like I was in the woods with strangers, I was a little scared. Before ordering anything to eat, the guys said we needed to find a cheap place to stay overnight as we did not have much money. 

While we looked at the menu, the guys walked around the restaurant talking to other strangers. Before I could decide what to order, they were already back in their seats. They said they found an older man who had a cabin in the woods and offered us a place to stay overnight. Everybody seemed happy that we had found a place to stay, but I wondered about going to a cabin in the woods. Could I run fast enough to escape the woods if anything went wrong? 

Why did I continue traveling with all these strangers when I could be endangering my life? I could only surmise I was a twenty-year-old who liked adventure and was oblivious to the danger lurking before me. Also, I somehow felt safe with the two ladies watching over me like two big sisters.

Soon after dinner, it was dark outside. An older man with a bushy gray beard and hair came over and asked if we were ready to go. We paid the bill and followed him. As the van drove into the dark forest, my heart pounded so loud I thought the ladies would hear how scared I was, but they were smiling and looking happy. We soon saw the dim lights of the cabin in the woods. 

The gray-bearded man directed us into his home. He quickly put small pieces of wood into his heater to warm everyone as we crowded around the heater to warm up from the outside cold. Soon, he handed us sleeping bags, and we all got in them and slept on the wooden floor around the heater. Feeling the soft and warm sleeping bag enveloping me in front of the hot, crackling fire, I soon fell asleep. Before I knew it, I awoke to feel the crispy cold air on my face and the glaring sunshine beaming through the cabin window. I had slept through the night without incident. I got back to San Francisco safely and lived to have another cat life.

Loving San Francisco, I decided to live in a foggy city rich with diversity. I lived in the Italian District, sandwiched between Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. There, I decided to get a perm at an Italian salon. I thought I would get a foreign and stylish new hairdo. A middle-aged black and gray-bearded man directed me to a seat and began putting curlers into my hair. It was soon uncomfortable as he often brushed the side of his hand against my lips. I tried to turn away, but he would find another chance to brush his hand on my lips repeatedly. I wanted to get up and leave, but what would happen to my hair that was getting permed? 

After the dirty old man put solutions in my hair, he directed me to a closet door. I shook my head to say no and refused to go with him. Was he crazy? What did he want to do with me in broad daylight? There were other customers and a few other hairdressers. Did he think I had any interest? I wanted to throw up. Time passed by too slowly. The timer ticked too slowly. When will it ring? When could I get out of there?

The timer finally rang. The nasty old man rinsed my hair, took the curlers out, and washed my hair. I cringed, feeling his meaty hands combing through my hair. He dried and styled my hair. I didn't care to take the time to look at how it looked when he finished. I just wanted to get out as soon as I could. Quiet throughout the process, I frowned at him and then paid him for his disgusting service. I didn't get a stylish Italian perm, but I escaped to live one more cat life.

Still enjoying life in San Francisco, I took a personal development class downtown. The class did not get out until ten o'clock. Feeling happy and excited with a more positive outlook on life after class, I ran to catch a bus home. Jumping off the bus, I quickly walked towards home, only three short blocks away. Still filled with smiles, I was about to turn the corner to my alley when someone grabbed and cut my gray plastic purse strap strapped across my body. He ran off so fast that I didn't see his face, and I barely felt the pull of the strap leaving my body!

Shocked, I froze in place, my heart pounding so loudly that I thought I was inside my heart, hearing myself! What happened? How did I not see him approaching me from behind? How could I watch him dash off and disappear before my eyes in a matter of seconds? How could I continue walking home and letting him know where I live? 

With my heart still pounding loudly, the night air suddenly seemed so chilly that I shivered uncontrollably. My head turned to look all around me. The streetlights were on, cars were passing by, and no people were walking around. Still standing there frozen, my feet wouldn't move. I could feel the crisp night air blowing across my face. I was wearing my forest green silk coat. It was a warm coat, so why was I cold? Why was I not moving?

Though cold and shivering with a heart beating too loud for my ears, I told myself I was okay; I was okay. I was okay because I was not physically hurt. I was okay because the robber did not come back. I was okay because I had all the important things in my coat pockets. My keys were in one pocket! My ID was in my wallet! My money was also in my wallet in another pocket! My bus pass was in my pocket, too! I got another cat life! The thief only got my notebook, pen, and knee-high pantyhose that had a hole in it in my purse! 

Boom! My students took cover under their desks without a sound out of their mouths. They knew what to do and did it so swiftly and quietly. On the other hand, I was unsure what was happening because I had only been working at the school for a month, and it was an unfamiliar neighborhood in San Francisco to me.

Over the school intercom, I heard, "Close the red door." I gasped. I suddenly realized what it meant. Lock the door and turn off the lights. Hide under the desks. There was a stranger on campus. The boom must have been a gunshot. Suddenly, it felt like a hole had pierced through my head, but my head was still sitting on top of my neck as I needed to check on the little lives that I was responsible for. I couldn't die; I had to keep them safe, but how? 

Silence enveloped me. Stillness and peacefulness were always two things I loved, but at that moment, I wished to hear something to let me know that everything would be okay. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally heard, "Open the green door." I let out a sigh of relief, opened the door, and the kids sat back in their seats in silence. Seeing that they could behave properly in the face of a crisis was good. It was also good to know I had survived one more cat life!

As if hearing a gunshot was not bad enough, more frightening is something that happens to you right on the spot, and you didn't see it coming! Walking home with Abby from another friend's dormitory and back to ours, we passed through a parking lot to get home. In the dim light, two young guys, probably college students like us, were about to pass us by, but one did the unthinkable. 

As one of them was about to pass me, he whipped out one hand and grabbed my left breast for a second or two. Horrified and shocked, I froze in place. My body turned to ice. It happened so fast that Abby didn't even see what happened! She asked why I was not moving or walking! My trembling voice told her that the guy who passed by me grabbed my breast. It was disturbing what he needed to do to get his jollies, but I was glad he didn't do anything else, and I survived yet another cat life.

The guys were probably nineteen, like Abby and me, and they thought they were having some teenage fun, but it was not one bit funny to me. As if that was not bad enough, adult fun could be worse.

Victoria was driving my car on the freeway when a guy in another car tried to pass us by in the fast lane. She was already going seventy-five to eighty miles per hour when the guy came up so close it looked like he would hit my bumper. More frightening than the guy getting close to my car and weaving in and out of the fast lane was Victoria. Victoria screamed profanities and said she was going to get behind his car and get close to his bumper like he did to her. I told her not to do it. She insisted. She told me she needed to focus and get the job done. I pleaded with her, but she refused to listen. She weaved in and out of the fast lane like he did. I knew Victoria was intent on doing what she wanted and would not listen to me. I stayed quiet, not wanting to add more fury to her flaming anger. I held my breath, gripping the sides of my seat. My life was suddenly in her hands, and my valued Toyota Prius was also at risk of being smashed or destroyed.

Victoria did as she wished. Luckily, the guy drove off without fighting back. Fortunately, my car remained intact, and we both escaped any injury. But Victoria had put her life and my life at risk. I got another cat life, but my friendship with Victoria did not survive after that. She had gone too far. I profess my life has value, and I never want to put my life in the hands of another person again.

A cat may have nine lives, but I don't. I must have thought I did because I keep escaping death and seem to come out alive! Still, the incident with Victoria reminded me that my life is too valuable, and I need to be more mindful and careful of my precious time on Earth. After all, I have but one life to live!

Key Takeaway: Though I experienced some frightening moments, I escaped by learning lessons, strengthening my character, and practicing courage.

Next week, you will hear a new real-life story called Remembering that First Dance. If you enjoyed this episode of Eye-Opening Moments Unleashed, please text someone and ask them what they think about this podcast, or go to www.inspiremereads.com and leave a message. Thank you for listening!