Eye-popping road-kill ( sick )

     This is borderline gossip and you know I hate gossip, but here goes. 

     On the way to look at a A/C install for a customer, I was driving along a relatively busy street.  Not "city" busy, but maybe 20 cars a minute busy.  I approached what appeared to be roadkill...usually a possum, skunk or raccoon in this area.  As I drew near I realized it was a small cat.  I felt a slight pain in my heart as I imagined the owners of the cat losing it, and maybe never finding out it's fate.  As I was about to pass it, it looked like the body was being blown around by the wind of the passing cars.  Then I noticed it was alive, trying to get away from the sound of the rushing cars, limping an inch at a time towards the white broken line.  I decided that at the very least I wanted to get the cat off the street.

     I pulled into the nearby shopping mall parking lot and walked back to where the cat was.  In a small break in traffic I walked into the road to the cat.  I gave it a look to assess the situation.  One front paw was completely mangled and twisted backward.  The eyes had popped out of his head, and his jaw was ground into a bloody mess.  He probably made it under the car safely, but trying to escape the noise of a car travelling at 40 MPH most likely ran right into the path of the tire smashing his head.  At this point cars had begun to slow down and stop to allow me to do something...anything.  I touched the cat on its hindquarters gently, told him it was going to be ok (liar!!) and stroked him a moment.  I was contemplating how hostile the cat might be, having been run over, most likely shocked and wearing no collar/tags.  I can only wonder how the cat's vision was, eyes out of the socket and all.  He seemed docile, but I was still careful.  He looked a lot like my cat who is very tiny despite being 5-6 years old.  So I picked him up like I pick my cat up; from her stretchy midsection with the legs dangling; staying away from the head.  He fell mostly limp but I could feel him trying to find the strength to struggle.  Carrying him to the sidewalk, I set him down gently. 

     At this point I realized that I needed to find somebody to take the cat and put it to sleep.  I tried 411 on my cell, but they found no listing for animal control in Weymouth, MA.  (Funny, I'm pretty sure I've seen the trucks around town.)  I was about to call the police and ask them when another concerned animal lover came strolling up the sidewalk.  She was decent looking, maybe pushing 40 years old, dressed in a nice summery shirt with what looked like a natural tan.  She had child-bearing hips and a hint of sensitivity about her.  I admit I looked down her shirt once to check out the goods.  (Hurting cat or not, I'm still a man.)  She tried calling her veterinarian, meanwhile we were both stroking the cat, and saying soothing words of nonsense.  Her vet didn't have a mobile service that could pick the cat up...

     Just then, from the other direction on the sidewalk came another woman.  Slightly less to look at, dressed in animal hospital garb she was carrying a towel and a cardboard cat-carrier.  I explained the situation to her, and suggested she take the cat and put it to sleep.  What I saw next irked me just a little bit.  After all that care I had put into helping this cat through it's last moments of life, the girl drapes the towel over the cat, picks it up and stuffs it into the cardboard box like a stack of pillowcases.  The cat's legs and head were the last into the box as she basically pushed the cat, body first with no regard for the appendages.  I understand she was unsure of the dangers the cat presented, as I was...but if I had known that she was going to treat the cat like so, I would have done the job for her.  After getting the cat in there, she pulled the towel back and helped arrange his mangled body into a more comfortable position.  That made me feel a little better.  She went back towards her office to take care of the cat.  The lady told me she was happy that there were other good samaritans out there who cared, I said I couldn't bear to leave the poor thing in the middle of the road half dead and we went our separate ways.