They struck again yesterday afternoon. I just finished installing another shower in the house that I've been remodeling in Sheridan County and was loading the Suburban for the two hundred mile drive home. My wife, Teri was expecting me between seven and eight so I hurried to get my tools carried out to the car by four-thirty.

I've been careful to close the back hatch ever since the king cat jumped in and marked the entire interior with his urine on my first day there. But on my final trip back to the house to get my Shop Vac, I carelessly left a side door open. When I loaded the vacuum inside I heard the ominous sound of frantic cat claws on leather and glass. I looked in the front seat and spotted what looked like a yellow pin ball bouncing off the walls at laser speed. One of the wild cats was inside and couldn't get out! Now, I was frantic.

I ran around the car and opened doors, hoping the cat would get out before spraying body waste everywhere. When I reached the other side I glimpsed the yellow cat ricochet out of the original door and streak across the yard. Perturbed, I slammed the doors shut and reached for the driver's door. To my horror, the door was locked. The cat managed to hit the automatic door lock in its flight and locked me out of my car! Stunned, I walked around and around the car, trying every door and hatch to no avail.  My frantic mode was now at a whole different level. 

Assessing the situation, I realized that I was pretty much helpless. My phone, which was locked in the car, wouldn't do me any good anyway because there was no cell service. It would be a three mile walk to the nearest residence for help, and it would be dark in a couple hours. My only hope was to break into my car.

Inside the car and out of reach were all sorts of tools that would aid me in the break in. I would have to go search the place for wire and something to pry the door open. Luckily, I found a pair of pliers and a chainsaw wrench in the garage. In the backyard stood an old tower with guy wires hanging loosely from the top. I cut a five foot length with the pliers and headed back to the car.

I pried the top corner of the front door out with the chainsaw wrench and manipulated the wire through the tiny opening forward and down toward the door lock button that the cat must have hit in its pinball tour. After a frustrating bout of poke and hope with the wire I came to the conclusion that the unlock button doesn't poke as easily as the lock button. I could make the lock button work every time that I touched it, but not the unlock button. I moved to the passenger side and tried it to no avail. Then I pulled the wire out and bent a hook in it to try to pull up on the manual lock. No luck there either. I was running out of options and daylight.

Then I spied the car keys lying in the center console. I directed the hook end of the wire toward the keys and miraculously hooked them on. I gingerly pulled the wire back out, praying that I didn't drop the keys down a crack where I wouldn't have another chance at them. I pulled them until they were dangling inches from my nose, but on the other side of the glass. I looked at the unlock symbol on the fob and mentally visualized pushing the button. That didn't work either. I ended up dropping the keys in the seat, hoping to poke the unlock button with the wire. Of course the fob landed upside down, and try as I may, I couldn't flip it over. Daylight was waning and my level of anxiety was peaking.

Now, officially in full panic mode, I went searching for a bigger lever. Every old farm house has an iron pile somewhere and I quickly found it. I pulled a rusty apparatus from the pile and headed back to the car. It was a steel bar about sixteen inches long with a heavy steel handle dangling from it. I pried the door corner out with the chainsaw wrench far enough to insert the steel bar, but the handle kept throwing the thing out of balance so that I couldn't keep it where it needed to be. Just when I was losing the last ounce of cool left in me, a rusty bolt fell out, separating the clumsy handle from the bar. It felt like a miracle was happening.