THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610080145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK YOUNG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 83 lines
Deborah Harmon really loves her cats. So do her husband Mike and their children, Jenny and Matt.
They share their new dream home in Bellwood Estates with two feline friends, Midnight and Abbey, a playful orange and white kitten who had the family all in a panic recently when she turned up missing.
Their search produced both a valuable civic lesson and an unlikely hero.
The tale began two weeks ago when Deborah Harmon made a quick trip to the attic to store a few boxes. After finishing her chore, she recalled looking around to be sure the cats had not followed her up the steps. With no critters in sight, Harmon closed up the attic and went about her day. A friend dropped by and the two went out for lunch.
Upon their return, though, they both began to be concerned about Abbey. Where was the affectionate ball of fur that always ran out to greet her friends? After a thorough search of the house, especially the attic, Deborah Harmon and her friend headed outside.
Still kitten-less, the pair drove around the neighborhood off Salem and Elbow roads, listening for a meow, hoping for the patter of paws. Determined to find Abbey before the children returned home from school, Deborah Harmon made Lost Kitty fliers and stapled and taped them to public posts throughout the area. No calls came.
When her husband and children got home, the Harmon clan combed the streets for their dear Abbey. They found no sign of her.
Deborah Harmon fretted about the 9-month-old kitten. Since its front claws had been removed, how would it defend itself alone in the dense woods nearby? While her other cat made lonesome-sounding howls, Deborah Harmon sat up until the wee hours, with the back door left ajar, should the kitten wander back in.
When she went out to retrieve her newspaper early the next morning, Deborah Harmon heard the anxious cries of her lost cat. But where was she? More searches ensued. Under the house, up on the roof, around the front porch, and into the dining room they looked.
Finally, Mike Harmon cut a hole and removed a section of their dining room wall. Curiously, now the sound seemed farther away. Panic began to set in. The cat's cries sounded desperate.
Deborah Harmon grabbed her phone and began calling for help. She called the city's Animal Control Bureau, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, even the real estate agent who sold her the house. Finally she called home inspector Pete Sessa. Sessa gave her several names to call. The first one to respond was Rick Wallace, the senior inspector for Tri-City Termite and Pest Control in Chesapeake.
``I knew what she was going through,'' Wallace said later. ``My house is like a little Jurassic Park.'' Wallace's pets include two dogs, a cat and a ferret. Though he couldn't come immediately, Wallace called several times to reassure the frightened family.
Wallace arrived at 11:30 a.m. and set to work seeking out the source of the now weakened cries. He searched the attic and peeked under the insulation, shining his flashlight and calling out to the imprisoned kitten to try and pinpoint her location.
``He spoke so lovingly to her that it really touched me,'' Deborah Harmon said later. Wallace drew on his knowledge of house framing to discover the kitten's location, somewhere between the overhanging roof of the house and the ceiling of the porch. After more than an hour of searching, listening and thinking, Wallace determined what he would have to do. By this time, Abbey had been imprisoned for 26 hours.
Wallace removed the molding attached to the front porch ceiling and pushed it up to allow Abbey to move toward the edge and make her escape. When her paws finally came into view, the Harmons pulled their scared kitten out.
The family doesn't know how Abbey ended up stuck in the small space where she was found, but Deborah Harmon guesses that it began with that trip to the attic.
In the end, though, Deborah Harmon could not thank her new hero enough. To her great surprise, he refused to accept compensation for his rescue efforts.
``People don't help people enough anymore,'' Wallace said. ``Nobody seems to have the time. I've got two teenage daughters growing up.
``It's time we all tried to set the examples we want the children to follow.''
A grateful family and one fuzzy little kitten couldn't agree more. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Rick Wallace, senior inspector for Tri-City Termite and Pest
Control, used his knowledge of house framing to find Deborah
Harmon's kitten, Abbey, between the overhang of the roof and the
ceiling of the front porch. by CNB