By Mark Wineka
mark.wineka@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — It all came down to tuna.

Last week, during wintry precipitation and record-setting low temperatures, residents of Overhill Road set out a heated house and baited cages in trying to lure a black kitten that was living under their street in a city storm drain.

Taking turns, residents on the street were checking for the kitten they had nicknamed “Trouble” every 15 to 30 minutes. Success came about 8 p.m. Saturday when Trouble followed his nose and taste buds into a cage which offered an open can of tuna.

Sue Aquilla and her boyfriend, Pat, spied the kitten in the cage and soon took her to the home of Thomas and Mickey Jo Long, who already were harboring Valentine, a thought-to-be brother kitten who had come out of the same storm drain Feb. 14.

The Longs quickly gave Trouble a new name — Miracle.

“It was a miracle we finally caught her,” Mickey Jo said.

That same night, Miracle was brave and appreciative enough to rest in the Longs’ laps. Miracle ate some more, drank water and spent the night sleeping in a bed the Longs made for her in a bathroom.

By Sunday night, Miracle felt well enough to be playing with Valentine. On Monday, the Longs borrowed cat carriers from Walt and Patty Beaver and took both kittens to West Innes Animal Hospital for checkups.

One of Miracle’s eyes had a swollen lid, and he received an eye cream and antibiotics in case there was an infection. They also received some medicine in case they had fleas or mites.

Back at the Longs’ home later Monday, the kittens slept and played together.

“We just love to watch them,” Mickey Jo said. “They just brighten our day.”

Folks on Overhill Road had been seeing the kittens going in and out of the storm drain for about two months prior to the recent cold snap, when temperatures plunged into single digits on several nights.

Mickey Jo Long was able to corral Valentine Feb. 14, but nabbing Trouble — now, Miracle — was more of chore, and the whole neighborhood seemed to be involved.

After a Salisbury Post story about the attempt to capture Miracle appeared in Friday’s edition, Mickey Jo Long said she received 11 telephone calls from people offering their support and giving suggestions on how Miracle might be captured.

Though tuna wins as the food that finally enticed Miracle into the trap, the residents had tried tuna before without any luck.

When Aquilla spotted the kitten in the cage, she was virtually in the can eating. “She was that hungry,” Mickey Jo said.

For now the kittens will stay with the Longs, who definitely have become attached to Valentine, and Mickey Jo isn’t ruling out the possibility that Miracle might become part of the family, too.

In three weeks, they have to go back to the veterinarian for some shots. Mickey Jo Long can’t get over what one neighborhood did to bring two wild kittens in from the cold.

“Two little kittens brought a bunch of people together,” she said.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.