What is it about a New York City summer that makes the transition from smelling number 2 to smelling number 1 so seamless? Whatever it is, the countdown is on (we cannot wait to smell number 0), and it brings us back to the topic of pets. This time, however, the story has a happy ending.

Cheryl and I went to her aunt and uncle's 54th wedding anniversary just outside D.C. in Maryland last weekend, and decided to bring the cat. We left Cimbi under the neighbor's care during the 4th of July trip, as Honey the dog came with, and we feared she would hunt, kill and eat Cimbi before the weekend's completion. So, agreeing that the cat needs some time out of the city this summer, we decided to take her along on this jaunt.

From the two medium length automobile trips she took (from the 110th Street animal shelter to Long Island when we adopted her, and from Long Island back to the city when we moved), she had only a 50 percent average. On the way to Long Island, she was fine. On the way back to the city she threw up all over the back of the car. After she gave up lunch, she laid down, crossed her front paws, and stared at the celling as if nothing had happened. Cimbi, ever a creature of routine, held her stats constant on this trip.

The ride to Maryland was great. We devised a fairly clever set-up for the cat's 5 hour trip. Cheryl's car has access to the trunk through the back seat arm rest, so we put it down, and positioned her litter box in the trunk so it lined up perfectly with the opening. This worked great. We arrived happy, contributed to the celebration's merriment and revelry, and took off late Sunday for the trip back home.

The trip back was far less enjoyable. With the air conditioning out, the trunk became an oven, providing a nice, slow roasting of the cat's litter box. At 70 miles an hour with the windows down this was less noticeable than it was at zero miles an hour waiting to get into the Lincoln Tunnel. So, thinking we were almost home, I shut the arm rest door leading to the trunk. About five minutes later I asked Cheryl, "do you smell something?" My question was answered without doubt two days later when Cheryl, going to a doctor's appointment on Long Island, opened the hot car's door and nearly fell ill.

That night, looking at the car and shaking her head slowly while whispering "cat piss," Cheryl and I decided to try Nature's Miracle. Much to our surprise, the smell was completely gone by the morning, after one application, and did not return even when the sun beat down through the car's windows during the day. Amazing.