I didn’t know that I misunderstood the young black cat that I had known since it was a small kitten. I thought he was a male kitten as he was so daring and aggressive as a kitten. The vendor who sold fish (for visitors to set free in the river) told me that he saw the black cat bringing her kitten to a new hiding place during a heavy rain storm. She made a mistake of having her babies on the roof of the new hall. The unexpected rain storm soaked all her kittens so she had to move them to hide under a pile of old wooden planks. The vendor showed me a photo he took of the mother cat with her kitten in the rain one afternoon.
So, I was wrong to call this black cat “Little Tiger”. She didn’t seem like a female cat to me. I was worried about this skinny black cat as I didn’t see him for ten days. She went away to have her babies and she had to stay with them during those early days. I was glad she came to see me this time looking famished. I had to give her extra wet food to fatten her up. She had to nurse her tiny babies for a few months. I couldn’t see where she hid her babies but it seemed she had moved them to a new place. I saw her crawling out of the the back of a vending machine by the pier. I hoped that the kittens could behave and dry in the new hiding place.
The elderly orange cat which had recently arrived at the temple seemed to have settled down and decided to stay. He knew he wouldn’t go hungry very long as a few people would bring stray cats some food at intervals. The oldest black and white cat (Tammy) has become the senior resident cat around the pier area. She’s very timid and gentle. These three cats had to coexist without any deep affection for each other. They sort of tolerated each other’s presence. Little Tiger liked to act as if she controlled this territory and tried to frighten both the orange cat and Tammy.
There used to be at least five cats around the pier, now we were left with three cats. Little Tiger would have to bring her kittens out in the yard at the pier in two months’ time. Then, the area would become much livelier. I hoped some kind people would adopt the kittens in the future. Usually I had to feed those cats in the car park first. If I had to park my car near the pier, I would feed these cats at the pier first. They could remember my car so they would rush out to greet me and cry for some food.
Some cats at the car park would watch me feeding these cats from twenty meters away. Some cats would walk closer to the pier but they would turn back as they dared not cross the boundary. I told them to wait for their turn. There were two more older black cats turned up at the car park. It was good to see these stray cats eating their food in peace without fighting each other. I had to act like a police officer trying to keep the peace between different tribes of temple cats. They seemed to know that I told them off when they behaved badly. I would hit their back lightly with the spoon as a warning. They could sense my disapproval by the tone of my voice.
The oldest male cat knew he would be the last one to get his dish of food. I told him to wait as the younger cats were quite disorderly and demanding. They would make so much crying noises and jumping around the dishes. So, I had to give him extra reward for his patience and understanding. The younger black cats knew me well since they were tiny kittens. So, they were quite well behaved and eat their food calmly. It seemed the other lady who used to feed these cats didn’t visit the temple for several weeks. I didn’t see any food and water bowls she would usually leave near the bushes. I hoped she was alright and would come back soon.
There used to be five kittens living near the yard in front of the skinny monk’ s quarter. Lately I found only three kittens left, two black and white cats have disappeared for quite some time. The skinny mink told me that they probably went to the adjacent old dock through the holes in the wall and never came back. There was supposed to be a cat colony on the other side of the wall. The three kittens looked very happy to see me as they were always underfed. They have grown up a lot but they were still very timid and easily frightened.
Those cats that had been looked after by the skinny monks seemed to be getting thin. Not many people came to offer cat food to the monk these days. People had to economise as the economy hasn’t improved much for ordinary people. I was lucky to have some friends who liked to donate money for feeding stray cats. It’s their ways of accumulating good karma. So, these stray cats must have some connections with me and my friends from our past lives. I thought they were my soldiers and entourage from the time when I was a high ranking soldier.
During a phase of my college years, I often dreamt about being a soldier fighting in battle fields or being surrounded by my subordinates and other entourages in old palace halls. I thought they were just colourful dreams. Later in my life, several things happened to me to enable me to put all the puzzle pieces together and search for more information from historical papers. Places and symbols I saw in my dreams came together when I visited old palaces and temples in the old capital city of Ayutthaya and other smaller palaces outside the city. I could begin to see the connections between various coincidences, places I had visited and some elderly royalties I used to know. There’s some energy trying to draw me back to places where I used to lived in my past lives including old battle fields.
In some cases I had to return to the battlefield area or the nearest temple to have religious ceremonies for those who still couldn’t make it to the other dimension for their reincarnations. The energy and vibes were very strong and emotional during the religious ceremonies. It was good to have the chance to pay back some of my debts. An elderly royalty gave me a book with her ancestral record of the battle during the Reign of King Rama III. I was shocked by the description of my dream in this book. We might have some bloodline connections in the past, that’s why I was treated like a special friend in this family. It’s funny that most of my close friends were all descendants of old royal bloodlines or Chinese immigrants who used to build famous old palaces.
I saw these stray cats as my old soldiers from my past lives. They were very obedient to me and listened to my words. Somehow they had very good manners and behaved nicely in my presence. Even the most aggressive cats seemed to become nice and quiet, they sat quietly waiting for their turns as I could serve only seven dishes at one time. The skinny monk was quite amazed to see how these stray cats allowed me to touch them and carry them around. He couldn’t get close to several cats and they wouldn’t allow him to touch them. So, he looked after most of the new kittens and those cats he fed since they were tiny.
I hoped that the two ladies who used to feed these stray cats once a week would be returning to the temple soon. The other black and white cat (Tam) had just delivered her kittens. We couldn’t see these kittens yet but in two months’ time they would be coming out of their hiding. So, the skinny monk would have more kittens to look after and feed. I have just checked the prices of cat food. Suddenly, the prices has gone up by 20 percent. Inflation has arrived all of a sudden! I hoped we wouldn’t have stagnation in our economy. Life would seem to get tougher in the near future. I hope and pray for divine intervention and guidance so that I could do the right things at the right time and avoid any danger or difficulties.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.