Orange cats would rush to hide as soon as they heard the engine sound of the tuk-tuk which brought me from the train station. Ten minutes later, after the driver had gone and the gate was shut, Kwan would be crying loudly as she climbed up the stairs. She would launch into her crying or complaining session for fifteen minutes. I had to talk to her trying to comfort her and saying sorry for being absent several days. Kwan seemed to be quite good at expressing her emotions of being sad and feeling unloved by me as I kept leaving her every month. Joan would quietly came up and sit calmly in the kitchen. Joan would never showed his weakness or emotions.
I had to make it up to them by giving them some wet food or milk which they eagerly expected from me as soon as possible. Then orange cats would say “you’re forgiven for leaving us behind , but it would be nice if you could stay to give us wet food here everyday!” I told them I wished that dearly too. But ordinary people still had other things to look after. After they got their snack, orange cats would settle down quietly and sniffed around the place. They would later go down to the garden to continue their night routine of guarding the house and looking out for passing stray dogs along the dirt road.
The house would have been very quiet and life became very unexciting without orange cats. So, they expected conciliatory food offering after my arrival. This has become our routine which gradually made them gaining weights. Although I would chase them around the garden after my dinner, they would run for about five minutes only. I couldn’t possibly put them on a treading mill so I had to persevere in chasing cats around the house. The funny thing was that they weren’t afraid of me chasing them at all. They knew it’s a game we played at night.
The morning routine has been set by orange cats as they were always very punctual. Around seven o’clock, they e we would be waiting patiently around the staircase near the front door. As soon as I made noises at the door they would be right at the door crying for their breakfast. I led them to the downstairs kitchen for their breakfast. They would have only dry cat food in the morning as I didn’t want them to eat only wet food.
However they knew that I had my coffee break late morning in the kitchen. So they would suddenly appear on the kitchen floor looking at me. They would just sit silently on the floor looking at me having my coffee and snack. In the end I had to give them some wet food as their morning snack. So, my gardener says these cats looked bigger when I was around the house.
Then they would sleep soundly all day long till about my tea break in the afternoon. They thought they were entitled to have snacks whenever I had mine. They would never cry out for food or milk, they just sat quietly and staring at me with their deep gazing eyes. They knew how to make me feeling quite guilty and selfish. So, I had to give them some snack too. More extra eights gained in the afternoon.
Then, Kwan would go downstairs to enjoy the afternoon sunshine while Joan would sleep some more. The two cats have developed their separate lifestyle for the afternoon. Kwan has become more independent of her big brother but they still maintained that special bond and closeness. I always wondered what it would be like if we had another kitten in the house. Several stray cats and kittens had dropped by in the garden but none had been able to have friendly relationships with my cats.
I did spot a small kitten, about a month’ old by the riverfront. He was crying quite loud for his mother as he was very famished. I had to rush back to get some goat milk and a syringe for feeding this kitten, I told him to wait for me. It took me ten minutes to get back to the poor kitten. I asked the group of fishermen whether they saw a lost kitten. They said they only had chickens not kittens. I looked around and found the kitten among the chicks trying to find some food as those chicks were pecking on grains on the ground.
I picked him up from the circle of hens and chicks. Those fishermen were quite surprised that I saw this lonely kitten. I had to force feed this skinny kitten with goat milk several times. He resisted at first then he realised that it’s his dinner. He became much calmer and obedient. He seemed to like cool goat milk and had about four syringes full of goat milk till he couldn’t drink any more. He was partially bathed in goat milk. He became very tame and sat quietly looking at me. He had eye contact with me and sat quietly next to me while I chatted with those fishermen. One guy asked me to find out whether it’s a male kitten. He told me that he had rescued several kittens in the past; he would look after them until they grew up and left for their adventures. So, I hoped that we would take this kitten home with him. I was a but surprised when this kitten walked towards me and my bicycle as he wanted to follow me. I told him that I would visit him and bring some food the following day. But I couldn’t find him anywhere, that guy must have taken the kitten home with him.
I told this story to my orange cats but they weren’t very interested. I asked them if they would allow another kitten to live among them. They thought I was joking and asked me whether the gardener would be happy about extra work looking after a tiny kitten. I have to let fate or destiny working things out naturally. If a kitten actually appeared in my garden, it would be very difficult to ignore him. That’s how I found my first orange cat; she was about six months’ old kitten sitting under a mango tree waiting for someone to notice her. That cat was sent to me to keep me company and taught me secrets about cats and their gifts. So, I just have to wait for destiny to work out patiently. Meanwhile, I have to try to indulge my cats with snacks less often. They should be doing more running and keeping fit for their own safety and good health. This means I might have to reduce my snack times in the kitchen too!
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.