Cheeku,
A little over six months ago, Tubby and Tintin brought home a little kitten, just a few days old. i was sitting in my Lazin’ Boy chair and when I saw them bring in the kitten, I was furious. I chided the two of them ostensibly because the kitten needed her mother but I suspect it was more out my reluctance to have a pet create nuisance in the house. Both the young men looked sheepish but quite determined to have the kitten and accepted a great number of conditions that I imposed on them.
Slowly the black kitten with a white tie started growing and making her presence felt. Soon, she squirmed her way into our hearts, endearing herself because of her immaculately clean habits and her naughty, fiercely independent presence. She chose when to jump onto my lap and when to stay away despite desperate cajoling. Most of the time when I would lie in bed covered in the quilt reading, she would stretch and slowly walk over to sit on my legs. There she would sit staring at me, her yellow unblinking eyes judging me…was I real or a fake?? Then as I would reach out to switch off the night lamp, she would lazily walk and purr softly for me to lift the cover. She would disappear inside the quilt and after careful shifting and stretching find a comfortable spot between Shail and me and retire for the night. Early in the morning she would jump out of the bed and head for her ‘toilet’.
She became such a habit. As soon as I would come back from the office, I would ask where ‘Mouse’ was, because that is the name dear Tubby and Tintin had given her. Both the boys and Shail would laugh at me because she became such an inseparable part of my evening routine-she would sit in my lap lazing while I would watch TV. Tubby had put a red band around her neck which had a bell. As she padded around the house the bell would tinkle. Home seemed so quiet if she was curled up like a ball and sleeping. And she could never get anywhere surreptitiously, because the tinkling bell would give her away!
Last Saturday she went out and was attacked by another cat. She was deeply hurt. When I came home and picked her up she yelped and scrtached me. She was in pain. Then I saw her limping badly. She needed medical attention and was taken to the Vet who said she would require a cast. And then as she was injected anaesthesia, she died…the little kitten died on the table, I suspect because of overdose. The doctor simply said, it happens…
The house is so empty. As I lie in bed, I can almost see her sitting there and staring at me. I feel the warmth of her little body inside the quilt. I can hear the tinkle of her bell…but she isn’t here
Cheeku, you may suddenly hear a tinkling sound coming from afar. Then you may see a small black kitten with a white tie and a red collor studded with a bell suddenly jump onto your lap and sit there in safety and comfort of a familiar body smell. You will know it is the Tubby and Tintin’s little kitten who has chosen to go to be with you
Dad