One day my neighbour’s cat did his “business” in our compound. Well, you know how smelly cat shit is! I was rather mad at having to clean up the place in the early morning just when I was rushing off to work. I took a cane and reprimanded him for the mess and told him in future to do his business in the drain opposite.

Guess what. The next morning I saw our friend perched on the grass near the drain. I was truly amazed at his actions. He’s even more obedient than a human. I was totally impressed. Though we are no real animal lovers, this unique cat seemed to develop a special bond and relationship with us and became like part of our family. His behaviour was all so humane. When he spotted our car way before we reached our house, he would speed into our compound to wait for us. During dinner time, he would wait at our doorstep for my husband to feed him. I didn’t allow him into the hall so he would lie just outside the main door waiting for every opportunity to steal into the house. Of course I would shoo him out. He would then slowly slither his body such that his head was on the mat that was placed at the doorway but within the boundary of the hall. Then he would purred sympathetically and tried to curry for some love and affection. This little feline creature really knew how to melt our hearts.

We didn’t realise how much we’ve grown to love him until one fateful day he just disappeared out of the blue and never came back. At first we thought that he’s on one of his mating hunt as it happened before when he went away for a week or two but returned with new family members. But this time there was no sign of him. Each evening we waited in anticipation but it was in vain. Days passed, then weeks, then months but sad to say, he never returned. It was most unlike him and we felt he must have met with an accident.

We truly missed him and took us quite a while to get over the loss.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 4th, 2004 at 2:32 pm and is filed under General.