SPIKY

It was towards the end of 2007. I was under attack by those insolent little micro-organisms which ravaged my lungs, turning me in to a sickly irritated frustrated thing. I was faced with months of bed rest, and cartloads of antibiotics to combat the shameless invaders, and was too weak to read or write. This little spiky dirty grey fur ball of a creature came home, trembling, without any ceremony. Abo had gotten her from aza Nitoli’s place, as his. Inevitably, like I always have my way without much ado, I instantly adopted that ugly-in-a-cute-way personified. Her furs were permanently up, spiked as hell (like they do when angry or scared...except it was just naturally like that for her). I named her Pansy, tied a very girly ribbon on her neck, and she naturally took me as her mama. Oddly, she couldn’t meow in a normal way like a kitten would, no matter how fussy she was being she just couldn’t; which was good in a way considering the ruckus that newly adopted kittens make. Her mew was a monotone, very soft toned, I wouldn’t hear her if I didn’t strain my ears or didn’t see her mouth wide open.


She stayed with me day and night, as I was always in bed. I would only get up and walk about a bit, or sit in the evening sun, and of course I got up to feed her.
I had one of my brothers fill a shoebox with sand- Pansy’s poop-box, I just placed her there. She was still nervous and shaky, (sometimes I think she was just feeling cold ha..ha..ha) but she turned around and walked about a bit and immediately knew that was where she was supposed to relieve herself. At nights I would wake up to her low humming mews to find her waiting for me to open the mosquito net and put her down to the floor. Even if the net wasn’t there she wouldn’t be able to jump down from that height anyway. After doing the job she would look up and mew, as-a-matter-of-factly, I’d reach down my hand and she’d pounce on it which then carried her back inside the warm blanket. At times I played around with her, pretending not to hear her, and Pansy would go crazy. I spoiled her. She ate numerous times throughout the night. And peed and pooped at the same rate :-P

There was one thing however, that mom wasn’t sure about in spite of all the different coloured ribbons I used to tie her up with, namely the ‘real’ gender. She was so young and tiny the first time mom examined her that her family jewel was almost not there, so mom had concluded it to be a ‘she’. But now that she was growing up, mom decided to have another look, and on careful ‘investigation’, Pansy turned out to be a ‘he’ to the whole family’s amusement. Oh! What a day! Sorrily I stopped tying the ribbons, hoping he was too young to know what he been put through.

So I named him Spiky. He had now turned into a playful boisterous kitten, his childish innocence melted my heart and his energy uplifted my spirit. He would get up earlier than me in the morning and flit about the bed like crazy. His playfulness freshened me up, made me smile. During the day, he never wandered too far from me, and whenever he was hungry, as he was constantly, he would clamber up my leg, claw his way up my sweater and come straight up to my chin. I adored him. He made my recuperation so much easier and took my mind off the aching, discomfort and the horrible fatigue.

Spiky grew up into a young handsome white tomcat with a few faint brown patches here and there. His downfall was that he was extremely attached to people which made it very easy for anyone to just pick him up. Kids from the school would gather around him every break and stroke him in turns…until one day, some kid decided to take him permanently. We lost him. He got stolen. That was for sure since he was too young, too naïve and too clumsy a tom cat to run away. I’m sure he adapted well to his new home. That is, if they loved him as much as I did, which seems unlikely considering the way I love people/pets/inanimate objects etcetera. So, I hope the despicable bugger who kidnapped him will face the same anger and misery I faced. Or worst. And yes I know I am being mean.


oh! and you can see him playing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqegNJus_jU&feature=related