A Short Story by the Wizard..

A Debt Repaid in many ways

We had arrived here in southern Catalonia full of enthusiasm, expectation and perhaps a little apprehension, to start a new life in the campo surrounded by olive and citrus trees.
Our little finca, small in stature compared to the home we had left in England, gave us the promise of a new life without the pressure and demands of living in a busy industrial town in Lancashire. We gave our new home a lick of paint, hung paintings and prints on the walls, renovated the kitchen and generally made ourselves busy in settling into our new life.

Our Catalan neighbours made it a point of honour that they introduced themselves to us and made it clear that we were most welcome. Gifts of lemons, oranges and bottles of the most tasty prepared olives would be festooned on our gate as if left by fairies and whenever we were working in our very large garden, they would shout across to us, waving their arms in welcome and ask of us ‘Que tal’ to which we would reply ‘Mol be’ in our hesitant Catalan.

By the first summer we had progressed well, the vegetable garden was in full supply and we were able to repay the gifts that had festooned our gate with reciprocal offerings of courgette’s, tomatoes, onions and beans. When our neighbours passed by they would hoot their cars horns and nod in approval that a gift had been received. We truly felt at ease with all things around us.

Every evening on this first summer after our evening meal, we would throw the left over bread onto the store roof for the birds and the following day we were satisfied to see that everything had been taken. Then one evening we were surprised to see a young kitten, not more than 3 months old clamber up onto the store roof and eagerly forage for the remains of the bread thrown for the birds. When we approached, the kitten scampered off in the direction of the nearest hedge preferring the total secrecy and darkness that lay within. Every evening she would return and as time passed by we would try to gain her confidence by leaving a little food closer to the patio where we ate. Initially, at this stage, the food was left, she dared not to be close to humans, but hunger overcame her and gradually she would come up to the patio but not onto it to take the scraps of food offered. Our Catalan friends laughed at us saying that you cannot have just one cat, beware, more will come. Perhaps they could not understand the feeling that the English have for animals.

Throughout that summer and into autumn her confidence in us grew and she would spend more time on our land, taking the food offered and in return offering her thanks by dropping the occasional dead rat near the doorstep to show her appreciation. We grew into her and she into us. When we occasionally came home late she would always be sat on the drive as if a parent waiting for child to arrive home. Once the car had been parked up and we turned to enter the house, she had gone, her duty done, but early the next morning she would be within a few yards of the front door, waiting for perhaps a few scraps of food.
We never attempted to handle her, and if she wanted something she would find us, sit a few paces from us and attempt to meow, I say attempt because it was apparent that she was mute! This did not hinder her from forging a stronger friendship with us and occasionally she would even rub up against our legs if she felt that she was not being noticed.

Winter came and past, she had found shelter in the store. I had thrown a scarf into an old delivery box and she had claimed it as her own, preferring to sleep there than out in the open. When she was about one year old it became apparent that she was pregnant but we decided to keep her and see what she would present us with! As her time drew near she became furtive and uneasy, we would miss her for long periods of the day but she always returned at nightfall for her meal. Then one evening she did not return and for the next 5 days we only saw a few fleeting glimpses of her. It was apparent that she had given birth but where was her litter of kittens?

Then one night we had an horrendous thunder storm with torrential rain and high winds, on and on it went, seemingly never to end. Just before we retired to our beds we peered out through the open door into the porch and there in the shelter of one of the summer chairs were 3 totally helpless kittens and as we glanced up, there on the patio was mother with a further 2 kittens in her mouth bringing them into the only place that she knew that she could find shelter, safety and security. The faith and confidence built up over the previous year was now being repaid in full. On this dark and stormy night with rain in torrents and lightening that lit up the night sky as if daylight, she knew where of a place where protection was to be found with no obligation or demands. We quickly found a box and some old but warm bedding, placed it in the sheltered porch and watched as she carried by mouth each defenceless kitten into the dry, warm box.

Over the next few days she hardly left her kittens alone, almost every time we glanced into the box she was there feeding or tendering to her young. We quietly left food and water by the side of the box so that she did not have far to go in search of her own food. About three weeks later, our Catalan neighbour Phillipe came up the drive shouting in some urgency. As we walked down to him it was apparent that he was carrying something. To our horror it was the body of our cat, she had been run over by a passing motorcyclist as she ran from Phillipe’s land onto ours. We were overcome with grief and when we looked to Phillipe there were tears also in his eyes, he understood our loss and shared our remorse.

We were now left with 5 three week old kittens who were totally dependent on their mother. Urgent efforts had to be made if these defenceless waifs were to survive. A phone call to the local animal refuge centre soon put us onto the right track and after a quick visit to their offices we arrived back home with special powdered milk formula and an ample supply of syringes. When you hold such a small creature in the palm of your hand you suddenly realise how slender the thread of life is and to have the responsibility to cater for 5 of these creatures all demanding in their squeals to be fed and cared for makes you realise how small we are in this unfolding universe but by our actions and deeds we can make an effort to assist in fulfilling not only our own life and of others around us but in all things that make this planet such a varied and plentiful place that it is.

As I write this article I can look out onto the patio and see 5 growing kittens, playing with anything and every thing that takes their amusement. One of them has the white paws of her mother, another the black and tan colouring of her coat and another the mute cry that will always endear my thoughts of such a trusting cat. And sometimes, sometimes, I swear that I can see their mother sat alongside them.

A debt truly repaid in full.

Short URL: http://www.chroniccat.com/?p=253

Posted by editor on 2010-04-06 Filed under Animals, March 2010, Short Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry