Inspired by a true story of a cat and myself.
Did you ever want a pet? Well, I always wanted one, more than anything else in the whole wide world. They would follow me everywhere, give me company when I’m sad, and will always be with me when no one else is. Most people would settle for dogs (obviously because of their floppy ears and their playful personality) or parrots, maybe hamsters or fish.
But, I wanted a cat.
A cat is adorable and graceful and cuddly and cute. When a cat meows you feel like you are going to melt from the insides. I like the way they make split-second decisions, are sharp and quick to act. I’ve seen many cats eye their target, a pigeon or a mouse and that’s the end of the prey’s life.
A few years back when I was in Grade 4, we had moved into a new apartment. In the evening, the sky was a beautiful colour blend of purple and orange – no oil pastel scenery could stand a chance with that sunset. My mom and I were walking around the apartment, chatting with each other. We were nearing our house when we heard a tiny ‘meow’. We turned back to see a black and white cat with green eyes and beady black pupils. He looked up at us and said again, ‘meow!”
I looked at the cat and said “Oh, hello!” Instead of being shy and running away like most cats did, this little guy just came up to us and brushed his tail against our knees. He was unusually friendly with us, as if we had met him before. We played with him for a while and then went back home.
The days passed in our apartment as we met the cat every day, and each time he saw us, he did a new feat which increased our bond of friendship. He liked being lifted up, playfully scratching us when we petted him. He started coming inside our house and he soon became very close to us, like meeting an everyday friend. So, we decided to give him a name, not like the usual Cuddles or blacky. I gave him a very unique one, ‘Hitler’.
I named him Hitler for two reasons. One was because of his little black spot he had between his nose and mouth which looked like the short mustache of Adolf Hitler. And two, because he was not very unlike Adolf Hitler who was merciless and power hungry, while our cat Hitler was not very brave but was blood thirsty over pigeons.
We were becoming closer and closer every day. I thought about him all the time even when going to sleep. Maybe I could now call him my pet/apartment cat? There was something else which I thought of; my mom had told me that unlike other pet animals, you can’t make a cat your pet.
Was Hitler becoming my pet or was I becoming his?
The next morning, I woke up late and got ready to check the door if Hitler was waiting outside. This had become our practice, we had become accustomed to Hitler waiting to be let in every morning or sometimes in the afternoon. This morning, however, he wasn’t lying on the doormat outside. I wondered why and left the door open for my mom to collect the newspaper.
As I was about to have my morning drink, I saw a flash of black and white in the balcony. I went to check what it was and to my shock it was Hitler. You would have wondered why I was shocked and not happy to see Hitler.
It was not just him today, he had brought along his breakfast too – a dead pigeon!
I was definitely not used a dead pigeon inside the house. I ran into the kitchen to call my mom, I told her, “Amma, Hitler is in our balcony with a dead pigeon!!”.
“What??!!”, said my mother, “Don’t be the boy who cried wolf. Hitler won’t bring a pigeon in here.” Furiously, I tugged her to the balcony where Hitler was sitting in a corner. When my mother saw this sight, she screamed “Aaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Hitler get out!!! Out! Out! Out of my house! Shooooo!”
After a few minutes of shouting and screaming, Hitler shot out of the door with his pigeon. He never came back the rest of the day. The after-shock of the moment left me trembling and my mother with a sore throat having shouted a lot.
Hitler had gone from being ‘Adorable’ to ‘Adorable Criminal’! He had been Cat-Red-Handed!
I began with a hope of having a pet. In the end, I thought – let’s just stick to being friends with Hitler and every other animal. I learnt that the more one gets friendly with an animal, it may get dependent and might suffer when we aren’t around.
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