The kitten twins were playing outside their house.
This evening, dad was coming back home, as usual, but with a sack-full of juicy and delicious pigeons. It was the kittens’ first biryani night and the twins had persuaded their mother to allow them to have pigeons.
“I can’t wait to have my first pigeon biryani!” said Amar Meowson who was one minute older than his sister Alicia Meowson. He loved to crack jokes and eat food. Amar was even planning to interview dad and ask him questions about pigeon biryani. “Yes, yes. You are excited about everything food.” said Alicia the younger but smarter twin. “You only focus on the food part and not the more interesting facts. For instance, did you know that after the Char Catminar was built, Qutub Quli Catshah had a royal biryani feast with 5000 pigeons?”
“Yeah, yeah… historical schmistorical…*meow* borring!” replied Amar lazily.
Their conversation ended because their dad had come home. Mr. Meowson was a majestic black and white cat with the most beautiful and mysterious green eyes. He was not young, his face was covered with whiskers, but his wild mustang spirit was younger than any of the children could ever imagine.
“Hello kids”, said dad
The twins knew he had had a long day and gave him a hug. Dad came in and dropped a huge sack of pigeons on the table. Amar and Alicia looked at each other and gasped. Dad must have hunted a lot of rats to get this!
Oh, did I forget to mention that the twin’s dad was a bounty hunter? He was a special founding member of the ‘Survivor Cats Bounty Hunter Guild’, which allowed him to go into premises that were restricted to normal cat-izens. On some days, the guild would offer a big rat bounty, and if he caught many rats, he would be rewarded big. This, was on those days.
“Righto”, said mom who loved pigeon biryani herself. “I’ll wash these pigeons and cook them”.
The twins who were setting up the table were also putting their multi-tasking abilities to play. They pointed their cat ears to the room where mom and dad were having a quiet chat. Kittens at the age of Amar and Alicia had very sharp ears but could still hear only faint voices. The twins could hear their mom saying, “Are you sure they are ready for the test? There will be no turning back if you enroll them.” Mom appeared concerned, but dad just said, “It is the only way they will become independent and strong cats.”
The twins stopped listening as their parents came out of the room looking half excited and concerned. What test could this possibly be?
At the dinner table, the test was revealed to them. “Kids”, said dad, “we have decided to put you in the Meow Test. I suppose you could explain it to Amar?” he said looking to Alicia. She was bursting with excitement. “We are going to do the Meow Test?! OMG OMG!” she gasped. Amar was clueless, “Meow test? What’s the meow test?”
“The Meow Test is a series of three tasks that should be passed by any kitten before he becomes a true cat. The tasks are…..”, but Alicia was cut off by dad. “Let us not discuss the tasks now. All you need to know is that the tasks are based on your survival skills”.
“So what happens if you don’t pass the test?” asked Amar, but even Alicia didn’t know the answer. “Well, you have three trials to re-do the test or…” dad paused, “you are not considered to be a true cat”. The twins were looking forward to take the test the next day. They were nervous but hoping to top it! So the next morning the family went to the test grounds.
I, the author / chronicler of this tale will now go into further details.
Task One
The first task was to hunt for food. Every cat needs to hunt with flawless perfection. Pigeons were a common delicacy in the world of cats. So the twins were pointed to a pigeon. Each of them had to creep up to a pigeon and kill it without alarming it and letting it fly away. Dad gave a bit of advice in the first task, “Aim for its neck, that way it won’t fly away and you can pin it down easily”.
It was Amar’s turn first. He crept slowly up towards the pigeon. The bird looked suspicious of the sudden quietness. The kitten took cautious steps and when the pigeon turned its back, Amar took a leap and bit the pigeon in its neck. He looked up at dad and Alicia, who were clapping and wowing.
He had passed the first task!
Next up was Alicia. She crept up to a pigeon like Amar, but unfortunately her steps were not as silent as her brother’s. The pigeon shifted around uneasily, but could not see Alicia in the shadows. She sprang out and grabbed the bird by its legs. The stunned pigeon started flapping its wings, but Alicia weighed it down. Then, with one big toothy grin, she bit into the pigeon!
She too had passed her test. Alicia turned back and trotted to her family like a proud British horse.
The Second Task
This one was a team task. The kittens would be in a room and will have to fight off waves of dangerous rats, for 10 minutes. The twins delivered some stunning moves and acrobatics in their ten minutes. Amar took a giant leap and killed eight rats in his mind-blowing landing. Alicia grabbed some rats by their tails and smashed them around. At the end of the ten minutes, what was left was a pile of rats on top of each other. Some were wounded and others dead. I have to say, the brother and sister were absolute killers!
The twins had passed the second task too!
The Third Task
Finally it was the third and last task. This one was harder than the others. They had to put up their best and cutest acts, for this task was not about killing or hunting, but wooing humans! For a very long time, cats have always been enchanting humans, who always find them cute. Some like them so much, they keep pictures everywhere, even printed on their underpants! Some cats were naturals at wooing humans, but others had to practice and practice to get the hang of it. That was why this task was a bit tough.
So the objective was for Alicia and Amar to make a human pat them on their head.
Alicia was shown into a room where a woman was standing. She was looking at something through a window. When she noticed Alicia, her face softened, as if she were melting at the sight of the kitten. Alicia the kitten looked up at the woman with the cutest set of eyes in the history of kittens. Then the woman bent down and patted Alicia on her head! Mission accomplished.
Amar however wasn’t so lucky. He was put to test with a man who didn’t notice him or want to touch him. But Amar jumped up and touched the man’s hand. He hadn’t made the man touch him, but he did try hard.
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Can kittens become cats?
Amar and Alicia’s test results came when they least expected it. They were playing a game of tag when dad told them. In the first task, Alicia took a little longer than Amar, and so got a B+ while Amar got an A.
Numero 2 went very well for the twins, smashing it with A+.
In the third task, Alicia got an A+ for excellent human-wooing skills. Amar however got only a C+, just getting him to pass.
The Meowson family celebrated with another Pigeon Biryani night. The kitten hoped to become an awesome bounty hunter like their father. But for now, they were officially CATS!
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