VANISHING KITTEN

VANISHING KITTEN

Long before the mass firing of explosives on New Year’s Eve I was already exploding wild with madness. It all happened when my driver, two gardeners plus the “yaya” and the two helpers of my daughter all gathered at our stockroom which served as my gardeners’ sleeping quarter. They all came from one place in Iloilo and were somehow bloodily related to one another. They were having a reunion of sort which I tolerated except that nobody was minding the kitchen and no one was left at the open terrace where we were supposed to hold our Midnight gathering. I composed myself in an attempt to greet the New Year cold and calm.

On New Year’s Day I woke up and found again the mess of the night still unattended while the six supposed helpers were again gathered together at the servant’s quarter. I spent the whole New Year’s Day trying to keep my temper on hold just to keep the spirit of the day Happy and blessed if not prosperous.

Night time came and while I was watching the television on the second floor I sensed a kitten meowing at the lowest step of the stairs going up. I wondered how a kitten could be there because all our doors and windows connected to the outside were screened. I was forced to investigate and there again all the helpers together, leaving the door at the laundry area open where the kitten possibly entered. From there it was possible the kitten forced its way to the maid’s room then through an open window in between the room and the working area it passed and now meowing its way to the second floor.

I tried to chase the kitten out by opening the door to the terrace but the kitten just vanished like magic. With a broom I tried to clear all corners and nooks but no kitten appeared. I presumed it passed out through the door at the laundry area. I returned to my T.V. watching trying hard to keep my composure but the white kitten with golden patches was there again at the lowest step of the stairs. I closed the window in between the Maid’s room and the working place to be sure the kitten was caught inside so I could find it easier.

All my investigating expertise failed to find the little cat in an area 4x4 square meters with only a refrigerator, a small table and an antique cabinet where their under spaces could be a hiding place.

That was the time I thought of my sister who died about a year ago. When alive she was so mad at cats and kittens to the point of pouring them with boiling water when she saw them around. Could the kitten be a reincarnation of my sister because according to what I read from the Bhagavad Gita of the Sanskrit religion, a dying person reincarnates into whatever living animal was on his mind at the hour of death.

But that was going too far … I went to bed knowing that the kitten was still trapped inside and could anytime go upstairs where we were sleeping . So I just closed the doors of the rooms so that should the kitten find its way up it could only roam back and fort on the corridor and the small receiving area.

From the depth of my sleep I was awakened by the meowing of the kitten while walking to on fro at the narrow corridor. I found it impractical to leave my bed to chase a tiny meowing kitten. But it was my wife who was awakened scared to death at 2:00 a.m. when she suddenly discovered a kitten lying by her side that suddenly jumped away. It happened because when she relived herself at the comfort room the kitten quickly had a chance to enter her room.

It was 3:30 a.m. when I was writing this, fully aware that the kitten was still inside the house because it scattered everything on top of my table but it was nowhere to be found. Then I heard it meowing again at the working area. I did my best to find it but my best was just not enough. After a greatly disturbed almost sleepless night should I say Happy New Year?

FOLLOW-UP:January 3, 2009

Like an apparition that appeared from nowhere, the cute, tiny white kitten with golden patches was gone like a cloud carried by the wind to a far, far away no man's land.