The life this family shared, with the stray cat, translated…
We have two alien children in our home, our son, from Planet Slow-to-Grow, Strong, is the younger, and, his older sister, Heady, from Planet Meow, they make the Earthling Team of “Strong and Growing”.
One winter’s night three years ago, my neighbor found that there were, three kittens that were, abandoned by their mother, the three kittens, who’d not even opened up their eyes yet, Heady, was the biggest, the healthiest of the three.
I’d grown up in an environment with pets all around me, while Daddy Strong believed, that animals should be living in their natural environments, and not get caged up by humans. But I just, couldn’t bear leaving the three kittens starving outside, barely breathing, and, I’d asked a friend who had experiences with kittens that weren’t weaned yet, we’d decided that we’ll, take care of them now, and then after they’re, older, we’ll then, send them up for adoption.
“hi, I’m from Planet MEOW!” Photo from online…
During the time, although we’d prepared the lamps to keep their temperatures, the cardboard boxes, the old clothes and the water heated pouches to keep them warm, and we’d fed them every one to two hours, and made them go to the toilets, cleaned them, massaged them, the other two kittens, Dots and Curly, before they’d had the opportunities to open up their eyes, they’d, gotten called back to Planet Meow early, and there was only, Heady, left, in the lamplight, suckling on my fingers, trying to find milk.
In being the kittens’ surrogate, I’d already established that emotional bond with the kittens already, I’d buried the other two kittens underneath the sweet olive tree out on our lanai, and made a pact with Daddy Strong, that we’re, keeping Heady, to carry the weights from life together as we grow and learn.
We’d watched her grow, from opening up her eyes, used all of her strengths, to crawl out of the cardboard box, to start to scratch all around, chew on everything, taught her how to use the kitty litter, to weaning her, to get her the shots she’d needed, to microchipping her, to spaying her…………
As she’d climbed up on the screen doors, falsifying herself as a gecko, and chased the rope we had in our hands like crazy, making us laugh; as you’d ended your days from work, the moment you’d opened up the door, hearing her meowing at you; and how you’d opened up the door, and she’d come to greet us, rubbing up against our legs, flipped on her back, begged for her belly rubs, begging for foods; and how in the summers you’d needed to, bathe her, and in the winters, she’d gone under your sheets, to keep you warm, and constantly took up and blocked the couch and computer screens……………
interaction of a child wtih an alien from Planet Meow, phoot from online…
As we got pregnant with Strong, the elder worried that the cat fur would cause allergies or make our son ill, we’d insisted on keeping Heady. We knew, that she, is the alpha. She was, our daughter, a family member, and we will never, abandon her.
She’d made you write poetry for her, willing to, prepare the dry foods and the cans for her, work to clean up her poop, and when she’s thirsty, make a waterfall from the showerheads for her, to scoop up the water from the showers, to present her with a lake of water she can drink from.
The Secrets of Mommy Strong:
The Logo of our bookshop was from the photos of her and Strong, and, our bookshop carried volumes on animal rights.
There are many bookstores that carried the concerns for stray animals, animal rights. Based off of what I know,, in the eastern side, there’s the Times Preowned Books, the Come-in-and-Browse Bookshop in Taidong. And Riverbooks in Danshui had published “Cats by the River” back in 2015, although the shop went out of business, it’d not stopped caring for the cats that were found astray by the Danshui River.
This is, the strong connections that the writer has with stray cats, and, in caring for her beloved pet cat, she’d learned, how to take care of her own son with special needs even more, because pets ARE like children, and you’d, needed to, be patient with them as they slowly grow up…
Life, the Obstacle Course 