Sup3rnality

I cannot say much right here at work lest I break down and cry.

But Pirate, I miss you already. Time with you has been brief, but you have added to my collection of happy memories. I am sorry you were accidentally locked out of your home where your siblings were and that you happened upon some poison and innocently ate it. I'm sorry you suffered a long cold night wracked with pain. I'm sorry we found you too late. And I'm sorry you died lonely in the clinic without the familiar faces of your family. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to say goodbye. Goodnight, Pirate.

My mother and I were talking a while before we both went asleep, my father was out on rukun tetangga duty. We were laughing at the antics of our cat Hitam who was busy making himself comfortable on my mother's blanket; a guest who invited himself into the room and chose a spot without waiting for anyone's approval. And as we laughed, the subject of the story moved to a former companion of mine, Sawadikap, or Kap for short.

This year marks five years since his death, and yet talking about him still brings me to tears. I was saying how I don't believe in entirety the research that says cats are only affectionate to their owners as that is a survival instinct to ensure a steady supply of food. To some cats, maybe; but not cats like my Kap.

He was stalwart and true, a knight of a cat that never backed down from what he took to be his responsibility. His every-morning wake up calls at my bedroom door, escorting me downstairs and to my bus, his waiting at the gate for me to come home, walking me to my tuition teacher's house...all that and more. He was my companion, my friend, my protector...

My mother told me he waited everyday in front of the house on weekdays for me to come back from school; eventhough I was already in UIA by then...

And before he died, eventhough he was all bones and weak and almost lifeless, he waited for me...for weeks... And when I finally came back and called out to him, he came. He was waiting for me just one last time... He lifted himself up one last time to walk to me. And he never got up again once he collapsed in my arms. I held him for hours until the early morning's light, when he drifted away as his blue eyes bore into mine...

Sometimes, like tonight, as I cry at his memory, I think he's still waiting for me...

I miss him so much it hurts.

Love,
Hazlin

Not 10 minutes ago, Juliana and I were chased by dogs. Or to be more specific, two puppies and their mother.

We parked at our normal spot down the road from our office and walked the rest of the way like we did every morning and lunch time. But today, as we were walking down the pathhway, we spied three cute little creatures from across the road. At first I was going "Aaaw...cute little puppies out for a walk with their mommy". Then I realized that the puppies had us in their sights, their big puppy-dog eyes looking in our direction. The next thing we knew was that they came bounding towards us.

I was like, "Sh*t, they wanna play".

The puppies started circling us and leaping up at us playfully; jumping atop one another to get our attention. They wagged their tails and stuck out their tongues; obviously used to playing cute to get food. I was half laughing and half scared; laughing cos they were cute, and scared thinking that they might bite us if we don't give them anything.

Their mom, probably knowing that her pups were misbehaving, kept nipping at them and pulled them aside. But the two little devils kept running from her and kept bothering us. This particularly cute little brown one was so spirited that it decided to put its paws on my leg and look up at me, all hopeful for food. It stayed like that and was playfully growling. If not for the fact that I am a Muslim, I would have scratched its head. Thankfully, it started jumping up and down again and let go of my leg.

I was afraid for my friend, Juliana. It turns out that she has a sort of fear for dogs and was panicking and backing away. She didn't know what to do, and looked like she was about to scream and run or cry or something. I quickly grabbed her arm and we walked away slowly. Because the mommy dog was getting defensive of her pups when Juliana backed away from them, and I was afraid the dog would attack. I pulled Juliana away towards the building slowly, hoping not to pique the dogs' attention. And thankfully, an Indian guy who was closeby called the dogs with food or something, and the dogs went away from us.

Jue looked like she was hyperventilating abit, but cooled down as we walked. As we took the elevator up to the office, we were already laughing. I'm glad she feels better. I was afraid she'd be traumatized at how the dogs were after us.

I recounted the story to my teammates, whom I hope did not see us getting ambushed. Our team's office corner overlooked the place where we got attacked, but no one saw.

Hehe, that was a funny experience, albeit scary, too; thinking that they might have bit us or worse. But I couldn't blame them. They were puppies, after all. And all they wanted to do was play.

Love,
Hazlin