A Catty Tale

What does most people think when they see a cat? Oh! So sweet ball of fur! How cute! And so on.

I also have similar sentiments. But I nurture another one too. Despite being beautiful creatures, I feel cats have some hidden agenda. Their meowing and purring say something and their eyes reflect something else. They are somehow not innocent like dogs. I’m specifically saying this about the grown – up ones. The kittens are above suspicion. My sincere apologies to cat lovers. You see I’m just being honest about my opinion.

Our locality is crowded with stray cats. So every household keeps vigilance over the movement of cats. Otherwise one is bound to lose pieces of fish, bowl of milk and the worst …the nooks of cupboards or sofa may be drenched due to their nature’s call.

I maintain a ‘you do not bother me and I would not bother you type’ relation with cats’. Few weeks back, I noticed a new cat strolling in our garden. What struck me was the color of the cat. It was mostly black in combination with little white and had strikingly sharp green eyes. I’m not much superstitious but it was somewhat eerie. Then I noticed his attitude. He will fully dominate the other younger cats, sometimes by fighting with them or worst by clenching them around the neck.

This incident happened few days back. It was 7 a.m. I was in a good mood enjoying my cup of tea. Then I heard two cats fighting. What fuming voices! I found them fighting standing on our boundary wall. Among the two, one was the black one. Both of them were finding difficulty in maintaining balance but they still kept on combating. It was a do or die situation. I lost patience. Their irate voices were curbing the tranquility of the morning. I came back with half a glass of water and threw on their direction. They stopped momentarily only to start again with full verve. I again repeated the process. This time I was successful. One ran away. But the black one stayed. His ego was badly hurt. I could make out from his stare. He did not run away. Instead he remained seated over there. It was weird that he stayed back.

I came back in my room. After few mins I heard a movement of utensils in the kitchen. I thought it was our maid. Then there was a swift dragging noise. Without thinking much I rushed to the kitchen. To my shock, I found my lunch box missing. I knew a cat must have done this. It had got leftovers from the previous day so it fetched attraction from cats. But it was like simple mathematics for me. It never happened before. It was revenge by Mr. Angry Cat! Though I did not see him doing this but no other cat will ever do this kind of daring act! I gave up my hope of getting my lunch box back. Later it was discovered by my father lying near a water passage in our garden. Mr. Angry Cat’s claws were not made to open tiffin box. So it lied there unharmed.

Whether it was Mr. Black cat or some other cat, I must say this was one of the sweetest settlement of scores did by someone. May be it was just a feline behavior. But the sequence of events has definitely added twist to the whole episode of my interaction with my clawed neighbour.  It was an incident which I will fondly remember..