Happy Caturday: I found our missing cat and brought him to his sister.

The train journey seemed to be getting shorter as I slowly got used to traveling during daytime train instead of the night trains. The attractions of the daytime train include storage space for my luggages, cheaper tickets, daylight views along the rail track, and having vendors selling local snacks and food at some provincial railway stations. We arrived at the farmhouse in the evening and there was no electricity for about ten minutes. I wondered who fell asleep on the monitor and flipped on the wrong button! Occasionally thunder storms would disrupt the supply of electricity. Luckily we had a small solar spot light at the gate but I had to use the manual system to open the automatic gate. I could spot my orange cat trying to hide from loud noises and strangers.

As soon as the tuk-tuk left, Kwan came out to greet me. She would at first keep a safe distance just to make certain i wasn’t someone else in disguise. Once Kwan recognised my voice and touch, she went on her usual ritual of complaining and moaning about the hard time she had while I was absent from the house. I had to give her all attention to her and give her some comforting words from time to time. I felt quite bad as her brother, Joan, had been missing for over a week.

I was hoping that Joan would appear in the morning as he could hear all the noises I made around the house. Usually he would respond to my loud calling of his name in about an hour. But Kwan was still left lonely without a companion; she kept very close to me. My gardener was quite surprised that Joan didn’t turn up. She saw him running in the bamboo woods near our garden. So, Joan was getting fond of his new hunting adventure in the woods. But I could no longer allow Kwan to sleep alone at night and crying for his brother everyday.

So, I was determined to go searching for Joan the following day in the afternoon. I had to bring Joan back to his little sister Kwan who has always been very devoted to her brother. I planned to go searching for him in the bamboo woods, the deserted cottage by the river and all the neighbours’ gardens. Perhaps in the process, I would happen to find another missing cat: my first orange cat who had migrated to my neighbour’s big house; she was missing for over a month without any traces. My gardener was certain she was bitten by those German guard dogs and died from her injuries somewhere in the woods. How my brain suddenly became burdened by orange cats’ well being! I was very worried about the grandmother cat and her nephew (Joan).

I called out his name along the dirt road and made my first stop at my neighbour’s house to enquire about the grandma orange cat. But as soon as I looked through the gate, I saw an orange cat sunbathing on the driveway. It was too big to be grandma cat so I called out for Joan. He responded and walked towards the gate but he couldn’t come out side. I started shouting for someone to open the gate as there was no front door bell anywhere. It took a few minutes to get my neighbour’s attention; I had to bang on the metal frame quite hard. She came out to stop me from pulling the gate down to pieces; she surrendered and was willing to open the gate for the cat to come out.

But as soon as she approached the gate, Joan started to run away. I was afraid he would run into the bamboo woods so I told her to stop coming too closed as the cat was afraid of stranger. She told me she thought it was the missing grandma cat that came back home. She told her gardener to feed him during the past two weeks. That’s why Joan appeared bigger and fatter; he didn’t come home because he enjoyed the good food there!

Joan jumped on the dead tree stump and hopped onto the wall. I had to come outside the house and tried to calm Joan down. I decided to climb the wall and with one hand gripping at his back of the neck and I pulled him down from the walk into my shoulder. Luckily he didn’t resist and just allowed me to carry him home. He seemed to be over six kilos after missing for about two weeks. I told him to come back to look after his sister, Kwan. As a bigger brother, he had the duty to look after his only sister.

I called out to Kwan as soon as I entered the house. Kwan perked up her ears and ran to greet us. I put Joan down to see if they were still on good terms. Luckily Kwan recognised her brother and was very happy to be with Joan again. She kept right by his side, I never knew cats could have a very strong sense of family and be very attached to siblings. She kept on grooming Joan whenever she could. It would be heart breaking to see Kwan losing her brother forever.

On the other hand Joan seemed very independent emotionally and self-contained. Funny how Kwan still remained like a kitten I remembered a few years ago. I did observe these kittens while they were growing up and could remember all the different characteristics. Kwan was the youngest and smallest kitten who liked to be by her mother and aunty all the time. It took me almost a year to tame Kwan and to be able to touch her. Kwan has become a very gentle, sensitive and timid cat. I just hope that Joan would not leave the house for days again. It was so nice to see the two orange cats stepping together happily once again.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.