Stray cats dig our lingo too

Just a short but interesting story i encountered today.

I was about to leave home when i kept hearing cats hollering down the hallway from my office. I thought of ignoring them first, probably one mother cat calling her kittens. Somehow, those hollers started to get on my nerves more and more. Bloody stray cats...what the hell do they want now huh??!!!! buggers lot....

I then continued packing my stuff up and locking up my room when i saw this pitiful looking cat sitting on a desk next to our coffee room. She didn't stop meowing when she saw me heading towards her....arrrghhh that untamed, scruffy cat, the one who gave that hissssssss warns whenever i came near her....OK FINE, what is the problem, cat??? i said in my heart....I dunno why but those perikemanusiaan (humane and compassionate) instincts made me walk over and investigate on her strange behaviours. Then i heard another loud but higher frequency meows coming from our coffee room. Right. It was locked. Now i understood. Her kitten accidentally left trapped inside.

Mother cat still staring at me, as if she asked me to do something about it like maybe try to let her baby out. I was actually curious to see as to how far could she be serious that it was indeed her kitten. As if she understood what i was thinking, she continued making all that noise to prove that she was obviously desperate to see her kitling again. Fair enough. So i opened the coffee room door, switched on the lights and waited for the kitten to come out.

That little bugger kept on meowing, i guessed for help maybe, as in telling her mama that she's in there, come and save her or something. I looked at the mother and said to her, "meh sini, masuk cepat, sini!" (come here, go inside, here!) Without further ado, she came down from the desktop and crept slowly while precautiously ensuring some certain safe gap between me standing and holding the door and the space for her to make her move. Bloody brilliant ugly old stray cat, you.

So off she went, and immediately she located her baby. Both came towards each other, brushing against their heads and bodies . Ahhh....mama and baby reunion. Well, hold on you two, i need to go home now, I'm knackered and famished. Since she did understand my first orders, i thought i should start commanding her to leave our coffee room now. "Dah, dah, cepat kua, kua...kua laa woi....kucing, kua laaa!" (enough, enough, move out, fast...out out out laaa oi). The next thing i saw was that mother cat beginning to move slowly, heading towards the exit and halted approximately a metre away from me. I reckoned she's signalling her kid to follow her as the coast was clear. I just stood there holding the door when that kitten then came out from under the small table (where it has probably been hiding all these while) and gingerly running towards its mother.

Off they ran a few yards away from me as i closed the door. I turned to look at them, joyfully rubbing each other. A few seconds later, they stopped and turned around looking at me and meowed. Then they moved further down the corridor and made another brief stop to look at me, and meowed. My only sincere guess was that they actually thanked me for my help.

They probably are inhabiting in an alley somewhere, or running a vagabond life, moving around scavenging for leftover food and what nots. They may look not that healthy, no fancy thick furs covering their body. However, regardless of their shortcomings, they seemed pretty much surviving. I learnt a good lesson today on the importance of being grateful to what we have despite how relatively modest it can be. But above all, I am truly amazed at how "streetwise" those cats were to the extent that they could actually understand our lingo.

The bottomline is that hardship brings out the best in a person, and that applies to stray cats too. Even though they were created with a lot less brain than us homo sapiens, they cherished what little they have for the good cause. No wonder God has said this in the Quran (7:179):

Many are the Jinns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle, nay, more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning).