Status: Ongoing

Kitty Me

02

I rubbed my forehead, worrying my bottom lip. Here I was, sitting on my own bed Indian style instead of sleeping. On my pillow, sprawled there was the tomcat. It was snoring silently, the fur being literally everywhere. I poked it to test whether it was up or not, but the cat only grunted and curled into a ball. Giggling, I tried my luck once again. This time it did not move at all.

I still couldn’t believe that a cat was now living with me. I still had to snap a photo of the cat and post the flyers noticing about a cat being found. Someone had to miss this tomcat. Being the owner, I would have put a collar on it. After all, cats can wander off. If it is a cat that has never been to the neighborhood, maybe it could get lost. After all, this one looked like it had been pampered – except the fact that it was starved.

I nudged the tom once again, giggling when it swatted my finger away. Not giving up, I started playing with its ears, waiting for the moment when its patience would waver. The tomcat kept on twitching the ear until I poked its nose as well. It snapped, nibbling on my finger gently.

One odd thing about this cat was that it never scratched or bit me for real. It only fooled around. This time it was not an exception either. It gripped my hand, securing it with claws and kept on licking and nibbling it. It looked cute, just like any other kitty.

“Should we go to the bathroom?”

The cat gave me a nasty glare, but sat up anyway. It stretched, arching its back and crawled over onto my lap. It leaned in, nibbling on my hair. I pushed its head away a little, pulling all the hair from its reach. It could hurt its gums.

I tapped the cat’s legs gently. It was painful when it buried its paws into my thighs. I didn’t want to end up with bruises. It gave me a hurt glare and walked away, swaying its tail sassily. Sometimes I even doubted the cat to be a tom. It behaved like a woman on period.

Cleaning my teeth, I kept on glaring at the cat who was throwing me hateful glare here and there. I could hear its stomach grumble again. I sighed, flushing my mouth hurriedly. The cat hissed when I started brushing my hair instead of running to kitchen. It even jumped up on the counter, meowing loudly.

“Get down from the counter,” I raised my voice a little, but it didn’t work. The tom only stepped closer to me, nudging me with its head. “What a demanding guy I got here!”

After the few hours spent with the cat, I learned that it got extremely grumpy whenever it was hungry. It demanded to be fed, meowing loudly and scratching on any surface in its reach, not caring whether it was currently lying on a sofa or my lap. It simply bore its paws into my skin and meowed.

I poured the contents of the tuna can into the bowl and I sat down on the floor. The Polaroid was already set on the counter. The only thing I had to do was to snap a photo, what was harder than I thought it would be. The cat kept on glaring and snarling whenever I tried to snap a photo. I guess it dreaded cameras.

I reached for the Polaroid, my gaze never leaving the cat. It was cleaning its paws and mouth. I had to smile upon witnessing it lapping its big tongue all over its mouth. It looked adorable, but most importantly – it had its eyes closed.

The silent click was louder than a trigger. I jumped on my feet, running away from the furious cat. Sending the photos to my notebook, I set the camera aside, picking up the cat. Its fur was all fluffy once again and it was trembling – in anger. It bit down on my finger and I frowned. It did not hurt, but the gesture itself was hurtful. After all, I was feeding the cat; it could show some gratitude from time to time. I wasn’t asking for constant affection displayed, I only wanted respect.

Turning on the computer, I sat down. The cat jumped on the table, watching it cautiously. Somehow, I became numb to the cat jumping everywhere and on everything. As far as it wasn’t a plate of food, it was okay. Maybe there would be a reason for me to clean up the house – finally.

I opened the photo, dragging it to the searching toolbar. Seeing the various breeds of cat, I looked at the one sitting next to me. It was fluffy and right now also flurry. Its tail was twitching, hitting my forearm occasionally.

“I will call you Grumpy.” Hiss. “Tom?” Hiss. “Or maybe not…” I rolled my eyes over the cat’s behavior and facepalmed.

It was still a morning and my head was already throbbing. This cat was giving me a headache I’ve never experienced before. It felt like a stone man turned my brain into a cave and decided to expand his house by hitting a wooden stick against my forehead. He was tireless while I was dropping like a fly, my eyelids heavy.

A page loaded, portraying various kitties and cats. They all had the same tag embed.

Tabby.

~meow meow~

Today was my day off. Beside the busy schedule I had, there was a par-time job I was working. The life wasn’t always rainbows and sunshine since I had to support myself financially. My parents thought it was okay to leave their daughter alone, working abroad most of the time. Hence, the house was at my mercy. Despite me being already an adult, I still missed the caressing touch of my mother. I missed the mother-daughter talks we had when I came home from school. Back then I was an ugly duckling with specks and horrible skin. With time, my skin got better and I bought contacts. My look was acceptable – for a girl with no intention in participating in Miss Korea.

I nestled on the couch, loving the soft touch of the comforter. It was warm and thick, simple black, feeling awesome wrapped around my freezing body. I fancied simple cuts and neutral colors combined with some brighter ones. This room was an example of my taste in design. The floor wasn’t furnished, except a small rag. Walls were painted in brown, one of them in a golden brown. The couch was black with green pillows. I loved the harmony of this room. That was the reason why I loved to spend my free time there.

Taking hold of the charcoal once again, I got into adding details to the simple sketch I made. All I could make out now were two ears sticking to air, small circle representing the head and big oval for body. I couldn’t wait for turning it into an actual picture. Starting by simple shading of the ears, I dove into my work. The silent snoring was accompanying my time, silent music playing in background. What a perfect afternoon.

The flayers I made earlier in the morning were already hung all around the town. It was a hustle, since I was worried about the cat. I let the tom at home, locking it in against its will. I couldn’t bother with a grumpy ball which was meowing every five seconds. Looks like it disliked my attempt on returning it back to its owner.

I yawned, putting aside the half done sketch. The only thing I had to get done was the paws and tail. Also the nose area was a little bit too smudgy for my liking. I stretched, throwing my hands into the air and lied down, nuzzling one of the many pillows scattered all around the place.

I closed my eyes when something wet and cold nudged my bare arm. I cracked one eye open and smiled when I saw the cat standing there. It had a pleading and kind of confused expression. I shifted, rolling onto my side. The cat meowed silently and lied down on the pillow I was cuddling previously.

Grinning mischievously, I cuddled the cat instead, knowing how they hated it, but it only purred and shifted to be even closer to me. It had its head resting on my chest, chin-buried in my t-shirt. Giggling, I nuzzled the soft puffs of fur on the top of the tom’s head and sighed in content. The warm and animalistic smell flooded my nostrils as it always used to when I was a kid, lying down with a kitty. Only a cat could smell like that. Cat was the only animal, able of giving me this kind of feeling. Being this close to a breathing creature melted my frozen heart a little. Only just a little...

I closed my eyes, falling into a slumber.

Maybe keeping Tabby wouldn’t be that bad after all.