Sorbet Best Served Warm

"A cat!" a girl shrieked in surprise.

I looked up from the laundry at the direction the little one pointed. Just then, a few of the other children her age walked towards her to watch the cat sleeping by the windowsill. One of the boy decided to pick up a stone and throw at the napping cat; surprised by his action I hurried over and grabbed him by his wrist.

"That hurts!" the little boy cried when I decided to use a little strength squeezing his small wrist.

"That's exactly what the cat will feel if you throw the stone at it," I commented, composed yet trying my best to stay gentle. "Not really nice, isn't it?"

The boy looked down and nodded. I let go of his hand when the other children at the nursery began to ask if they can feed it. Looking at the cat, I smiled.

"Sure you can leave some food for it," I replied them. "But I'm afraid I do not have enough for it. What did I teach about sharing food?"

Some of the children immediately looked reluctant to give out a portion of their food. Narrowing my eyes, I observed their action. The children attending this nursery comes from the wealthy families in this neighbourhood with rude and unsympathetic parents. To them money buys everything. When the little girl who spotted the cat raised her hand, my eyebrows rose.

Not that I'm surprised.

"I can share my bread!" the little girl answered happily.

"I can share my milk!" another child followed suit. Soon, everyone were raising their hands.

"Cadence! It looks like it's going to rain, shouldn't we carry it inside with us?" A child popped an unexpected question which had me raising an eyebrow.

Looking up at the dark clouds approaching, I tsk-ed at the fast changing weather these days. One minute it would be sunny and the next it started raining. I knelt down beside the children and tucked my light-blue dyed hair behind my right ear when they flew messy with the blowing wind. The children loved having me as their guardian for my pastel hair and pinked-colored eye. They are just lenses, yet the children thought I was born with them.

I looked straight at the napping cat. What a carefree animal it is.

"Cat is best the way they are - free. Freedom is what makes a cat, cat ," I said without looking away from it. "In fact every living thing should be free the way they are."

I looked down discreetly to eye the child who looked disappointed. It seemed like he wanted to adopt the cat badly, one way or another. His expression was clearly different than the rest who looked rather worried that the upcoming rain would wet the cat.

"Let's place an umbrella near the cat," I suggested while standing up. "Enough questions. It's time for your nap. And no buts."

When the children all entered the nursery, I walked over to get the umbrella and placed it near the cat cautiously.

"You should be more careful when approaching a residential district," I said gently albeit knowing that the cat wouldn't understand. What more, it's a sleeping cat. I sighed as I looked at it napping away without a bother.

"Cadence! Your shift's ended!" A colleague of mine shouted from across. I waved back at him and carried the dry laundry back to the nursery.