Hiding Kitty
View(s):Tharaka and Neesha lived with their aunty and uncle. One day on their way home back from school, Neesha spotted a tiny kitten in the middle of the road. She worried about its safety so she tried to bring it to the side of the road. But the kitten kept on going to the road. “We can’t leave him here. It’s not safe!” she said putting the kitten into her bag. “Are you mad?” shouted her older brother. “Aunty will never allow us to keep him!” “Please let’s not leave him here!” pleaded Neesha. “Alright, let go home and think of a plan!” Tharaka finally agreed.
Luckily the children’s room was at the back of the house. They slowly sneaked in through the back door. Tharaka found an old shoe box. He put in a piece of cloth and kept it under his bed. He also left a tray of sand. Then they gave the kitten a bit of milk. Although their auntie’s room was at the front of the house, the unusual quietness of the children was suspicious to her. She came to check if they were sick or had fever. The children held their breath. But the kitten kept quiet as if he understood. Auntie walked away looking confused.
The next day was also a school day. They put the kitten into the bag and left home. “Where do we keep him?” Neesha questioned. “Let’s ask uncle to keep kitty while we’re at school!” The children’s uncle had a small grocery shop a little away from their home. He went to the shop early morning. He loved animals unlike their aunty and they were sure that he would help. “He can keep the kitten in the area behind the shop. Even when aunty comes she rarely goes to the back!” said Tharaka.
“What?” gasped their uncle. “If aunty sees it when she brings my lunch, what am I to say to her?” “Please keep him at the back area uncle, she’ll never know!” pleaded Neesha. “What about the night? I can’t leave him here. He’ll mess-up the whole place!” protested their uncle.
“We will pick him after school,” said Tharaka, “let’s do it that way till we find him a home! I’ll ask my friends if they want him.” Their uncle reluctantly agreed. “But only till this weekend!” said the children’s uncle. “If you’re keeping him any longer than that, you’ll have to tell your aunty about this!” The children agreed as they had no other choice. “What do we do?” asked Neesha on their way to school. “Aunty doesn’t like animals at all. She’ll never agree to keep kitty!” “Let’s try and find him a home,” sighed Tharaka.
“Your kitten was a good boy!” said Uncle when the children came to collect hm. “He slept on the gunny bag outside the whole day. I gave him a little of my lunch your aunty brought and he ate it all without fussing. He was very quiet too.” Neesha smiled and said, “Kitty’s quiet at home too. Whenever he cries, we make a similar sound to drown out his voice!” “But how long are you planning on doing this!” asked the uncle and both children looked worried.
This was done for two days but the children couldn’t find a home for the kitten. Finally it was Friday. The weekend was approaching and they had promised their uncle that if they couldn’t find the kitten a home, they would tell aunty about their secret. Both Tharaka and Neesha knew what that meant. Aunty would never agree to have a pet and when she said something, that’s final. There’s no room for further arguments.
The children sadly collected the kitten and took him in their bag as usual. They stopped when they saw aunty near the kitchen door with pieces of paper scattered all over the ground. She was cleaning some boxes. “Mice!” she exclaimed as she saw the children. “Do they eat those?” asked Neesha pointing at the paper pieces. “They definitely don’t read them!” replied their aunty angrily and said, “maybe we should get a cat!”
Neesha’s eyes lit up. “We have one!” said Neesha, before Tharaka could stop her. Tharaka gasped in disbelief. This was not how he intended to break the news to their aunty. But now it was too late. Their aunty lifted her head at once. Neesha carefully opened her bag and took out the kitten. “How did that cat get into your school bag?” aunty asked her sternly. The children had nothing left to do but confess the story.
Although their aunty was annoyed after hearing everything, she took the kitten and turned it around observing it like she’d never seen one before. Then she looked at the pieces of paper on the ground and sighed. Finally she agreed to keep the kitten. But there were so many conditions attached. Kitten was to be kept outside the kitchen and not to be taken into their room. They were not to waste time playing with it without doing school work and the list continued.
“I’m fine with all these rules! I was worried we’d never find kitty a home and now we get to keep him. See, that wasn’t too hard. I can’t believe our luck!” said Neesha. “You shouldn’t have jumped and broken the news like that!” pointed Tharaka. “But it did work well, didn’t it?” giggled Neesha and Tharaka smiled and nodded. “It was pure luck that the mice decided to help us on time!” he said making his sister laugh.