Baby Kitty Cat

There was a little girl called Meeta who wanted a puppy. Guppy and Poppy who lived next door had two doggies. After many months of saying they could not get her a pet, Meeta's Papa brought a kitten home for her. Meeta was so happy! She named her Softie.

The first time I saw the kitten, she had run into Guppy and Poppy's garden to play. She looked so pretty that the two girls ran and picked her up. 'Look, Amma, a kitty cat!' said Guppy. 'Yes! A Baby Kitty Cat!' said Poppy.

Guppy brought her in and fed her a little milk, which Baby Kitty Cat drank up very happily. And then Baby Kitty Cat walked all around the veranda, looking curiously under tables and chairs. She rubbed her head along everybody's feet and tried to nibble all our toes. She jumped up on to the narrow ledge around the verandah and stalked along like a big hunter cat. She pounced on a little insect and ate it up. She knew everyone was admiring her.

Then she saw the wool that Nani was knitting. The ball of wool kept rolling and jumping on the floor and Baby Kitty Cat was fascinated. 'What is this thing?' she seemed to be wondering. She waited until the ball settled down for a bit and jumped on it. She dug her teeth into it and fought it, biting and pulling it all over the place! Guppy and Poppy laughed and laughed. Nani and Amma never noticed. But not for long. When Amma saw what was happening, she was so annoyed, and let out such a sharp yell that the poor little kitty ran away at once.Guppy felt so bad! 'You've frightened her away!' she said. 'She'll never come back here.'

But it took more than a little noise to keep Baby Kitty Cat away. She came back the next day, mewing loudly and looking sternly at Guppy and Poppy as if to say, 'Go on! Get the milk!'Poppy ran happily to get the milk and after drinking it up, Baby Kitty Cat lay down on a patch of sunlight on the floor, yawned very lazily, stretched, and went to sleep with a curly little smile on her tiny face. She woke up soon, and looked at all of us turn by turn, through half-open eyes. 'I know what you're thinking, ' she was saying. She looked very very wise. I don’t think anyone can keep a secret from a cat. Then she stretched again and got up, all ready to play. Poppy had a small ball of wool today which nobody wanted, and she threw it for Baby Kitty Cat to catch. Baby Kitty Cat jumped up, caught the ball in her teeth and shook it very hard. Then she dropped it again and picked it up between her paws. She lay down, put the ball in her mouth, and wriggled about happily in the sun. That's when the big Doggie Tara who had been tied up that day broke her chain and came and barked SO LOUDLY at Poor Baby Kitty Cat that she RAN back to Meeta's house.

Meeta was happy to see the naughty kitten back in her house! ''Softie! Where did you go? How dirty you look! Let me give you a nice warm bath!' Meeta picked up the kitten, and tried to put her in a tub of warm water. Softie, like all cats and kittens, didn’t want to go anywhere near water. She jumped out of Meeta's arms and ran again -- but not to Poppy and Guppy's house, where the big, scary Tara Doggie was on the lookout for her.

Now nobody knew where the little kitten had disappeared. Poor Meeta kept calling 'Softie! Softie!' but no Softie answered.And in the next house, Poppy and Guppy kept calling out 'Baby Kitty Cat!' But she was gone. She had been very clever and gone to Badal's house, which was behind Poppy and Guppy's house. Badal is a very little boy, but he has sisters who knew just what to feed little...Billie.

That’s what they called her, and the tiny kitten now had three names. If you'd written down all her names, they'd be longer than that kitten herself! They fed her some bits of roti, and Billie stayed there happily for two full days.

That adventure made the little kitten want to go places. Now she divided her time between Guppy's, Meeta's, Badal's and who knew how many other houses? She must have had a different name in each house, and the people in each house must have thought that she was their little cat. Little, well, she was not so little now. She was a long cat. She grew big, and liked to run away from anyone who wanted to pet her. One day she was sitting under the big litchi tree behind Guppy and Poppy's house and waiting quietly. A rat ran out from the garage and she pounced on it before it knew what was happening. Our little Baby Kitty Cat had grown up into a big hunter. She couldn't be seen anywhere inside any of the three houses. She wandered around in the wild area outside the garden and fed on little animals and birds there.

Do you know what happened when Baby Kitty Cat stopped coming home?The MICE began to have fun. They zoomed and skated all over the house. They smelt food anywhere you kept it, and if you looked away they went for it. Bars of chocolate, biscuits and fruits; nothing was safe any more. The mice were too quick for Tara to catch, and I am sure they must have laughed and laughed together at the number of times they managed to fool everyone.

Outside, under the big litchi tree, the rats were becoming bold. They dug huge holes in the ground and nibbled away at the carrots that were growing there. Then they decided to sharpen their teeth on the car in the garage. Where was Baby Kitty Cat when everyone needed her?

Now it was July, and it started raining very heavily. And one evening, when the water was pouring down from the sky, everyone heard a loud Meow! Meow! Again, Meow, Meow, Meow! Guppy and Poppy were so happy and surprised to see Baby Kitty Cat again, bigger than ever before. They called out to her, but she turned and looked behind, saying 'Meow' loudly. And there was another cat! Now they both stood there, meow-meowing at the two girls, 'Go on! We're wet, and we're tired, and we want to be fed!' Guppy brought out Baby Kitty Cat's old bowl in no time at all. She had filled it with milk and soft, mashed rice, and Poppy found another bowl, even bigger, for the friend.

The two Kitty cats had a good feed, and said 'Thank you' very sweetly, circling round and round Guppy's and Poppy's legs and rubbing their heads against them lovingly.When the rain stopped, the two Kitty Cats went away.

Sure enough, it rained again the next evening, and the next, and Baby Kitty Cat and friend came every time. Then there were three dry evenings in a row.And now we are all waiting for the rain and the Kitty Cats to come!

Our beautiful Salman, who came to live in Guppy and Poppy's house the year after Baby Kitty Cat came to Meeta's.