true beauty

the woman has her hands full with cats by now. in quiet moments, however, she still misses maneki and the bond they had. it is unsubstitutable. non of us other cats look at her in that same way.

but she learns to find joy again in the unique ways that we respond to her. the way i purr when she rubs my exposed belly and paws. the way fruity loves to be held. the way rosie flops on the floor for attention. yet she is still looking for that elusive bond that has gone away.

a stray 1 and a half month old kitten appears downstairs for the first time. after saving it from the rough play of tomcat and tibby, it follows the man upstairs and they decide to keep it for the night to have it fed, washed and dewormed. with all available territories taken up by kittens, rabbits and us, the woman creates a cloth sling and the kitten falls into a deep sleep against her chest for the entire night.



in the morning, they release the kitten back downstairs. it rained the previous night and the ground is all wet and muddy. they just could not walk away so they bring it back upstairs and put up another adoption notice for Bobby. He is named Bobby after a previous observation by the man that most resident neighbourhood ugly male strays are called Bobby - with affection. one at the pasir ris fisherman's village, the other at the holland village coffee shop. they are dogs of course but it still seems like a fitting name for the grubby odd-looking critter. glad i am no longer at the bottom of the food chain.

but he is a sly one. like maneki & me, he plays a different card. when the woman has to go for a birthday party, he follows her to far east plaza then to plaza park royal happily in the sling cloth. the way he looks at her, paws her chin and curls up with abandonment touch her deeply.

they are apprehensive about keeping another cat permanently. but realistically, Bobby has little chance of being adopted. From experience with the kittens and much of real life, everyone goes for good looks.

how futile the pursuit of beauty because people are unprepared for how quickly the euphoria of owning it dissipates. they are left asking for more and don't know what that could be. but to be touched to your core by a deep steadfast connection raises the bar on what is true beauty that you wouldn't look back from and stays with you a long long time.