I got in the car, started the engine and when I was about to leave the park, I saw a group of children coming with a kitten in their hand. I didn’t leave. Instead, I got out of the car and went to them.
What are you doing there? I asked them.
Surprised by my question, they were silent for a moment and We feed this kitten, they told me.
What's with her?
We found her there on the street, crying loudly and we took her. She was there last night, too, said another boy. She was crying, I called my parents, but they said let's leave her there, maybe her mother is coming, maybe she came out of a yard. But today we passed and she was in the same place. And she was crying. We bought these food bags to give her.
Well, what do you do with her?
I don't know, we're trying to talk to our parents, maybe we'll take her home.
One of the boys, who seemed the oldest, was about 12-13 years old, opened a bag of food, put it in front of the cat, then walked away to make a phone call. I stayed with the other children and watched the kitten. She ate fast, almost without chewing. Her bones could be seen through her ruffled hair. The edges of her ears were no longer hairy and looked like they were eaten by something. When she raised her head for a moment, I saw her eyes, as if painted with black ink.
She's very beautiful, I found myself talking. That's right, replied the boy looking into my eyes, after staring at the cat before. My brother is talking to our parents, maybe we'll take her home. We have two more cats. I have a cat too, said another boy, but my mother certainly doesn't want another cat.
The boy who was talking on the phone returned: Mum said to leave her here, because there are some dogs that someone is feeding, maybe she is feeding this little one as well. And during this time a noisy group passed by us and the kitten who had not yet finished the food, jumped under a car. We huddled next to the car, the cat meowing as loud as she could, and we didn't know exactly where she was. Then the children saw her. She had climbed on the rear axle of the wheels. Teo got under the car, reached for her, took it out and held her to his chest when I told them I was taking it home, we can't leave it like that, ruined as it is, in the middle of the unknown. Teo gave it to me.
Okay, take care of her, have a beautiful life, says the boy who had spoken on the phone. I thanked them and assured them that there was no other way.
I put the kitten in the sweatshirt, got in the car, got home, arranged her house, treated her with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, vitamins, probiotics, dewormed her, gave her the first vaccine, she gained some weight, regained her pink ears, and now Cleopatra is ready to go home.
If you can't offer Cleopatra a home, please SHARE the story. Surely her family is somewhere out there. What would it be like for the story to reach the parents of the children who practically saved Cleopatra? I kept thinking about them. There are good children, there are parents who educate them to be good, there are good things on earth.
Come on, Cleopatra, find your family❣️