As Dear As A Pet

She opened her bleary eyes when the cat, all seven pounds of squirming flesh, climbed onto her belly. Squinting into the sunlight streaming in from the open window, she discovered that she was now the weary possessor of a pounding headache, and at some point, had managed to lose both a tooth and a spouse. However, she was not ready to call it quits just yet. She was a fighter. She was like this since childhood. Her parents would testify for this. As a child, she had defeated a terminal disease called Cancer. Therefore, headaches were not new to her. She had dealt with them since childhood.

However, this time, it appeared, the headache would last longer. The cat was behaving weird. She was not her normal self today. It appeared that she was sick. However, Prakriti had no way of telling. Until of course, she went to a vet. Prakriti did not know of any veterinary doctor for miles from where she was staying. Therefore, it appeared that the sick cat would make her see stars in the day. Many times since the cat’s arrival, the latter had got in the way of people from the family and had got hurt. However, her pain lasted only for an hour. She was back to normal after that.

However, this time, things were different. The cat was howling loudly. She appeared to be in pain. However, she could not tell her owners where the pain came from. Prakriti immediately called up an emergency number on her cell and asked for the nearest veterinary hospital. The person at the other end gave her an address, which she noted down on a piece of paper. Prakriti decided to take the cat to this hospital, which was twenty miles away. She began hunting for the keys of her car. She found that the keys were not in the designated place, on the mantelpiece.

She immediately understood that her husband, Suraj might have taken them. She called out for Suraj; however, there was no response. Suraj was not at home.

Prakriti had brought home the cat from the street. She was almost going to be eaten by a very big dog, when Prakriti chanced to set her eyes on her. Prakriti was looking for a pet to love. Therefore, when this cat came before her, she did not think twice before picking her up and cuddling it. She started liking it after she cuddled it and that was when she decided to carry it home. Her husband was wild with her for getting a stray cat home. However, she was not one to give up so easily.

She fought him tooth and nail. She made him see reason. She tried to explain to him that since they did not have children, the cat would serve as her offspring. Suraj did not see any reason for the cat to remain there with them. He started feeling jealous that Prakriti had brought home a pet and now he would have to share her with a cat. The idea seemed preposterous to him. However, that was how it was, now. Prakriti was not going to relent now that she had accepted the cat wholeheartedly.

She had taken it upon herself to make the cat her offspring, whom she would love and care for until they had children of their own. However, now it appeared that she had made a big mistake in doing that. She dialed the number of a private cab and it came in a jiffy. She carried the cat in her arms, boarded the cab, and told the driver to take them to Sarvodaya Hospital. The driver asked her whether she knew the way. To this Prakriti nodded her head in negation. They finally decided to ask people around and find their way.

Prakriti reached the hospital after approximately two hours of a grueling journey. It was grueling for the cat and Prakriti. The doctor examined the cat and asked Prakriti to admit her to the hospital. She had developed a tumor in her stomach and the pain was coming from there. Unknown to Prakriti, the cat had not eaten her meal that day. When the doctor asked her what she had eaten that day, the hapless homemaker could not say a word. The doctor informed her that an X-ray scan of her stomach had revealed that she had not eaten anything that day as she had been in pain.

The cat, which Prakriti now called Tom, had stomach cancer and she was bawling because the tumor was causing her a lot of pain. The doctor decided to operate on her. However, he categorically informed Prakriti that there were slim chances that she would live. The cat was operated and she died on the hospital bed. Prakriti was heartbroken. Whom would she call her kid now? Suraj was overjoyed that his enemy had left. However, he felt bad for Prakriti who had lost her child. The cat bad become so dear to her that she had started making plans on how she would let her have a family of her own if she behaved herself.

Prakriti took hold of the dead body of the cat and gave her a decent burial just as human beings do. She did not want to burn her body as Hindus do. Therefore, it was decided that the cat would be buried. In the six months that the cat was with Prakriti, she had become her pet. She had become so dear to her that Prakriti loved her more than Suraj. She was for Prakriti AS DEAR AS A PET.