In spite of the fact that I am only…

And I kept looking at Her… Her eyes, swollen with tears, looked completely unattractive, but I was ready to cling to Her face, to make sure that Her eyes would never emit that salty liquid again… She stroked my body with her hands, pressed me to her. Screaming, laughing, crying again… But I could feel that She was glad to have me back.

I often misbehaved: I stole from the table the food that was prepared for her baby, her son. I often spilled water behind me, knowing that She would scold a little and everything in the house would be clean anyway. I acted like a boor at times, but I felt it was my home… I hated that animal – Her husband… He never loved me, he just pretended to like the fact that I was in Her house. And I was hiding so that this man wouldn’t touch me. I heard them fighting over me at times, but I couldn’t help it, and when that man was gone, I pressed my whole body against Her, wanting to give Her all my warmth…

She… She always loved me. She punished me for my little faults, but I guess that’s how it is with humans. I was not offended. I was fed with tasty food, and when I asked for my arms, they took me, and when I got my portion of affection, I went away, sometimes not even thinking about whether She got it from me…

Later I began to think about it more often. I sat beside her, but she paid less and less attention to me. She cried and cursed… The situation in the house was getting so hot that it was impossible to live. The delicious food was gone… She would only let me eat once a day, but she would still stroke my head and cry again. I couldn’t stand it. I left. I went to where my congeners lived; I interacted with other individuals, but I did not find the affection that I had at home. And I felt no affection for anyone but Her.

When I decided to return, I was not allowed on the doorstep. That very animal was Her husband… He kicked me, said if I left, that was it, no turning back. If she was home! She wouldn’t have let me be treated like that… But She wasn’t there…

I searched for Her for a long time. I went round all the neighbouring villages looking for Her, but it turned out that all the time She was in a place where normal people didn’t belong… She was locked up because she had attacked her husband with a knife when he came home drunk again… I could not get to Her. I began to wait.

I waited for a long time; when I left it was summer, and when I sat at the gate of Her prison, finally smelling the faint native smell of Her body, it was winter. I had to hide in the basement, which was under Her chamber. I often shouted and called out for Her, but She would not let me in. I tried to jump on the window to see the One I had loved all my short life, but the window sill was too small and I fell down…

Once again the food was brought out to me. They put it under the window, the very window where She was. I looked up, and a woman, seeing my movement, picked me up in her arms and carried me inside the house. I resisted at first, but then I got quiet. I was carried to Her. And I saw Her… And I stayed with Her.

And then we went home. A very different life began. I slept on Her lap again and was always there at night, and She had only me in Her arms. Her cub was affectionate to me, and that animal that often beat me, Her husband, he was gone. And it was just the three of us.

I try to give Her all my love and tenderness. I can’t be without Her… I did a great foolishness in my life, trading Her for freedom. I betrayed her. But now I will always be with her. I love her. Even though I’m just a cat…