Calico Kitty

Tiny's brothers and sisters began walking soon.  Once again, she was the last to find her feet.  She began to suspect she was different from her siblings when she found she couldn't run as fast.  She walked with a funny lop-sided gait - a limp, because one of Tiny's hind legs was shorter than the rest.

The family put the kittens up for adoption.  One by one, all the kittens except Tiny found takers.  No one wanted to adopt a lame cat.  She was quite lonely, except for momma Cleopatra who didn't like being disturbed from her siestas.  So Tiny tiptoed around the house on her soft padded feet.

One day, old Mrs. Lazarus dozed off in her armchair whilst knitting.  The bright blue ball of wool rolled from her lap onto the floor.   Curious, Tiny approached timidly - the ball moved when she nudged it with her paw.  She began playing football with it - pouncing on it and rolling it all over the room.  The yarn kept unraveling, winding itself around her until she ended up a tangled mess.  Tiny started mewing pitifully which woke Grandma Lazarus.  She was certainly not pleased to find the kitten tangled in a mass of her blue yarn.  She scolded Tiny, "You good for nothing kitten - look at the mess you've made!" 

Poor Tiny hung her head in shame and slunk out the back door.  She found a nice sunny spot in the yard to bask in.  Something tickled her cute little nose, waking her from her catnap.  Brushing it off with her foreleg she saw a gorgeous green and black butterfly.  Tiny tried catching it, playfully chasing it around the compound and onto the road but the butterfly eluded her staying just out of reach.

Suddenly she heard a low growl followed by a loud bark and found a large Doberman bearing down at her at full speed.  Tiny ran for her life.  The Doberman was hot on her heels; gaining on her.    Now she knew what it felt like to be at the other end of a chase.  Just when she thought there was no escape, she spotted a letterbox.  The opening seemed large enough for her tiny frame to squeeze through.  She took a mighty leap, landed on the mailbox and crawled into its slit.  The dog continued barking and scratching at the mailbox before giving it up as a lost cause.

Tiny was safe.  Whew! That was a close shave.  Thinking it prudent to stay in the box till the coast was clear she curled into a ball and went to sleep. Naina had been trying very hard for a long time to convince her mother to let her have a pet but her mum didn't want the hassles of looking after one.  Naina prayed every night that she would change her mind.  On her return from school, Naina opened the letterbox to check for mail and to her utter astonishment found a cute, multicolored, patchwork, little fur-ball of a kitten fast asleep inside.  She picked Tiny up in delight and held her close, stroking her and planting kisses on her head.  Tiny purred with pleasure and opened her big saucer like deep blue eyes.  It was love at first sight for both of them.  Tiny had never felt so wanted before.  She was sure she was in safe hands.  "At last I've found someone who likes me", she thought.

Naina rushed into the house holding Tiny in her hands crying excitedly, "Look what came in the post Ma!  Please, pleeease… can I keep it?  I promise I'll take care of it; besides cats are good at keeping themselves clean."  Her mother sighed and said, "Alright.  If no one comes looking for her, you can keep her".  "You're the best, mum!" said Naina kissing her cheek, "And so are you", she said to Tiny, tickling her. 

She didn't mind that Tiny walked with a limp, in fact, it made her love and care for her all the more; For Naina too wore a special brace on her leg to help her walk, having suffered from Polio as a child. Of course, no one came looking for Tiny.  Naina read on the net that the Japanese consider Calico (tri-colored) cats lucky.  Both Naina and Tiny felt blessed and fortunate to have found each other. They were quite inseparable and neither let their handicap get in their way.  Naina renamed Tiny "Techni" after her technicolored coat and she sure did bring a lot of color into their lives and home.