Fangs. Killer claws. Hisses, grrrs...and later, yelps. Who is
not familiar with cat-dog combats? It's a "hair-raising" party
of limbs and tails and yes, the loser sheds most of the fur-
mostly, the cat.
It was night time and I was in the living room reading a
tear-jerker when I heard a throaty, prolonged and wavering wail.
Instantly I dropped the book and rushed to the door with one
thought in mind - my cat was under attack. The thought brought
an ugly picture to my head. I feared an on-the-prowl Sparky or a
hyperactive Caesar or worse, the Big Dogs on the Block (BDOB
a.k.a. askal) was circling my Khufu in anticipation of tearing
her apart.
So you could just imagine the shock on my face when I caught
Khufu chasing Sparky, a dog two times her size. A dog. My cat
just chased a dog. I thought it only happens on TV.
"You were supposed to be helpless," I scolded Khufu but actually
I was torn between being proud of the cat and being afraid of it
as it sat on its hind, licking its paws...Sparky completely
forgotten.
But then my memory bank had retrieved from its archives a
plausible explanation about what had transpired in the scene of
crime. Said dog seemed to have a phobia with cats for once upon
a time it received a blow from a cat's paw on the head. So I
thought my cat was just plain lucky. Sparky would avert from
anything that meows.
But then another weird night came and dogs were running for
their tails. The militant cat had struck again.
Dogs. Not one, but two. Dogs- definitely not puppies. One was
Caesar and the other was a BDOB- both bigger than Sparky. I was
impressed.
Perhaps it would happen again, perhaps not. But I wouldn't want
my feline friend to make it a hobby or she'll drive all the dogs
away.
Here's the norm: cats are to be chased by dogs. The poor cat
must have gotten tired of running for her life that she decided
to make a brave yet an unthinkable move to alter cat life in our
dog-infested neighborhood.
It seems she has gathered up her tattered pride and charge, come
what may, to make a statement in the name of the feline race.
The statement would be: We cats may be soft, but we are not
fragile.
How easy it is for us to run away from our fears or to give in
to the unfairness of the bullies to avert the hassles and side
effects of battle, having known not the possible victories we
could achieve...dreams stay as mere dreams.
But fear is fear. If only we could just throw it out of the
window and have it locked out from our minds. But fear is a part
of our existence. It is a psychological battle, a tug-of-war
between yes and no. For me, it is not something we bulldoze in a
day. I remember how my cat used to sacrifice her food to the
dogs and be rooted indoors. It took her time to gain the courage
to go against the norm we thought could never be changed.
Have you ever experienced one of those rare moments when a thing
or two just happen way beyond normal? You learn things from
cats....
Perhaps the passport to courage is to be sure of who we are, to
believe, to act big no matter how small, like the cat that
fought for its claim of territory and demand for respect with a
personlity bigger than a dog.
We all have our own dogs to chase to turn our "impossible" into
a badge we can proudly wear. As for me, I'm not done with mine
yet.
About the author:
Sheryl is a junior editor of publishing company CannonCreek Asia
Inc., currently dealing with business news, and is a contributor
to the Sun Star Daily Cebu. A journalism graduate, she writes
short stories, poetry, essays and few novels.
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