"Nip!"
Every morning, I wake up to a nibble of my toes, peeking from beneath my blanket. In a flash contraction, my foot is now safely ensconsed under the covers. I've made my move and now it's the opponent's turn...
"Snip, snip, snip."
The enemy is now at the head of my bed, attacking my hair. "It's time for breakfast," lazy bones.
But I don't want breakfast.
"I mean breakfast for me, silly one."
I'm trying to salvage the last few minutes of sleep before my alarm rings, in vain. Then, off it goes and it's time to jump out of bed. This has been my routine for the last eight months now. In the summer of last year, when the world was desperately looking for respite from the global pandemic, Mili tiptoed her way into my life - my heart.
They say the best things in life aren't planned and this is no different. I had just finished a long day at work and was headed back home. As I hurriedly took the stairs to the first floor, I found a kitten on the landing; her eyes covered in goop and her nose running. She was mewing loud enough to put an ambulance siren to shame - I should have known then that this is a fiesty one! It was a sorry sight and I decided to help. I rushed the poor thing to the vet. A quick examination later, I was told it's a flu and that she would have to be on medication for 10 days.
"You can keep her at the clinic, correct?"
"Sorry, we can't keep her for more than a day as she will have to be isolated - the flu is highly contagious - and we have no room."
I sat in my car, waiting for them to complete the procedures and paper work, wondering how I would tend to this tiny soul.
"Hello, how are you? So, I'm having a bit of a situation and was wondering if you can help since you've owned a pet before....
"I'll arrange for the food and meds but can you...
"It's just a matter of....
I watched the nurse walk toward me with a pet carrier. She explained the meds' doses and looking at my sympathetically said, "I don't know how you're going to manage but all the best."
"Thank you."
On the drive back home, I kept stealing glances from the rearview mirror at the pet carrier in the back seat of my car. There weren't any noises coming out of it. She must be fine I thought - only later did I learn how wrong I was - she was terrified.
"When you were born, the nurse brought this bundle, tighly wrapped, and placed it on my bed next to me. I looked at you warped in fear. How was I going to raise this little being all by myself. But it happened, life teaches you how." My mother had narrated her experience of becoming a new mum. Recalling that coversation I had had with her many moons ago gave me hope. I felt stronger. I was going to do this. And we were going to be fine. Or at least I thought so.
