It was a sunny day; I was feeling bored. I was absent-mindedly flipping the pages of a book when suddenly I noticed the sunlight in my room started to dim. I looked out from the window and became so happy to see that the weather had suddenly changed and the sky was fully covered with clouds. In no time, it started to rain heavily. I love the rain, so I ran out to play with my neighbourhood friends.

We played various games and had a lot of fun. I brought some juice from my house to enjoy with them while my friends brought potato fritters to double the fun. It was when we were eating, that I suddenly heard the sound of a cat.

I looked around to see where the cat was. I know that these little animals get scared, and seek shelter and hide themselves when the weather is rainy. So, I looked around for the cat under the cars and in the corners, I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I asked my friends to help find the cat.

All of us looked around. Suddenly, one of my friends shouted as he saw the cat up on the branch of a tree. It was not an adult cat, but a little kitten which must have climbed up when it was not raining, but when it started to rain, it must have gotten too scared to come down on the ground and, out of fear, the kitten must have started to scream.

We tried to bring it down, but the branch on which the kitten was standing was quite high. We couldn’t find a way to bring the kitten down. Just then, I saw our gardener passing by. We requested him to help us bring the kitten down. Our gardener was a soft-hearted person, he smiled and agreed.

He brought a ladder from our house and carefully placed it by the tree and climbed up. On reaching the kitten, he carefully picked it up, then came down very carefully. We were delighted to see the kitten being rescued. We thanked our gardener and covered the kitten in old cloth, which one of my friends brought from his house.

The kitten was very hungry and was shivering from the cold. We took the kitten to my house, dried and warmed her up and fed her milk. Using a cardboard box, I made a small house for her so that she could stay with us until the rain stopped.

I told my parents about how I had brought the kitten home. At first, they were not happy about keeping a kitten at home, but looking at the little kitten’s condition they were immediately convinced. The next day, when the kitten was feeling better, it started to play with me. I was having a lot of fun since I was my parents’ only child and had no siblings. I asked my mum if we could keep the kitten and make it our pet. After a lot of thought, she allowed me.

The kitten was very playful. She became my new buddy. We used to cuddle and play around with balls. I named her Milo — cute name, right?

From then onwards, whenever I see a frightened cat or dog in the rain, I always bring them to my home and give them food. These animals do not have a fixed place to live like us. While we enjoy rain, stray animals shiver from the cold and move from place to place in search of shelter and food. This is the time when these innocent animals need our help the most, so my dear readers, whenever you see stray animals, give them food and shelter and take care of them as much as you can. They are also God’s creations.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 3rd, 2023