text: I was in the middle of my morning stand up call when the plaintive meows reached my ears. Being a cat Mom my ears instantly transmitted the waves to my brain which could now no longer focus on what my manager was speaking. I waited with barely contained patience for the meeting to end and once it did I scampered to the balcony to locate the miserable kitten. But no matter how far I bent down the balcony wall I couldn't spot anything except the garbage surrounding our compound. The cries faded making me doubt my senses. Had I imagined them? I recalled the times when I'd drop my cats with my sister before a trip and my ears would still reverberate with their meows even if the house was empty. Oh well, a cat's meows are too similar to that of a baby's cries (intentionally) so maybe it was just a neighbour's kid crying in the morning. ***************************************** I walked back to my building having purchased the grocery for that week. Lockdown or no lockdown, I wasn't going to venture out everyday, and once a week was enough for a single person to buy their essentials. Vicky the building guard dog who greeted everyone with a wagging tail( except if you had the audacity to enter the gates after 11pm) , had followed me to the nearby store in the hope of procuring some glucose biscuits for himself. I petted his head and went home and got him some cat dry food to eat. Funny how dogs can easily digest cat food but God forbid you attempt to offer a cat, dog's food! And that's when I heard the tiny meows again. It seemd to come from under the Swift parked in the garage. I tried to bend down as far as possible and spot the source of the noise, Vicky joining me in lowering himself and growling instead. It was a kitten! Not more than a month old. My heart melted then and there and I rushed upstairs to get whatever cat wet food i had lying around, to give to this tiny tot. I placed it in a plastic container and slid it under the car, s/he ate it hungrily, keeping an eye on me and Vicky at the same time. All the motherly instincts I never thought I'd experience, made themselves known to me at that instant. I wanted to protect that baby, to give them a home and safely tuck them in bed, caressing their round belly and revelling in their satisfied purrs. But I had two male cats already upstairs. And knowing cats, I knew it's never easy for them to get along with any new addition be it feline or human. Luckily the building caretaker and his wife appeared at that moment. And to my surprise the kitten happily pranced towards the wife, rubbing against her and joyfully running circles around her. So they have trusted a human, I concluded; happy that the kitten is in fact not alone. ****************************************** It was past 10 pm when my building caretaker called me. He was looking for cat food. I looked at Sheldy who had just now puked out whole the remnants of his dinner on to my bedroom floor. Of course I had cat food; I carried a big tin of wet food downstairs and dropped it in the same container that was under the car. The kitten jumped down and hungrily started eating. In their eagerness they climbed right into the bowl, the front paws inside and continued eating. I had been standing still, but I moved to take a picture. It was a mistake. They let out a loud angry tell as if questioning my audacity for distributing their supper, and retreated back onto the car's hood. I apologised most profusely and moved away from sight. **************************************** It had been two days since then. I wondered why no one asked me for more cat food, why Vicky never growled or chased the invisible kitten from under the cars in parking. "It was trapped in the engine. It refused to come out,no matter how hard we tried. Ultimately the owners drove away, and when they returned it was not inside the car anymore". I was numb. If only I had taken them in. If only I had rubbed their full belly, scratched their ears and decided to revel in their purrs ... I'm an atheist, but if there is someone out there looking out for these tiny souls, I hope they have kept them safe and happy.