Adopting a Pusakal (Or the other way around)

Last summer after spending almost two months in UP (technically in UP Hotel, I hate getting out) I went home in Dipolog and asked my cousin to get me a kitten to adopt. She said our neighbor's cat just gave birth and her human said the kittens were available for adoption.

“What color is this kitten?” I asked her. She said white and orange.

“Like Garfield?” I replied. She nodded.

When the kitten came it was not the color that I expected. Not Garfield at all, but the most common pusang kalye you see running across the street after getting driven out of a household. I have to admit I was quite disappointed but I dismissed the feeling since I believe racial discrimination must not apply to anyone, even cats. My aunts told me to replace it with another one. I decided not to. This kitten would do.

At that time I had no idea how to deal with a kitten. I just took out a rag, placed the kitten over it and, yes, took pictures. My cousin told me the kitten is a boy and I believed her so I named “him” Albus Albrecht Perseus Janus. That is, after the headmaster of Hogwarts, a painter, a Greek hero and a two-faced god. In short, Albie. Later I learned that Albie is a girl when a boardmate pointed it out but it was too late to change her name. She got used to it already. The last thing I'd want is a confused pet. Anyway, girls with boyish names is the fad. (Yes, I'm referring to you George.)

I was ready to take him to Iligan where I live. So I bought a box for chickens, placed Albie inside and told her,” For the rest of the trip, just imagine you're Schrodinger's cat.” She liked it. (This one is a descendant of Thomas Gray, the cat who went to Cambridge.) The bus conductor initially detested placing the box next to my seat. He said I should put it under the bus together with the cargo. But when I gave him the look that said, “ Are you crazy? You want my kitten to suffocate from inhaling carbon monoxide due to incomplete combustion of your hydrocarbon fuel?” he agreed.

In the bus, passengers cannot help but throw a quizzical look at me and the kitten in my lap. (During most of the trip I got her out of the box, it's just humane) One passenger marveled at how cute she is and said, “Ay ka-cute sa iring. Malnourished.” She said this as if malnourished is a synonym for cute then went on to stroke the cat. Still one passenger, the one sitting beside me repeatedly pointed out that Albie is a pusakal. She said pusakal a couple of times I thought she meant Albie, the pusakal of pusakals. To prevent casualties I just smiled as if saying, “Keep your opinions to yourself humans. This cat might be more intelligent than you.”

After 8 hours of travel, mostly of which the beast in my lap was asleep, we finally arrived in Iligan. While heading home with the box so proud that after thinking about it for days, I finally found a cat to adopt 8 hours away, I was welcomed by a group of feline friends available for adoption. It seems that the neighborhood has plenty of kittens to give away.

Geez, I haven't thought of that.