Tale of two Kitties

Butter Scotch, the creamy male cat and Caramel the sophisticated female are two adorable cats that have decided to share their lives with us. Though both are named after ice cream flavours, they are as different as cup ice and kutchi ice. They always play together and entertain us with their acrobatics. While Butter would go completely ballistic during play, Caramel would always be alert and at the slightest noise would take a defensive posture. Butter would continue playing even if the house was on fire!

Caramel is more crafty and would not miss an opportunity to jump on the table and taste the tidbits on the sly. Butter however, would be waiting patiently under the table. When guests visit our house, Caramel instantly disappear from sight, while Butter would be fast asleep in its favourite spreadeagled position unmindful of the guests' disapproving stare.

Last week, when the rains lashed Chennai, Caramel bolted out the moment it sensed water flooding our doorway. Butter scotch at that time was happily lounging on its favourite sofa. While we were frantically trying our best to drain the water out, we completely lost track of time...the water by this time had risen above the door step level. We suddenly realized that Butter scotch had abandoned its pet sofa.

As the rains pounded away, power was shut down and darkness descended adding to the depressing gloom that we felt.  The whole night, neither caramel nor butter was to be seen.While we were sure the street smart Caramel would be somewhere safe, we were worried about the timid Butter scotch. Poor thing must be scared and perhaps scarred too...

As the day dawned, my kids heard a feeble cat noise from outside our window and alerted me. All of us rushed outside. Wading through almost knee length dirty water, we reached the parking lot. The cries became louder and we found it is coming out from under a car. We identified the particular car from where the meows are coming and crowded around it.

Recognizing our calls, the mews became frantic..we could sense it must be Butter scotch crying out for help. We could only hear the noise, but could not visually locate it..with the water up to the tyre rims, we could not bend any further to see where it is hiding. Our frantic efforts to reach our pet and the cat's cries woke up our neigbhours who watched through half open windows. Someone suggested that if we start the car, it would jump out, but we were scared that it may affect the cat. We were even more scared to disturb the owner of the car ..

I squeezed into the narrow space between the cars, while Sam wriggled his way on to the other side. With Leela and Rachel watching us worriedly, we crouched on either side of the bonnet and I started calling out its name and tapped on the sides. Butter responded and we could sense it moving around somewhere inside the greasy underbelly of the automobile.

For several minutes, we tried calling out ...we could understand that it is struggling to get out . The two of us got up from our crouching position to just give our aching limbs a rest. Suddenly, Sam shouted "Appa look down!"

The terrified male cat had jumped down from under the car into the water.  It was looking at me with its head barely above water. I scooped Butter Scotch from the stagnant water in one swift action and transferred it to the comforting hugs of Leela and Rachel.

The clean white cat was completely drenched and covered in grime and grease. Only its whiskers remained white! The next few hours our entire family fussed around Butter and he was treated to its extra helping of ..well butter chicken!

The whole night, Butter scotch stayed indoors, all the time pining for Caramel....

Next day morning, as I opened the door to fetch milk for the day...I was greeted with a warm meow. It was Caramel! fresh as the day and not even its paws were wet! Butter jumped in joy and rushed to meet her, who gave one chiding look at him for being so careless and getting so wet and scared. As Butter continued running in circles around Caramel that seemed to enjoy all the attention from his feline counterpart.., my wife gave me a knowing smile...it seemed to say, "we females are always smarter".

I agree, meow, meow...