A Midnight Story

Midnight, I woke up in a pool of sweat. The generator was switched off leaving the pedestal fan lifeless once again. With the buzz of the generator gone, I could now hear a feeble sound. Is it a bird? At this time of night. No, it sounded more like a squirrel, or a mouse perhaps? I powered on my phone torch and opened the door to investigate the strange noise.

The noise was coming from the high wall right behind my room. The torch light beam caught the razor sharp barbed wire running on top of the wall. Then I saw it. At first, I was convinced it is a squirrel caught in the barbed wire trying to wriggle, then when I took a closer look, it was the bright yellow eyes of a cat, a kitten actually. In the darkness of the night, I could only make out its silhouette as it was completely black in colour. The tiny black creature was obviously very weak from struggling to get out of the trap on the 7 foot high brick wall. When I shined the torch closely, I could see that its right front paw was caught in the barb and it was crying out for help.

I tried getting my hands high up so that I could release the poor kitten from its agony. But my fingers barely scraped the top most brick. I then ran to the security guard’s tent in the compound and decided to wake up Deng Garang the security guard on duty that night.

Through the mosquito net, I could make out that Garang is snoring away and did not want to be disturbed. I shouted out his name and gently nudged his cot. Eventually, he woke up startled. When he saw me, he rose up from the bed, I backed up two steps to allow his full 6 foot 4 frame unfold from the bed. Garang stood up ,towering above me and asked what the matter is. When I told him of the kitten in distress, he started laughing. It was too trivial for him to be woken up from sleep. Perhaps he was expecting a much larger and perhaps dangerous intruder that would match his stature. Still laughing he grabbed his torch and put on his shirt and started to walk with me.

We walked up to the rear compound wall. I pointed to him the tiny black kitten still waiting there unable to move. I said, “I could not reach the height and free him”. Garang looked at me bemused, then in one swift move grabbed the kitten and pulled it out of the barb wire. The kitten gave a shriek, bit its rescuer (ouch!) and disappeared into the midnight. Shaking his fingers to fight off the pain from the bite, Garang silently marched off to his night watch.

I thanked him but he had already retired into his tent. I walked back to my room satisfied that I was able to rescue a tiny creature that night. I fiddled with the solar inverter and managed to switch on the fan. I must have dozed off immediately, because it was 8am in the morning when I woke up hearing the sound of the helpers and the cook announcing their arrival. I had to catch the 10 am charter to fly down to Aweil that day so I got ready, had my breakfast hurriedly and was whisked away promptly by 9 am to the airport. I had forgotten all about my little friend that I had rescued that night.

After almost a month later I was having my lunch in the dining area when I heard a familiar meow. At first, I thought I’m just dreaming because I could not find out the source. Then the meows got louder and I could see a tiny black kitten slowly making its way in my direction. I could see it very clearly now in daylight. The kitten is very skinny, the black fur all matted and dirty. But I could notice that it was not limping, it was moving slowly but on all four feet. So the kitten is alright after all!

Obviously it was very hungry and could sense that it’s lunch time. I looked at my plate, half-finished chapathi and beans. Not something a cat would relish. Still, I tore tiny bits of chapathi placed it on the aluminum foil that the chapathi was packed and went near it to offer. The kitten ran away! I left my offering on the ground and backed away sensing that it is still too terrified to venture near humans. Then I watched it emerge from the shadows from under the belly of the land cruiser where it had sought refuge. Very cautiously it moved near the food and grabbed one tiny piece and then again ran into the shadows. 

That night before retiring to bed, I got a small plastic bowl and poured some milk from the fridge and kept it under the car in the hope the kitten may fancy a night cap. Next day morning, I could see the bowl was empty. So our midnight feline had indeed been busy. I decided to call it Midnight - an apt name on many counts and also gender neutral. Anyway, at a later stage, if the cat complained to have a more gender specific name or had some objection to the subtle reference to a particular colour, I could promptly change it. It may not matter much. For cats, as a rule never respond to names! 

That afternoon, I was better prepared. I got some beef fry from the church canteen just across the road and was waiting for Midnight to show up. Promptly it came as soon as I opened the packet. This time it was patiently waiting under the car and watching me prepare the food. I had to cut the meat into tiny pieces because I figured out that since the frail kitten struggled to bite the soft chapathi the previous day, biting big chunks of hard meat may be too much of a task for it.

I placed some bits on the foil and left it under the car. It had moved away on seeing me but after I went back to my seat, it was already eating. I waited for Midnight to finish eating all the pieces. It will bite one piece retreat few paces back and then walk back to finish the other pieces.

So it became a ritual every afternoon. I had to change my diet completely to accommodate Midnight’s hunger pangs. I started to get huge fillets of fish – Tilapia or Nile perch. Midnight relished fish more than the meat. After eating it will spend the next one hour wiping its mouth and cleaning its paws. But the moment I tried to go near it, it will run away. So I decided to wait every day for Midnight to make the first move. It will approach me gently making kitten noises, make eye contact with me and wait for me to feed it. I could sense that with every passing day, it got a bit bolder and would start following me whenever I moved out from my office. When I get closer to it, it will move few steps back but never run away. 

My fancy for this scrawny creature soon became a topic for all the housekeeping staff and drivers. They would ask me “Prince where is your cat today?” and I will say, it will show up by lunch time and promptly it would appear as if on cue. Whenever, Midnight is enjoying a siesta under the car or cleaning its coat, I would go near and talk to it in Tamil. I would recite Bharatiyar's famous cat poem in chaste Tamil or sometimes chide it for not drinking enough milk or not taking care of its fur or playing in the puddle of rain water. Midnight would listen intently with head cocked to one side and ears fully up. Sometimes, it will respond with a series of meows. Maybe it is simply saying "thank you" or it is reminding me that there are more mouths to feed in this Country than just one single kitten.

  

I will surely miss Midnight as I prepare to leave this organization and perhaps move to another mission somewhere in South Sudan or elsewhere. In the meantime, friends if you happen to visit South Sudan and find a kitten that understands Tamil, it must surely be Midnight!