“Meow! Meow!” a sad voice chirped from somewhere.
As we hunted for our regular evening rental bikes, the distress call became louder. My husband worked from home so he was ready for his ‘excursion’.
“Meow meow”,
“I’ve been hearing that all day” he commented, as we located our rental bikes on what we dubbed ‘Southeast Asian street’.
“Meow, meow, meow…” I hopped on my bike and turned to confirm my husband was doing the same, but alas there he was stooped over advancing to the base of some stone steps.
My husband continued in a stooped position as he climbed up the entrance of the residential access road in the small village we lived in, situated in a dumpy satellite town of the behemoth that is Guangzhou.
He cupped the little creature in his palms and comforted it like a parent. “Oh…it’ll be OK".
He turned to me and immediately I could see what he intended to ask --- or tell me. “Hon, we can’t leave him here.”
I rolled my eyes since we were already cramped in a single square room, crowded with 2 adult humans, 2 kittens, a wardrobe, a double bed, 2 desks, and a cupboard-cum-dresser….
"But we don't have room,” I uselessly opined -- but I knew the little ‘meower’ would be heading back with us.
“Well we can’t leave him here, can we?” It wasn’t a question but rather the verbal form of the glare he gave.
Of course I succumbed, “OK then”, I mumbled as I parked my bike.
It was a little kitten with a fractured or sprained back leg. He probably fell off or was thrown off from a balcony, who knows? However, he smelled extremely fragrant as if he had just been shampooed, and, except for his leg, he was in perfect condition.
