"Life is a conundrum of esoterica" is a phrase I heard from "A Series of Unfortunate Events". In life, there are many things that we are going to see that we've never heard before.
Another quote that I like from the movie is: "At times the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but
believe us when we say that there is much more good in it than bad. All
you have to do is look hard enough. And what might seem to be a series
of unfortunate events may, in fact, be the first steps of a journey."
After closing 2016 with Bell's Palsy, I stayed a little longer in a highland, in a small town called Salatiga to recover. I visited my old campus and got to count new things around the buildings before the walk felt too lonely. The campus was still on break it was almost empty, but the winds that created a scene of raining leaves along the way felt pretty grand.
During my extended stay, I also learned how to differentiate a male turtledoves from the females. Won't tell more about it though. Just bragging. ;p I might forget about it soon too.
Oh, and I like houses that have rooftops or climb-able roofs, especially if the view is worth it.
The story I was about to tell you was on January 3rd. It was my Oma (Granny)'s birthday, and I was happy to get to celebrate it with the others.
That's right, 78 is she. The whole family squad was there except for my parents, my brother, an uncle's waifu, and a cousin.
After dinner, my cousin and I heard a cry of a kitty and it seemed something was wrong, so we spent hours to find it. The kitty was apparently trapped after fell into a 3-meter water pipe inside a pillar from the roof. So we opened the gutter and fish-baited it with food. Then our maid, unfortunately, pulled it out by force. It was clawing its way out and the maid dropped, almost slammed, it right into the gutter.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have only two ways of rescuing wounded wild cats. One is the long and safer way, you leave it with foods and let it be for the sake of good first impression. Two is the quickest and painful way, you grab it by the body to later calm it down, and of course you'll get scratched here and there. The most important thing for number two is that you have to be ready, because the rule that follows this step is to never drop or slam it to the ground after you touch it. Don't be like our maid who tried to be helpful, but then she just screamed when the kitty pricked its claws and teeth to my hand when I rescued it barehanded. I don't mind the scars or the dirt though, really. I only mind the smell of the gutter which was very hard to wash.
The next step is to get it to trust you. You have to hang around it until it gets used to you. You know it does when it lets you stroke its head and then you can help cleaning the dirt off with clothes or tissues. Luckily for cats, they can clean themselves, so you can help a little and leave the rest of the cleaning to them.
Once it trusted you, it can love you back. The little scars are only a small price for the wonderful feeling of this kind of bond. The wild little creature now trusted you and wanted to cuddle and play!
We gave her milk and my uncle dotted its head with marker for recognition purpose(?) For kitten, however, the best care still lies with the mother, so we wrapped her with a cloth in a see-through container to reduce the cold wind and mosquito bites before we put her on the garden for the mother to come pick her up. She was gone by the morning. I think I heard the mother meowing out of joy at some point in the night. Here is the last image we saw of her. A burrito of fluffy-roll.
Life is a conundrum of esoterica. The kitten might felt as she was being unfortunate with her fell, trapped and met some humans. To think the human way, it is fair to say that now the kitten has experienced and seen way more than her siblings her age. Maybe she can use the courage and knowledge in the future. The same goes with us people. What we thought as a series of unfortunate events may just be the first steps to prepare us for great things ahead.
On the way to the airport, I think to myself why I should go back to that wretched place, but I reminded myself that there must be more to it. There must be a reason, a bigger purpose, if I bear with it a little longer. With that in mind, I decided to face it and see how things turn out later.
On the highway, I looked at my nails. The paints were exfoliated a little. You may think of me as weird, I don't mind, but this is where I think they are getting beautiful. Because this nails grabbed into a gutter to save a life. Because being pretty doesn't hold them back to do hard works. Because pretty things without scars are just for display. Because being strong and full of scars yet still functioning for good purposes is how I define beautiful.
