Opa Johan’s Baby Kitten

“It’s a baby kitten, that couldn’t hardly crawl.” Opa (grandpa) Johan told his wife. “It crawled on the pavement seeking after its mother but was lost. Instead, it wanted to follow me and it fell through a narrow opening of a sewer cover.

“I’ve never felt sorry, you know? But this time I was feeling bad. Why did I leave her alone on the side-walk? I hardly could stand her piteous crying for help.

“How could I rescue her as only my hand could come in through the narrow opening? If only its crying could be heard here and there but she is not seen. Unable to lift, to shift the heavy sewer’s concrete cover, I went home, waked up Boy and returned taking an umbrella and a rope but Boy wasn’t coming.

“’Pak, ada anak kucing kecemplung di got.’ there’s a little kitten trapped in the sewer, I said to a vagrant, passing by, asking for help. ‘Biarin aja.’ Let it be. He said indifferently.

“I gladly would give him or someone Rp 10 thousand if he could free the baby kitten. But who? Where was the young man who always cleaned up our garbage and readily would help us? I tried to fish her with my rope, my umbrella, hoping she would clutch it, but in vain, not knowing where about to “fish” as only her voice was heard anywhere around.

“Well, I’m not superstitious. I don’t believe in wonders and miracles. There was no hope whatever she could be saved. Then, unexpectedly came Boy and Heru, Rocky’s driver, passed at the same time. They eagerly helped and successfully raised and opened the heavy cover.

“Do you remember the disaster, accident with the nuclear sub marine Kursk of Russia? I imagined the people on land couldn’t eat or sleep, or work when they think of the threatening fate of the entire crew of dying slowly. So would I feel if my baby kitten couldn’t be rescued, wretched!

“When people succeeded to open the entrance of the ship, all were dead. Slowly drowned dead. When the sewer cover was lifted, my baby kitten luckily, is still alive and saved, despite the cold, wetness, fear during more than an hour.

“Certainly, your husband is the happiest man in the world. Aren’t you proud of him? Ha, ha, ha.” He said to his wife.

March 2001

February 2011