A wet, hungry cat I met

It was raining when I went out for lunch. Along the way, I passed by this famous temple in Singapore, and as I walked along the walkway where the shops are, I passed by a thin, tail-less black tuxedo cat taking shelter from the rain and scavenging for scraps of food on the floor. The poor cat was wet and obviously very, very hungry.

I paused for a few seconds and decided to turn back to look at the cat, who was at the wrong place at the wrong (crowded) time. Before you know it, I saw the store owner shoo-ing the cat away. The poor cat ran to hide in the wet bushes, exposed to the rain.

I was chiding myself for not having brought along the dry cat food with me, when I suddenly remembered I have a tiny bottle of low-fat Science Diet in my bag. I rattled the bottle to catch the wary cat's attention, tore out a couple of pages from my notebook and laid out the cat food in the bush for the hungry cat (when no one was looking). Being hungry, the cat ate up whatever was laid on that paper.

It's a bit sad and ironic that although we were right in front of the temple where the Goddess of Mercy resides, the folks outside had forgotten to show some mercy and compassion to the helpless, hungry animals. I hope that the few cat biscuits I had could at least fill the cat's stomach for that moment. My regret was that I didn't have more cat food with me then to give the cat a decent meal.