The Brand That Didn't Make It

Daddy and I went away for the weekend without the boys. We sent the troops to stay at my parents house, who were only too happy to have their grandsons be with them from Friday up until Sunday.

With the 2-legged kittens off to their weekend babysitters, we almost forgot to make arrangements for the 4-legged kittens. Luckily, this was a regular weekend, i.e. a non-school holiday, non-festive season weekend, so the animal hospital accepted a walk-in boarding request.

As we were slightly short of time (we had to leave for our holiday by 10:30am) and the animal hospital only opens at 10am, Daddy and I figured best to divide and conquer. I took Adik, my auntie and our maid to Atok's house while Daddy took Abang, Harun and Thomas to the animal hospital - or as Abang calls it, The Cat Hotel.

I waited for Daddy and Abang to arrive at Atok's house while our maid and my auntie unpacked all the food they brought over. They practically emptied our fridge! (Should have seen the look on Atok's face when he saw all the raw/ semi-cooked/ cooked food being piled into his kitchen. I think his words were, "Eh if there are any leftovers you better bring back home.")

When Daddy and Abang pulled up, Abang excitedly told me about their trip to the animal hospital.

"We send Harun and Thomas to the Cat Hotel already Mummy. Then I saw a black kitten there also. Can we bring it home, Mummy, please?"

I was like, uh-huh yeah sure whatever, not at all expecting this to be a serious request until I saw Daddy nodding away to Abang's request.

"Ha? Really ah? You want another cat?" The question was directed at both of them.

"Yaaaaa...." they replied almost in unison.

Aiya.

"Mummy why don't you go and see it nanti? It's very cute you know. I want to call it Brand."

"Brand? What kind of name is Brand?"

Abang mumbled something about why it's a brand blah blah blah but I didn't hear it. I was more concerned about adding another cat to our 'stable' especially since our maid isn't going to continue working with us after her contract ends in September.

When Daddy and I got back on Sunday, again, we divided and conquered so he went for his dental appointment by himself while I took the troops home. Then Abang and I went to the animal hospital to fetch Harun and Thomas who, by the way, were so merajuk at being sent to the animal hospital that they spent their entire day at the neighbour's garage and didn't even come back for meals!

Abang excitedly took me to see Brand but ..... the cage was empty. The sign "We Are Up For Adoption" was still there but no cute black kitten anywhere in sight. We checked with the staff and they said, yes, she got adopted just the day before.

I explained to Abang about Brand being adopted by a nice family to stay with and he seemed to understand. Maybe another time, Abang, like when you are old enough to help with looking after another Brand.