Art
Of cats and coyotes—a short story of chaos
‘An unusual mood engulfed the city. In the midday, the sun hid behind the clouds and darkness fell over. The mother cat tried hard to save her kittens but she could do nothing.’
Chased through the deserted city, the kitten was utilizing every joule remaining in his body to save his brother.
Ruins, the city which has become the graveyard of living dead, everyone living there was being watched continuously. Every house, every lane had one thing in common — the presence of coyotes.
Their presence in the city remained from a long time. However, in recent times, they were stationed on every nook and corner. Being predators to small animals, the city was losing majority of the blooms. The main target of predators were the kittens.
Fearing an uprisal, the predators wanted to create as much fear as possible among the small animals.
In the city, the silence maintained by the inhabitants was more terrifying to the coyotes. Puzzled and agitated, they knew that the silence was more lethal than any reaction to them.
One thing was clear, no matter how much they tried, the inhabitants were never afraid of the coyotes.
To create a sense of fear, the predators followed many tactics – some of their own, some borrowed from others. These included keeping an eye on every inhabitant, entering living places, unusual hunts, multiplying the bands, outnumbering the inhabitants. However, hunting down innocent kittens remained their favorite one.
[FPK Photo/Amir Bin Rafi.]
On a normal day, the nature was following its course. Juvenile birds were chirping, while their mothers were looking for food. Kittens were playing in groups, mothers grooming themselves and their offspring.
It was a serene day in a pugnacious place. What was unusual was the presence of a band of coyotes in this jovial mood. Making their presence noticeable they started abusing the kittens. This was the routine of predators, without any reason troubling the inhabitants.
Puzzled by the happenings, the natural instinct of cats came into play. Kittens ran and hid behind their mothers. Instead of showing a defensive body language, the mother cats turned their ears back, lowered the body and tail, and started hissing at the coyotes aggressively.
Unexpected to coyotes, the situation became tense. Birds stopped chirping and started watching keenly.
[FPK Photo/Amir Bin Rafi.]
Although the presence of birds always remained problematic for the coyotes, as they act like messengers, the free-flying beings would uncover all the wrongdoing of coyotes.
Predicting the need of the situation, all cats came together. Gauging the chaos around, coyotes got terrified by the aggressiveness of cats. Barking at the cats, they fled the spot.
Two kittens hidden behind their mother, laughed at the coyotes. Unaware of the consequences, little they know this act of innocence would be the last happy moment of their family.
Being a witness to such situations and knowing the results, their mother sent them to a neighboring village. Making fun and standing upfront against the brutality would fetch you only one result, either you get killed or you become disappeared.
[FPK Photo/Amir Bin Rafi.]
Taking over the daylight, nights usually were cold and dreadful. Everyone closed the windows and curtained them. A small knock or sound would make everyone conscious.
However, in the lull of night, the city reverberated with the howling of coyotes. Bands of coyotes cordoned the city and marched towards it. They were led by the terrified band of daytime. Aware of what was going to happen, mothers started hiding their kittens in different rooms.
As they approached the targeted house, the silence became eerie and awful. It was so much intense that the sound of subtle wind was audible. Abusively scratching at the door, the coyotes abused the mother cat wholeheartedly.
After opening the door, they barged in and searched for her two kittens. Every single place of the house was thoroughly foraged. After finding no whereabouts of the two kittens, they ravaged each and every item of the house.
[FPK Photo/Amir Bin Rafi.]
Witnessing this act of terror, the mother cat fainted and fell unconsciously. After opening her eyes, to her surprise, she was accompanied by her two kittens who had returned after a long day.
Seeing them, the motherly emotion erupted like lava seeping from an old bustling volcano. She caressed both of them, and the duo felt the warmth of sacred love. The love that was about to witness the wrath of hatred.
[FPK Photo/Amir Bin Rafi.]
After few days, getting the smell of their return, coyotes blitzed their house again. This time, the move was so untimely and unexpected that they grabbed both the kittens.
An unusual mood engulfed the city. In the mid-day, the sun hid behind the clouds and darkness fell over. The mother cat tried hard to save her kittens but she could do nothing.
Again, she was lying unconsciously on the ground like a withered leaf. After remaining there for a long time, she opened her eyes, expecting the duo around her.
But this time she was surrounded by her neighbors. Amid crying and sobs, she kept looking for them. Aware of the fact that coyotes are territorial in nature, they mark their territory with scent but, this time it was marked by blood.
This time, she cried again, not for the living but for the dead corpses to be returned.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
