Betrayed

She looked at the garbage bin, wide eyed & hungry. There it was , a torn up brown bag with a leftover sandwich from maybe a week ago. But she really did not care and at once slithered across the dismal and empty road. She hastened quietly, this evening was a lucky evening .

She had gone through two full days without a decent meal. She felt upset with her neighborhood. No friendly occupants around. Always fighting and shouting at one another. But she had taken a liking for the family across the street, the one which stayed inside the old , broken, concrete sewer pipe . They were mostly nice to her. At least, she thought so. Why, just last week, when the old man had returned after what seemed like a good & a busy day , the family had got together and had made a cozy bonfire just outside their sewer pipe. All seven of them- the old man, the old woman, a younger woman , and four children, two little girls and two little boys.

Anyway, so while the family was feasting on their ‘soup du jour’ and a loaf of fresh smelling bread, the old man sneaked a little piece of bread towards her. And how grateful she was just to smell it and in minutes it was all gone, safely parked inside her hungry and growling tummy. That was a good day. But after that evening, she found herself trotting again on the same street looking for some food which might just be sneaked out of the door or the window of a reveling family. Fat chance!

She focused back on that brown bag , which was now blinding her with its bait of that leftover sandwich. How delicious it appeared, peeking from behind that beautiful brown veil. All ready and waiting to be eaten. She nervously scanned the area for any other rival. In her experience, this street wasn’t exactly friendly , except ,of course for that kind old man . Her thoughts took her back to the old man and his family. Most of the times , the old man always seemed to have this one sullen expression on his face. He was always yelling, she could tell this because when he did this, all four children would start crying, the old woman would start talking simultaneously and the young woman would just keep quiet and look in the other direction.

And he would do that quite often , because the children were mostly crying on most days. They had a little cooking stove neatly tucked inside their sewer pipe, a torn fabric or something which during the day was left hanging by the side of the pipe’s round edge but during the night was used as a curtain for one side of the gaping tunnel which gracefully provided them shelter against the winds. How many times , had she secretly wished, if only she could sneak in and just find some cozy place inside that sheltered home. But , well, the family did not seem very open to this idea. She had tried this once with them, but one of the children had got really scared and the young woman pushed her away, literally kicked her out. Her pride was so wounded that day .

After that day , she never dared to get closer to that family’s precious little sewer pipe. But she did enjoy their occasional hospitality every now then, whenever the old man was in a good mood, which seemed pretty rare. Anyway, his kindness at least let her have an occasional piece of bread . When one lives on the street , one really doesn’t care much about pride , just takes everyday as it comes.

Obviously , the old man did feel for her, otherwise why would he choose to give away a part of their scanty meal to her. Yes, he seemed like a good guy after all. If only he could also let her sleep once in a while with the family inside that sewer pipe of theirs…. her mind wandered off again…

Her stomach growled and brought her back to the present . She was just a few steps away from that leftover , abandoned sandwich , that teased her from the inside of the brown bag ,carelessly thrown in the garbage. Her heart pounded as she moved towards it. It was as if she was moving in slow motion . She felt she was smiling , was she really? Sure, it was possible , but then who can tell…. Her mind wandered off again.

She recalled her life in her big house. It just seemed like yesterday. How kind were those people who had brought her home. She was a baby , at least that’s how old she must have been. And those little boys , two of them , they were so nice to her. They never let her go anywhere unaccompanied. Always playing with her. She remembered that beautiful big red plastic ball. How much she liked to roll it, and those cute little boys , how much they cheered when she did that in front of them. Those were some awesome days. Food , care, warmth, ‘Mom’ , ‘Dad’ and the those two adorable little boys. Everything seemed perfect.

But then , something happened, the boys looked bigger after a few months and the bigger they got , the meaner they became. Well, first of all, they never had time for her anymore. They seemed all busy with some nonsensical equipment which they called their ‘play station’. Whenever she went to them with that beautiful red plastic ball to play , they would just ignore her , not even look at her. Well, hello ! What’s wrong with both of you. It’s me…. How much you loved watching me play…remember ? No response , just a blank look with a hint of irritation in their eyes. Alright , maybe they wanted to play with something else more interesting, quite obviously they did appear bigger than before.

She remembered , how heart broken she felt , when those boys did not give her their time anymore. Hurt and ignored , she tried spending more time with ‘Mom’ & ‘Dad’. But they both proved to be very boring people. ‘Mom’ only cooked the entire day , talking with friends on the phone or watching some silly soap opera on television. While ‘Dad’ was always busy with his newspaper , his drinks and his I-pad which he carried around even when he was in the bathroom. She couldn’t believe what was happening to her. Jealous , hurt and abandoned , she became very unpredictable… maybe a little violent. One evening when the family was out , she spoiled the carpet by tearing it from the side. ‘Mom’ was very upset. She did not get her food that night. Mmmmm…food..she snapped back from her reverie , now inches away from her ‘meal of the day’.

Again, back to her old life. The next morning , ‘Mom’ & ‘Dad’ acted aloof. Spoke very little with her and ignored her more than other days. The boys were not around . They had left early with something which they constantly called their ‘new bicycles’. She tried to run after them to catch up with them , but they disappeared after closing the gate behind, snickering at her. ‘Brats!’, she thought, ‘mean brats’ she moved across the big lawn to lie down for sometime on the cozy grass. In the evening , the family seemed distant . There was some discussion going on . ‘Mom’ & ‘Dad’ and those two brats were constantly looking at her from time to time. Saying something which she couldn’t understand. Those were a lot of difficult words.

The next morning , she was surprised to find herself being led towards their fancy car. Super, so now they want to make up for their meanness. Not bad, WooHoo ! A ride around the town like a princess ! well, the family was with her and she was enjoying the ride thoroughly. Eventually , she noticed that they reached an extremely wary looking part of the town which she really did not like. She thought, maybe they are just passing through , when she heard the screeching of car brakes . They had come to a halt. Curiously she lifted her head and to her horror she found herself being shoved on to the dirty sidewalk by the ‘brats’. Before she could register what happened, the door slammed close and the car sped along. She could still hear the cruel laughter of the 'brats' as ‘Mom’ & ‘Dad’ drove away. She was in a shock.

She shuddered and was brought back to reality. This was the same side walk where she had been abandoned few months back. The sandwich was right in front of her. She looked at it greedily. Suddenly out of nowhere, one of the little boys from the family across the street ,rushed past her , picked up the leftover sandwich hungrily and tried to shoo her away.

All her past memories came flooding back. The boy now was the new ’brat’ in her life. She snarled and started clawing him. How dare you… how dare you take my happiness away.. how dare you take away my home, my family, my……….. silence. The little boy was crying. He was hurt. She blinked. Obviously , this is not what she wanted. She tried to console him , but he only got more scared as she came closer.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a swift movement. It was that old man. She was terrified to see the expression on his face. Wait a minute, what was in his hand. She saw a long handled stick resembling a bat. What was he doing….Oh God , he was coming towards her . She panicked and cringed. Her fast reflexes told her to flee. She tried to dodge the old man and take shelter behind the garbage bin. Too late. She saw that bat like equipment fall on her head. She collapsed. She just lay there and watched the old man pick up the little boy and walk away from her. Wait, she wanted to say, but the only thing which muttered out as her last words were , "Meeeeaaaaooww”.