Second Installment: The Runt of the Litter

In every litter of puppies or kittens there is always a runt. The runt is typically smaller than their brothers and sisters making them less desirable to the people who are adopting the puppies or kittens. Oftentimes the runt does not end up getting adopted because they are so undesirable, which is something that is so sad to think about. How if one puppy or one kitten is smaller than all the others does it make them so unwanted by people who are wanting new little joys in their life?

When we first moved to Dubai we had taken our cat Dudley, who was thirteen years old. Dudley was an alley cat that my parents had found when they were living in Saudi Arabia. Dudley was old and had been not feeling well and we ended up having to put him to sleep right after we had settled into our house in Dubai. Dudley and I had spent 9 years living together under the same roof, and he was the only pet I had ever known. This was so hard saying goodbye to pet who had lived in my house before me.

One day we were driving home from school and I was looking through the classified section of our local newspaper in Dubai, that was printed in English thankfully. I stumbled across an advertisement for Siamese kittens. Of course the first thing that I did was read the ad to my mom and try and convince her that we were finally ready for another cat. She listened carefully but never really gave any clear indication as to whether or not she was interested. My brother and me thought we were the masters of convincing at the time but she had never really said yes.

One week later my mom was picking my brother and I up from school. I walked out of the middle school building with my backpack to see my mom was surrounded by a crowd of all my friends and their moms. I thought maybe one of the moms had brought cookies or treats for us because they sometimes did that. I weaved through the crowd to find my mom holding a pink basket and inside that pink basket was a tiny little Siamese kitten. Never in a million years did I think that I was actually going to get the little kitten that I had asked my mom about a week ago. He was so tiny and fluffy with the brightest blue eyes. My mom told my brother and me that he was the last one and she ended up only paying one hundred dirhams, which is the currency in Dubai, for him because he was the runt of the litter.

This little brown and blue eyed cat who you see above is Hershey. He was in fact the runt of his litter and was so unwanted that he was cheaper than all his brothers and sisters. Even the breeder that he came from thought that he was undesirable. He was the prickliest, most stubborn kitten I have ever met and he was so small that he fit in the palm of your hand. Hershey was the first kitten we had ever gotten so bringing this tiny little thing into our big house was extremely overwhelming at first. We had to make sure we knew where he was at all times. He was so tiny that he could fit underneath our oven and we would often find him there after my mom had been cooking because it was so warm.

Hershey was the most spoiled runt of the litter kitten there was. Siamese kittens are typically born with white fur and dark brown ears and paws. Their paws look like they are wearing booties. Siamese kittens also have ice blue eyes. The breeder that Hershey came from knew he was the runt of the little because he was so much smaller than all his brothers and sisters. Being born as the runt of the litter automatically made Hershey less desirable to other people who were wanting to adopt Siamese kittens. He watched as his brothers and sisters all were adopted by different families in the Dubai area. He watched them leave home as he stayed behind with his mother wondering why he had not yet been adopted.

Hershey showed his gratitude for being adopted through his purring. He has one of the loudest purrs I have ever heard. This tiny little kitten made a lot of noise to show he was happy. The best feeling was cuddling this little warm kitten who was so grateful to be in a new home with a new family.

Something that I always like to include when I tell this story is that the whole thing was a surprise not only to me and my brother, but also to my dad. My mom did not tell anyone besides her two best friends that she was surprising us with a kitten. My dad was out of the UAE on a business trip when she drove into the middle of nowhere in Dubai to pick up this little surprise.

Hershey is now thirteen years old and is the ring leader of all of the Owen family pets. He still has those sweet big blue eyes and is the most talkative cat I have ever met.

Author's Note: The story that I drew inspiration from was The King's White Elephant from The Jatakas Tales of India by Ellen C. Babbitt. This story was about an injured adult elephant who was helped by locals. The elephant in the story had injured his foot. The locals helped the elephant be able to walk again and to repay the local people the elephant would help them when work came along. He would carry their logs and would assist them with the heavy lifting and carrying. The workers would feed the elephant in return for his help. The elephant had a beautiful son who he took to the forest where he helped the workers. The white elephant helped the workers as his father had taught him too and the workers fed him well. The white elephant would play with the children after he finished his work. One day the king had come down and seen the beautiful white elephant. The king wanted the elephant at once and paid the carpenters a good amount for the elephant. The king treated the elephant to a great life and took care of him as long as he lived. This story inspired me to write about my runt of the litter kitten Hershey. My mom was similar to the king in this situation and was the person who gave Hershey a great life. I think that my story was a little bit different from The King's White Elephant. I liked this story a lot and really drew inspiration for my own story after reading it. Animal stories really resonate with me so I was excited to switch it up and write about one of my cats for once.