It was a dark and stormy night. I woke up suddenly hearing a noise in the kitchen. A male feral cat had come inside the kitchen and was fighting fiercely with our female cat that was staying with her three kittens.

My husband kicked the kitchen door open and chased the male cat. Frightened, the male cat ran towards my husband. He gave a fierce kick that sent the male cat going across the kitchen. It hit on a container and fell down. It ran towards the front room.

Our daughter was sound asleep on the cot. I got up quickly to open the front door. I didn't want the wild male cat to harm my daughter. I opened the front door. The male cat fled through the open door.

Our female cat was trembling with fear. The three little kittens were found shivering and hiding behind the buckets of water in the bathroom.

Outside it was pouring down rain! I was so shaken I could not sleep. I sat near my daughter for more than an hour praying and thanking God that we were safe and the feral cat was gone from our home.

© 2007 Kalai Selvi Arivalagan. Original for CCF  (Selvi Arivalagan grants CCF  first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).