a furry friend

It’s August 4th. And I so desperately wanted NOT to miss my first of the month deadline. And I don’t want to leave it un-done until next month. And I don’t want to admit that my work entirely rules my life. And so: as an act of rebellion, I am hereby writing a few short lines….

Not enough time to write about the field….not enough time to write about what I do to stay sane, my efforts to have a little fun and my poor excuse for something resembling a social life…Aha. I shall write about my cat.

Meet Toby. He’s really cute. I fell for him.

He came to us all alone, and all little, with an empty belly, a sorrowful cry, an infected eye and a whole herd of small black creatures under his fur.

I found a veterinary supply shop in Juba
which provided me with a flea/mite/tick/
lice treatment solution good for bovine,
equine, sheep, camels, poultry and dogs.
Thankfully, it also seems to work for cats.

Today he is de-flead, has pus-free eyes, and a plump well-fed belly.

Toby sleeping in his self-claimed
bed among the dirty laundry.

I thought it might be therapeutic to have a cat: someone to come home to, a baby to remind us of the simple things in life, a creature to cuddle. It turns out he’s an incredible nuisance with very sharp claws and piercing teeth, a perpetual cry for attention, a habit of peeing in only two places – his litter box (good), or the couch (bad), and an inability to judge space and his ability climb or leap onto objects, resulting in frequent smacks on the concrete floor.

Toby and I bonding over late-night work.

But he’s very cute. And so we forgive him for all these flaws. And when he finally falls asleep in your lap at the end of the day, it is very nice, after all, to have a small furry creature to love.