nonem the nameless cat 1

i’m not really fond of cats but they seem to like me. sometimes i find their behavior quite amusing . our cat always takes on strange sleeping positions that make us think he’s dead. i caught him this way lying inside a box of construction materials. it nearly gave me a heart attack!

this cat was given to my family by a neighbor. acc to the story, he came in a box together with other kittens all the way from the bicol region (approx. 10-12 hour bus/train ride to manila). i think this is pretty noble and unusual because a lot of people here don’t really care much for native cats. i’ve seen and heard of kittens brought to vacant lots or open fields and left there to wander. when i was a child, i’d hear about people leaving the cat babies by the railroad!

when this cat arrived at my family’s house, he was so dark with filth my sister thought that was his real color. in the philippines, native cats are usually called by one name — muning. so giving them other names is also unusual. i suppose my family wanted to give him a different name but couldn’t think of one. no name soon became nonem.

pampanga, january 2008