By Manoshi de Silva Kitty was loved by all at home. He was given the nicest food to eat, a cosy little bed to sleep on and toys to play with. Even though he had all this, he had a bad habit! It all started one day when he went in to the kitchen and [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Kitty’s Bad Habit

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By Manoshi de Silva

Kitty was loved by all at home.
He was given the nicest food to eat, a cosy little bed to sleep on and toys to play with.
Even though he had all this, he had a bad habit! It all started one day when he went in to the kitchen and no one was around. There was a nice smell coming from the table. Just out of curiosity, to see what it was, Kitty jumped on to the top of the table.
On the table was a dish of fried fish and it smelled so good. Too good to resist! Kitty was so tempted.

He was not hungry at all; but the smell was just too much to handle. So he slowly pulled out a piece and ate it… and then another. Soon he heard someone coming. So he quickly jumped off the table. The dish got knocked and fell on to the ground. Kitty ran away and hid.

No one suspected that Kitty had anything to do with what happened.
After all Kitty was well fed! He had no reason to eat on the sly. The pieces of fish that fell on to the ground too were given to Kitty. “This is too good to be true,” he thought happily munching away.

It felt like the food people prepared for themselves tasted even better than the food given to him. They seemed to have more flavour. Kitty licked his paws and face in satisfaction. Then this became a habit. And a very bad one too! Kitty always looked around and when there was no one around, he slowly went into the kitchen. Then he slowly ate whatever was there and carefully walked off. No one knew about this and Kitty thought he was being very clever.

Then Kitty decided to take this bad habit a step further. So he slowly went into the house next door. It was easy jumping through the window and reaching their table. The table was ready for lunch. Rice and vegetables dishes were laid on the table. Those didn’t interest Kitty but the dish of fish did.

Kitty filled his stomach and ran off just in time as he heard someone approaching. The person saw the spilled gravy and knew a cat had crept in. She only saw the tip of Kitty’s tail as he jumped out the window. So Kitty was safe!

This bad habit then extended to other houses as well. Kitty’s favourite was about three houses away from his place. That house always had yummy food on their table. There was always something nice to eat there. But there was a catch! This house had two huge dogs. They usually slept on the front porch. So Kitty was safe creeping through the back window.
Kitty didn’t see this as a big challenge.
Kitty was almost always tempted to go visit the house with the two huge dogs. It was the most risky house to visit but also the best. Kitty was never disappointed after visiting there. So he always peeped from under the gate to check and make sure that the two dogs were sleeping near the front door and then slowly made his way from the back. “Idiots!” he thought seeing the two dogs sleeping like logs. “They wouldn’t know it even if I stole their tails!”

One day after a heavy breakfast from home and a nice nap, Kitty felt tempted to visit his favourite house; the one with the two huge dogs. “I wonder what they have today?” he thought.

He was not the least bit hungry though. His bad habit had now become an addiction and he was just tempted.
Kitty peeped from under the gate to check whether it was safe to enter. Yes, the two dogs were lying in the front, snoring loud like they always did.

Kitty slowly jumped in from the back window. There was something on the table. The aroma was very tempting and inviting. Kitty jumped on to the table but before he could even see what it was, he saw four angry eyes staring at him. The two huge dogs were near the table.

The dogs started to bark like mad. They started running around the table growling fiercely. There was no escape. Then someone came in hearing the dogs. There was only one thing for Kitty to do; jump off the table and run off as fast as he could, hoping he wouldn’t get caught and chewed up by the dogs. If he got caught, that would be the end of it! This was too much of a risk but there was no other choice.

Luckily for Kitty, the person who came in, held the dogs by their collars and chased him off. Kitty ran for his dear life. One dog managed to get rid of the grip and jumped towards the window. He only got to bite the tip of Kitty’s tail. Kitty ran straight home. He started panting and stared at his wounded tail. He felt ashamed for the first time in his life. This was not a risk worth taking!
Kitty sighed. It was not like he got no food to eat or that he was a stray.

It was not fair to do what he was doing, given he was looked after well. He also realized that his greed put him in a very dangerous situation! Bad habits are hard to break. But sometimes you just got to stop it somehow. And that’s just what Kitty promised himself that he would do!

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