Taco Comes Home

 

Taco and his mum at Singapore Cartons

That was the first time I met Taco, on 26 February 2022.  On that day, we tried to find the kittens but was unsuccessful.  After a prayer, the mother cat came to call me.  She led me to the kittens!  And that was how the children and me saw the mother cat and the kittens.  

We wanted to bring home the two kittens.  There was an opportune time when I was able to capture them.  They were in the palette.  I caught hold of Taco, the ginger cat.  Then Taco meowed so loudly and fiercely that I released him.  If I did not release him at that moment, I would have brought him home on that day.  

Taco in the carrier bag

The children were sad that we went home on 26 Feb empty handed.  But fortunately on the next day we managed to bring home Taco.  It was so hard to capture the kittens.  They were able to run and hide very well.  Then the company got so many palette and they hide too deep into the palette that's why no one can catch them.  The children had to lure the cats out using food.  

We put Taco in the yellow carrier bag with roller.  But during transportation, the children put the bag on their lab and watched him while in the car.  I was sitting in the front of the car and I was not able to look at how Taco was doing.  

The car owner's sister happens to be a Catholic too.  The reason why we were taking his car was because there was no Grab or Gojek vehicles that were willing to come Gul Crescent on that day.  I kept calling for them but to no avail.  Then my mum and I walked to this colleague of her, she told him that we would pay him and he was so kind to accept the offer.  

I was sitting at the front seat of the car, and that was what I saw. 

I thought we must thank St Anthony and Mother Mary for what we had got for the day.  

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Taco and Mochi

 

 We finally saw the mother cat and her two kittens. Ah Wai uncle said that it was first time the mother cat come to look for people.  We knew that was the power of St Anthony!

   

 Clara and Isaac named the kittens. They decided that the ginger cat be called Taco and the tabby cat be called Mochi. We had name the unisex names to the kittens because we did not know the sex of the kittens.  

We went home on Saturday with no kittens, but we were happy we had progress -- got to know the mother cat and the kittens.  We would want to come back on Sunday to bring home the kitten.  It was arranged that we would go to the company on Sunday 9.30am.  

However, on Sunday, early in the morning, Ah Wai uncle called.  He got covid virus.  He was not able to pick mum up for work.  So my mother did not want to go work on that day.  When I broke the news to the children, Isaac was sad.  He wanted to go back to the company.  So my mum agreed to go.  And we took bus there.  However, it rained when we were taking bus 255 this time.  We had to wait for the bus to get lighter at the bus stop.

We dashed into the company when the rain was lighter.  We quickly went straight to see whether Zhi Hao got managed to capture the two kittens for us a not.  He did not manage to see the kittens.  He said he only see the mother cat in the morning.  When we had reached there, we saw the mother cat.  We brought her food this time, proper cat food.  She ate a lot.  

Soon the kittens came out.  They too was eating the food.  The two kittens appeared, sharing their food on the palette.  We quickly told Zhi Hao to help us.  Zhi Hao quickly came to help us catch the kitten.  

He captured Taco first.  I got hold of him and transfer him to the carrier.  About 5 minutes later, he caught Mochi too.  However, when trying to put him inside the carrier, he escaped.  

After that, we always looked for opportunities to capture Mochi, but in vain.  They were more cautious now and on that day, we left the place with Taco only.  

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Two Kittens

 

                                            Photograph showing the mother cat with 2 kittens

I had an appointment with Project Luni on Sunday to view 2 kittens.  My mother knew about it and told me that I can have the two kittens at Singapore Cartons instead.  So on Saturday, when children have no school, we decided to take a bus to Singapore Cartons.  We took the train to Joo Koon and from there we proceed to the bus interchange to take number 255.  We finally arrived at 36, Gul Crescent.  Ah Wai uncle, wearing in green, was at the gate waving at us so that we knew when to alight the bus.  

After alighting the bus, Ah Wai uncle led us the way into the factory.  There, we began to ask where were the cat and kittens.  My mother told me that the mother cat appeared in the morning.  We arrived at about 1pm.  And at that time, we could not see the cat and the kittens at all.  We walked around the factory, searching for traces of the kittens.  

This was perhaps the third time I came to the factory.  The last time I came to the factory was perhaps in the year 2010.  When I reached the place where my mother was working, I see that it was a little different from 2010.  Ah Wai uncle also had Oscar ready in the container to show us.  We ate our lunch there before we continue to search for the cat and kittens again later.  

We had never seen the mother cat and the kittens before.  We were anxious to meet them for we did not know the size of the kittens.  Mother helped us to ask Zhi Hao.  He said he only saw the mother cat and was not able to catch the kittens for us too.  When another lady walked here, she asked her about the kittens and no one had seen them either.

We walked and walked several times round the company.  Isaac and Clara got mosquitoes bite on their legs.  I put oil for them and then continue the search again.  We were wondering, "Are we able to see them today and bring them home?"  As were were walking at the front view of the company, I told the children, "Let's pray to St Anthony to ask him for help.  Afterall he is the patron saint of Lost and Found."  But Clara said that we did not lost them.  But somehow we cannot locate them and want to find them.  So I asked Clara to search the internet for a prayer to Saint Anthony.  She found one and we started praying the prayer to Saint Anthony.

Then we walked back and sat down at my mother's workplace.  We were tired and looking at our phones.  It was about 10 to 15minutes after we prayed.  I heard a 'meow' sound.  I looked up and looked to my left.  There was a cat!!!!!  It meow again at me.  I was so surprised that the cat come looking for me and it 'talked' to me!  I quickly told the children and we followed the mother cat.  

My mother asked me to give the food to the mother cat.  So I put the food on the floor, while the children followed the mother cat.  She wanted to eat the food but was scared of us.  We stayed away at some distance so that the cat would not be scared of us.  Soon the mother cat came to smell the food and she brought back chicken, intending to give to the kittens.  

After sometime, we saw the kittens!!!  Our prayer was heard!  I told the children that it was so hard to search for the mother cat and kittens because the company was so big.  But when mother cat came to us, it was so easy.  This was all because of the prayer that we had said.  

The kittens were so cute and active -- one ginger and one tabby.  We had a satisfying time at Singapore Cartons that day.  The children fed the cat and kittens so as to gain the trust of the cats.  We did not manage to bring home any kittens on this day, but still we were happy that our prayer was heard and we got to see and fed the cats.  

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