OBITUARY

Tuxy Jetta Zones
1 May 2005 - 26 Sept.2006

It took me 3 days to ponder whether I should actually jot down this very sad episode in my life. I don't feel like grieving anymore however I felt as if I'd betray Tuxy by excluding her untimely demise from the fold of my memory.

3 days ago, we had our iftar in tears. In fact I couldn't remember if I ate at all, with everyone at dinner table sobbing, blowing noses and trying our best to contain the sorrow. I even saw Imran wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his t-shirt, shaking in tears.

The drama started at 6.30pm when papa returned from the nearby shop.
papa: Where is Tuxy??
mama: I've not seen her today!
papa: I saw a dead cat by the curb of the roundabout, looking exactly like Tuxy.

I've just finished taking my bath, wrapped my wet hair in a towel and rushed downstairs.
I searched for Tuxy all over the house, garden, front yard.
The maid said Tuxy did not turn up for breakfast this morning.
I was beginning to be frantic and started calling out her name..

At about the same time, Dilla arrived from work at the gate and I asked her to drive me to the curb to check on the dead cat.
I was in pyjama pants, loose t-shirt, hair bundled in a towel and wearing the maid's garden slippers.
The moment I saw the still body, I knew it was Tuxy!!
I turned to Dilla and she confirmed my worst fear by just seeing the tears already welling in her eyes.

Tuxy must have been hit by a vehicle while foraying just about 50 meters from the house.

Tuxy came to our lives by a split second sheer coincidence about 16 months ago.
We were at my mother's house in Kuala Pilah when Imran saw this very pitiful Siamese cat, body covered with fungus, belly bloated with worms infestation and suffering obviously from severe malnourishment.
She was probably 2 weeks old and could hardly walk, creeping from the drain outside my mother's kitchen.

Imran said he was sorry for the cat.
I took her in my palm and bathed her in warm water. After an attempt of feeding her with whatever human food available from my mother's kitchen, I told papa that the kitten required medical help, as her skin appeared to be curling up as a result of fungal infection.

That evening, as we prepared to leave my mother's house with the poor kitten in a box, Imran saw ANOTHER one in the drain. This little girl was far worse than the one we picked up earlier, one eye plastered up with dried mucus almost blind, and having bad diarrhoe. She was a mess of black, ugly thing and if we did not take her along with us, she would probably not last another day.

Papa: You mean we are going to end up with 2 sick kitten?
mama: mama tak sampai hati, papa. I already took one but could not ignore the other just because she was ugly. My conscience can't take that!

The moment we arrived in KL, I took them to the family Vet. They were dewormed, given a course of antifungal treatment for 2 weeks, vaccinated and prescribed with specified kitten food.

After they were cured, they turned out to be 2 beautiful girls, Chihuahua is a bit clingy but Tuxedo or Tuxy as she was later lovingly called was very independent. Her favourite pastime was sitting on top of one of the pillars in my garden, watching the world passed by....

I'd naughtily disturb her peace and tranquility by calling out her name and waving to her from the balcony of my bedroom.

She had very pretty, shiny, jet black coat of hair by now, the reason why I jokingly called her Tuxy Jetta Zones....

She loved the garden, spent most of her time there. She was my constant companion at the Koi pond, biting playfully at my feet, left, right and then left, perhaps to alert me of her presence.

I used to tell the cats to be careful of the passing cars.The guilt is still there, that I did not do enough to protect Tuxy from one.
But 16 months of life, free to roam and venture around, is better than 6 years of living protected in a cage.

Tuxy was aptly buried under the Cempaka tree at one corner of her favourite garden of our house, very close to the pillar where she frequently held station.

May you be happy at the cats' heaven, darling.
Once in a while, don't forget to look down on mama at the Koi pond!, I'll be missing you!!

In Loving Memory.

Tuxy and her sister ChiHuaHua within the first week of coming to our lives.







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