Stories of insignificant souls: Episode (1)

A little kitten, perhaps less than three months old, was totally disoriented. Either its owners or its own mother has recently abandoned her. She even did not know if she needed to look for food or for the mercy of humans. She saw a road near a parking lot and wanted to cross it. Perhaps by crossing it, she could find something useful or she could know what she needed!

There stood a man waiting for the nearby court to open to get a certificate of some kind. He saw the kitten and was afraid for her. The road was so dangerous. He picked her up, but again, he himself felt confused. Where should he put her? He passed by the parking lot. A man selling roasted eggs on a little wooden piece, we call it in Arabic Basta, suggested to the kitten rescuer that if he left her here, she would face the danger of being run over by the cars. He suggested her to be left in a house.

The man complied with the advice. But, the cat clang to him. She found a creature who cared for her. There may not be another one. For the man, God, the most Merciful, created the cat and knows how to protect her. He was puzzled again. “It could be heresy to claim myself a saver. God is the saver”. Quickly did he conclude that he could be a means that God has chosen to bring the little kitten to safety.

He made a decision. He took her to his car and drove back. He had a small garden at home. He put her there and thought she would stay. The kitten followed him. She could still see him a saver. She was telling him “Please, do not abandon me!”

He put some food for her. She did not react as hungry animals would do. She was gazing at him and chasing him. He looked at her. She was shivering of cold. He got her into the house and found a solution. He put her at the window of the kitchen with some milk that she started to lick. Then he left her. Her being in front of the window would give her time to wait until she knew what to do.

Then the man again left her for the Mercy of God, the most Merciful.

He contemplated the whole story. There are many kittens at streets. What difference does it make if he saves a cat? The man is an insignificant soul but for the cat, he is her hero, and perhaps her first hero. Saving her does not make any difference for him, but it made all the difference for her.

Stories of insignificant souls

Many events stormed my dream last night, making me sometimes awake sometimes asleep. They looked very real, and out of the noise and hubbub there appeared laymen and women. Busy at the street, they are shouting, screaming, laughing or simply walking. But all of them were ordinary people, who wanted nothing but to live. They are people, who do not belong to the “anti-people” social class. They share the same dismay, melancholy, agony and hopes. I identify myself with them.

I woke up with vivid images about those people who lived in my memory. And, I decided to write about them.

“No centaurs here or gorgons look to find

My subject is of man and mankind”

I will talk about them by using the first person singular. Every story will have a hero, my hero. I will embody that hero. That character may be drunk, but those who wronged him are alcoholics. He can be a beggar aggrieved by aristocrats. He can be a killer but wronged by murderers.

This will be the beginning of “Stories of insignificant souls”.