By Henry Gambles
By Henry Gambles
The busy, bustling city of Bangkok is the capital of the exotic and steaming hot Kingdom of Thailand. Bangkok is a lively, modern concrete jungle, polluted by the fumes of cars, motorbikes and tuk-tuks.
But in the middle of Bangkok, there is an international school, with greenery and trees, which stands out like an oasis.
That school is called NIST. NIST stands for The New International School of Thailand.
Walking into NIST, past the flags of different countries, which fly overhead, you come to a green oval, at the heart of the school. Beyond the oval stands the blue and white buildings where world languages are taught to the students. In the gap in between the two buildings, a tall blue gate has a sign that says...
STUDENTS NOT ALLOW TO ACCESS
This is one of the places where Chocolate Socks and his family feels safe. They are feral cats. They were born wild and have always lived wild.
When Chocolate Socks and his sister Scruffy were first born, a kind, gentle school maid called Miss Noi saw them. She gave the family some food. Miss Noi loved animals and tied red collars with white hearts round their necks. She chose names for the kittens because of how they looked.
Chocolate Socks has brown paws and a cute, brown face. He looks like he has just been playing in a field of chocolate and he’s been eating it too!
His life is pretty tough. He is very small and weak. Right now, he is feeling very ill. Chocolate Socks often feels afraid too. He has nightmares about being chased by dogs, bats or humans.
He wakes up shaking and will run to his mother and curl up with her, where he feels safe and secure.
Chocolate Socks’ mother worries about him because he seems so frail. Although she’s only the same age and the size, his sister Scruffy is much braver and stronger.
Sometimes the younger students of the school, chase the kittens because they want to pick them up. But they don’t understand how to handle the small cats and this upsets the cat family.
On dry, hot afternoon, a group of four students manage to catch Chocolate Socks and are teasing him. He gets very upset and starts to meow loudly. His mother has been watching anxiously from the bushes. She leaps out, hissing and spitting. With her claws bared, she tries to scratch the frightened boy who is holding her baby. The children drop the kitten and run away.
It was very frightening for the cat family but now, an hour later, all the children and other humans have gone home and NIST is quiet as the sun sets over Bangkok. Tonight, it’s a really hot night. Chocolate Socks can’t sleep and he can’t get comfortable. His body feels sore and he aches all over from when the boy dropped him.
The next morning, a loud noise wakes him. He looks up to see the people from the school property department are taking his mother away. They are talking about her scratching the children earlier – maybe they don’t realize that she was just trying to protect her kittens from the children teasing them. Chocolate Socks is devastated. He spends all day crying and he thinks that he’s never going to see her again as long as he lives.
The next morning at dawn, Chocolate Socks is still searching all over the school for his mother, hoping that she will be back. He can’t find her. His eyes are full of tears. Children start to arrive for a new school day. The small boy who teased him before sees Chocolate Socks and thinks it would be funny to kick him. He sneaks up on Chocolate Socks and kicks him really hard.
Chocolate Socks feels pain and fear and lashes out with his little paws only to be hit by the student. This really scares him. From now here a large spotted cat appears and scares the cruel student away. This is his dad. At least, Chocolate Socks and Scruffy aren’t all alone. But then one of the property staff come with a big net and capture Dad and take him away too! Chocolate Socks is terrified - he never wants to see one of these cruel human creatures ever again.
Chocolate Socks has never felt so alone - he’s suddenly lost his mum and his dad and he’s terrified of children – he wants to get as far away from them as possible but they seem to be everywhere. He never wants anything to do with cruel children for the rest of his life. The only one he can turn to is his sister, Scruffy. She too feels like an orphan now. He feels even more sick than before and on top of that he’s scared, hungry and he really hurts where the child kicked him.
Scruffy leads him, through a small hole in a wall, to a dark quiet building, where they catch rats and other pests far away from all the cruel people. He starts to feel a bit better here with Scruffy. Days pass and Chocolate Socks and Scruffy hunt and eat the many rodents and large insects they can find. They love living in the school but keep away from the humans. They find strange places to hide during daytime. Sometimes the children see them hiding on top of the ATM.
Every morning Scruffy goes out catching Chocolate Socks’ favourite breakfast of river rats, to make sure that he has enough protein to eat to help him get bigger, stronger and healthier. Scruffy is a good enough hunter to be able to get enough food for herself and her brother but she isn’t able to stop the street from becoming overrun with the rats that her mum and dad always made sure were kept out of the school. People start to become terrified of the rodents and pests that are taking over the whole neighbourhood.
One morning, while Scruffy is out, catching breakfast, Chocolate Socks decides to explore one of the dark buildings by himself. Suddenly the big door of the building swings open and a bright shaft of light illuminates where Chocolate Socks is standing. He immediately runs to hide but all the walls are solid except for the hole in the wall which is next to the door that has just opened. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s terrified. He’s sure that children will hurt him again. He sees a boy and a girl.
He hisses and tries to bare his tiny soft, kitten claws. He’s still so young and so small that instead of looking scary, the children think that Chocolate Socks is really cute. So they talk softly to him. They hold out their hands to him. What should he do? They gently stroke him. It feels really nice.
The children speak softly and gently to him. They say ‘don’t be scared’. For the first time since he lost his mum, Chocolate Socks feels safe and protected. Each day from then on, this group of kind students look for Chocolate Socks and Scruffy and approach them very carefully when they find them. They always use gentle, soft voices and soon there is trust on both sides.
These students explain to others about the feral cats at NIST, how they must be treated and how they are the only hope to prevent Bangkok from being infested by rats and other pests. Soon the kittens are treated nicely by everyone.
Before long everyone realizes that when the kittens’ parents lashed out before, they were only protecting their babies. The next month, at Songkran, Miss Noi, the kind maid, returns to her village. She sees Chocolate Socks’ and Scruffy’s parents there at the temple. She’d taken them there before because she thought they wanted to harm the children. Now she understands that they were just protecting their family. Living at the temple, they too have learned to trust humans although they are incredibly sad and miss their babies.
A few days later, Miss Noi returns to NIST carrying a large basket. She puts the basket on the ground next to the gate where the kittens live. Chocolate Socks and Scruffy are curious and inch closer to see what’s in the basket. Suddenly they hear a familiar sound coming from the basket. Its their mother and father and they’re coming back to live at NIST. The family are all reunited! Chocolate Socks and Scruffy will both grow up to have their own kittens at NIST.
We are all creatures of the same planet. We should treat our cats respectfully because they help us and get rid of the rodents and other pests at our school.
THE END No animals were harmed in the making of this book!