On a weekend road trip, far away from home, you stumble upon a garage sale in a neighborhood you’re passing through. Astonished, you find an object among the belongings for sale that you recognize. Tell us about it.

Photographers, share an image that says MEMORY.

I’d been driving for 5 hours or so & I really needed a break, so I was very happy to stop for a coffee & a sandwich when I come across a small town just  3 kilometers out of my way.

After my refreshments I was walking back to my car when something caught my eye. There was a house opposite the cafe & the owner was having a garage sale. I could never resist a pile of junk, so I decided to take a look before I continued on my way.

While I was sorting through the piles of books, old clothes & bric-a-brac I noticed a familiar green bag. I couldn’t believe it. It was a bag that I’d lost on a festival site about 3 years before. I looked inside, it seemed that any belongings of mine were long gone, until I checked a little pocket. In it was a photograph. A beautiful, tortoiseshell cat, that had once been my very best friend.

Kunti’s Tale …

… She appeared suddenly from nowhere & insisted on coming inside. She explored the house finally arriving at the children’s bedroom where she promptly curled up & went to sleep. We left her for a few hours as she seemed exhausted, but when she finally arose from her slumbers we tried gently to put her outside thinking that her person might be looking for her. She just sat outside crying & after much deliberation on my part, & much pleading on the children’s, we allowed her back inside.

I went to the local shop & bought some cat food as we were vegetarian & had nothing to offer her to eat. She ate like she was starving & went to great lengths to show her appreciation, purring & going from one person to another rubbing against their legs & butting with her head. It seemed that she had decided to stay & we weren’t going to get a say.

After about two weeks she disappeared for a day & a night & we thought we had seen the last of her. But the next morning we found her sitting on the windowsill waiting to come inside. Next to her lay three things: an old, red collar; a mummified bird & an old, chewed toy. We stared in disbelief  as she carried them, one by one, into the house & left them where she slept.

The poor thing must have been sleeping rough & kept these things for security. Maybe they were from her previous home which was lost somehow.  Anyway she’d made her decision & now she was moving in her stuff. We decided to give her a name & as she was obviously so wise & brave we named her “Kunti” after the great Indian queen of the Mahabharata.

Every morning she would wake me up early & sit with me, cleaning herself, while I did my yoga & if I was unwilling to rise she would slide a paw under the bed covers & scratch at me until I succumbed to her wishes.

Whatever her story was, it had left her a little wild. She loved to run with the foxes at night & this was very dangerous for her. Foxes run far & wide at night, crossing many dangerous roads & she was hit three times by cars.

The first time she was hit in the hip & miraculously suffered only a dislocation. We had to keep her restrained in a box for two weeks (Vet’s instructions) while it was healing. This left her much slower than before & it was only a matter of time before she was hit again this time in the head. She suffered a haemorrhage in the eye but survived again. By now she was limping & blind in one eye & we tried to keep her inside but she was always determined to get out, she loved to sunbathe in the garden with her foxy friends.

One night the doorbell rang & it was my neighbour, Hulya from upstairs. She had come to tell me that Kunti had been hit again. I was devastated. I didn’t even realize that she had got out of the house. We collected her from under a tree & carried her home. She was still alive but barely. All of us crying, we placed her softly on a blanket in the hallway & sat with her. I remember looking into her loving eyes for the last time & it seemed she was smiling as she slipped quietly away.

She was only with us for two short years, but in that time she gave us so much love & proved herself to be so conscious that we all truly believed that she was an ancient soul just passing through. One thing’s for sure, she will never be forgotten.

Memories For Sale – Kunti’s Tale