Lay Hears a Kitten Crying in the Drain

It was just after six when Lay started barking at the storm drain outside our place in Rawai. I thought it was a gecko, honestly. Then came a tiny, thin meow. I peered in and there was a kitten, maybe five weeks old, stuck about a metre down with mud up to its whiskers.

My neighbour brought a torch and a bit of bamboo, and between us we fished it out. The kitten was shaking but fine, and Lay sat next to me like she had done the whole rescue herself. We wrapped the kitten in a towel, warmed some milk, and the little thing went straight to sleep.

We are calling him Mango now, and Lay pretends she never wanted a cat in the house. She sleeps next to him every night.