We had
always avoided taking a cat into our home not to be curbed in our movements,
but Cipride, that's the name of our kitten, chose us and we did not feel
like rejecting her.
When
my wife found her, in June 1997, in a camping near Cagliari, she was not
older than one month and was more or less eight inches long. She was hiding
under a reversed boat, terrorized by a few boys that, as we later learnt,
since a few days, were trying to drive her out of the place in which she
had taken refuge.
Attracted
by her mewing, my wife tried to approach her, at first in vain. But after
a couple of days, the hunger got the better of her fear and the kitten
got out of the shelter to accept some milk. She had her eyes completely
closed, so we feared she was blind, but, after cleaning her face with some
cotton-wool, two beautiful blue eyes appeared.
It was
my daughter to name her Cipride, attribute of Aphrodite, the beauty goddess.
Even now that she's older, she seldom leaves my wife's feet, which were
the first thing she saw when she met her; she is still very frightened
by strangers, due to the shock suffered when she was young.
Since
then, her presence has enriched our lives, even if she creates many problems
when we have to travel with her.
