My Domesticated Royal Family and Other Animals

 "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice than you are a friend of mine." Ernesto Che Guevara.                            Early in the morning homeless cats arrive from all directions to attend my "cats' table". After a while I got to know them, got attached and worry when one or two don't turn up. For five days I am missing sweet Mary. She's spayed and neutered, usually stays near my house and sleeps indoors. Some time in the past she had four babies that she took to an unknown place when a celebration took place with those extreme loudspeakers, suitable for a stadium.  This time we had three days of celebration, life music again loud enough for the deaf to hear. Strange custom. If that drove her away, why doesn't she come for breakfast, early in the morning when most folks are still sleeping and it's pleasantly quiet? I fear that she may have been killed by one of many cars parked in double rows during the party. Sweet gentle Mary, she loved to cuddle, I haven't quite given up hope yet that she might return. Two boys proudly declared that I feed their cat. I asked them to take their cat inside at night in order to be safe. One elderly neighbor passing by during feeding time was surprised to see a big gentle golden coloured tomcat among my guests and informed me that he was his cat, now the mother and brother are still living with him. Not all so called stray cats have always been homeless, it is noticable, they usually love to cuddle. Unfortunately children looming the streets tend to have here a disturbed attitude towards animals, they regard it as normal to throw stones at cats and dogs or use a stick. Apart from my husband and me not many adults seeing this say anything. "They are children", one of the most stupid sentences I hear, meaning kids don't need to be told the difference between right and wrong. It is natural for children to find out how far they can go, where the limit is, if you let them grow up wild, they will believe that their parents don't care for them and life with rules and regulations as adults will be very trying for those concerned. I watched a little boy, approx. 2-3 years old attempting to throw stones at a black  dog and wanting to hit him as well with a stick. I ran to him and told him to stop it, it is HARAM (forbidden, against the Quran). An elderly man watching, family member sitting on a chair in front of the house, saying nothing. I advised him that he must teach the child that such action is not okay, please teach your child culture, empathy, not to attack the dog. By the way I know the gentle black dog that belongs to a boy from the same street. Ignorant folks allowing kids to attack innocent well behaved dogs (and cats), youngsters who think it's funny - never heard an animal laugh about such twisted sense of humor - don't understand why may be one day animals try to threaten them and run away. As a rule I can say that even stray cats and dogs are better behaved than those neglected children. If parents are too lazy, sick or ignorant to teach their kids empathy and basic values, then schools should do so, as well as not to drop rubbish wherever they are. Watching adults do this they think it's normal. I tell them that they lost something or that the road is not their rubbish dump. So far no angry reaction. I can't help it, I studied educational sciences. - My amazing tomcat Malek, golden white coloured, blind on one eye, living with us for more than three years, once very sick with water in his lungs, is my highlight in the morning, never have breakfast without my boy on my lap, telling me that he loves me as I am, while giving me a massage. He has sympathy with orphan new family additions and allows them to pretend that he is his mother, even though he has no milk. Fortunately there is milk powder for baby cats on the market (in the past when it was not available many babies died without their mothers), not cheap and therefore I am very grateful for donations from Gisella Romdhani and Chayma Labidi, dedicated to save street cats and dogs though their animal protection organisation, Animal Hearts Tunisia, great women! But actually I don't find it always easy to feed the babies every four hours and they miss their mother, so they cry more than they usually would. I feel exhausted. My big four legged family finds it more easy to accept kittens than adults as new members. (But for heaven's sake no more please). Coming from different families they like to stick together and sometimes find an adult cat to cuddle with. Like humans some adults don't like each other though, some love my husband more than me (he is proud of that), others prefer my company. We sometimes joke who would have which cat in case of a divorce.