A mother, Hunger, and Life

The hunger she couldn’t bear anymore, her child she had nothing to feed. A mother she was, and vulnerable. She was moaning in pain, an empty stomach made her restless. Trying to catch attention, in the heat where everyone is inside their comfortable den, she is begging for something to eat. She cries and cries and cries.
I was sleeping in my bed in the afternoon cause why not? I wake up to hear a weak and trembling voice. It seemed she was giving up gradually. As every other word uttered, the intensity declined. The struggle she had to put through to even make a sound.
I get up off my bed and peek through the window. She was lying on the maize field on the other side of my house, the sun, absorbing some last energy she had.
I feel her, the hunger. I know how slowly the body eats you when you haven’t fed it. Plus, she had to breastfeed her two infants and what will they feed on when she doesn’t have a single drop to offer? I feel pity for her. Because no matter how much she cries and begs, we humans can’t understand nor care. The selfishness in us prevents even a minor act of kindness.
I went to the kitchen to see if we have anything to offer, I found some cooked rice from the morning. It surprised me since it was Ekadashi (the eleventh lunar day (tithi) of each of the two lunar phases which occur in a Hindu calendar month) and my family fasts. I did not think of much and put the rice in a bowl and went down the stairs, approaching her.
Although she’s been in this locality for I don’t know how long, she still doesn’t get along or may I say, the people haven’t had the heart to love her. They accept her but not open towards her. So, she is mostly unsocial. she doesn’t like people constantly scared because of how she’s been treated. Not her fault. She would run seeing me as well even tho I liked her, guess she didn’t identify that. I went towards her, with suspense in my mind of she’d react and hoping for the best.
She was there with her kids and as they saw me there the kids ran away except for her, the mother. She instead came near me, perhaps because she saw the bowl. I offered her the food, and she ate all. Emptied in a minute. I went back upstairs thinking she’s full, but she was not. She didn’t stop crying, and it bound me to go back as I couldn’t leave her like that. I went back to her with a biscuit this time and offered her. She didn’t eat it, I figured out it was too dry for her. I took the same bowl, pour some water on it, and put the biscuits on it and when it got softer, I offered it to her again.
I stayed there the whole time, watching her jump into the food. She finished in minutes. Not once she put her eyes away from the food she was feasting on, she needed it. Once she was done, she looked straight up to my eyes and approached me. She roamed around me, nudged me, and I patted her back. Guess she was saying a “thank you”.
By this time I could see her kittens around and they weren’t afraid anymore but conscious. She went back to her and laid on the ground. This time there was a peace in her face, a satisfaction reflected. The kids jumped to her, cuddled a little, and fed. She just seemed relieved.
As the saying goes, “a female is most brave when she’s a mother”. The cat was brave enough to trust a woman for the sake of her child and hunger. I helped a life, and I felt blessed. Do the same cause they can’t do it themselves. One minor act of kindness, one life at a time, and let’s make this world a better place to be alive.