The Cat that Wanted to Fly

Babylon base used to be rather peaceful especially at night. The last vehicle was usually in by 11 p.m. and there was rarely any assignment through the night. Early morning jobs were normally assigned at night and so we would sleep knowing where we would go in the morning. These advance bookings by clients were good for us because we rested easy at night.

With this assurance of a quiet night, I used to prepare to sleep in much the same way as I would do at home. The only difference was that I would be sleeping in the car. I used to remove my shoes and socks so that my sticky stinky feet could “breath”. I also used to remove my blazer and cover myself with it like a blanket. The rest of the preparation was “electronic”. It involved running the heater with the engine on idling until the car interior was warm enough to allow sleep in the chilly Nairobi nights. The last thing I would do was to reduce the radio call volume and increase that of the normal radio. My favourite programs were those of overnight preaching by people such as Joyce Meyer. One of my colleagues once complained that my volume was too high on the “Mercy Myra” preaching.

Apparently he could not tell the difference between Mercy Myra and Joyce Meyer.

One day, I woke up at 5 a.m. in the morning and went to the mall wash room to freshen up since I had an airport pickup which I had been assigned the previous evening. On coming back to the car, I saw a scraggly kitten walking shakily on the pavement. When it saw me approaching it quickly ducked under my car and crouched there. I didn’t want it to get crushed when I drove out so I tried to chase it out. It climbed onto the front wheel and now I could see its furry form under the mud guard.
By now the other drivers had started to wake up and they came to my assistance. We tried to disgorge the kitten from its perch and when we succeeded, the cat now went under the car and got on the rear wheel. I was starting to get frustrated and I now got a broom stick to pry the kitten away. I didn’t succeed; instead, all I managed was to push the cat further under the car into a squeezed space between the fuel tank and the boot floor.

Since I was running late, I decided to leave with the cat. My colleagues, in their wisdom, assured me that the kitten would fall off if I ensured that I hit all bumps and pot holes on the route at high speed. That is exactly what I did the whole way between Babylon and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. However, the cat did not fall off. It only got really scared and with every increase in the car speed, it increased the number of “meows”. By the time I got to the airport, I was so distressed I could hardly think straight. As I was parking, the flight on which my clients were arriving also landed. I temporarily forgot about the cat and rushed in with my paging board.

The group I was picking comprised of a woman and her three daughters who appeared to range in age between their teens and twenties. The mother waved at me when she saw their name on my paging board but I had to wait a bit since they had a lot of luggage. I put the bags on a trolley and wheeled it towards the car as my passengers followed me. We got to where I had parked, I opened the boot and proceeded to pack the luggage, and then we all heard it!

My long forgotten cat started meowing in earnest now that it had heard the commotion of its would-be rescuers. I had omitted to inform my clients that I had brought a cat along but there was no hiding it now. It was so loud you could hear it from 10 metres away. The mother leaned and looked under the car but could not see anything but the sound was unmistakable. She concluded that this was the work of witchcraft and there was no way she was going to jeopardize the safety of her family by boarding a “bewitched” car driven by an agent of the devil. She was a born-again Christian and she started invoking the name of the lord. In the mean-time I was also trying to convince her that am not a devil worshipper and that in-fact, I was also saved myself. She stopped praying briefly and asked me, “If you are speaking the truth, where is the cat?” She had a point because the cat was not visible. She further said, “Show me the cat or I rightly conclude it’s a jinn”

The commotion caused by the meowing cat, the praying woman, the pleading taxi driver, and the inciting daughters attracted other taxi drivers in the vicinity. They came to the aid of the distressed client – ostensibly to convince her to take their “un-bewitched taxis”. Some however, were kind and – in the interest of taxi driver solidarity – wanted to help me. They helped cool down the now distraught lady while they sought to assist me remove the cat. We jacked up the car and removed one wheel and we were able to see the cat which we poked using a long pole until it came down.

The now famous cat wobbled away towards some thickets which are at the airport. When it was about half-way between us and the bushes, a group of about ten cats of varying sizes and colours emerged from the bushes and walked as if in a form of welcome towards our cat. Once it was safely surrounded, they turned back and got into the thicket. It was a strange sight and I asked one of the airport taxi drivers where those cats had come from. He answered that they had been brought by other drivers such as my-self. If they were there to catch a flight, then my kitten would have to join the queue but it was in good company. My clients now agreed to board my car but with a lot of apprehension.