This is Tom, my pest controller in residence. He was a sickly stray three weeks ago. He's been well taken care of since and he's doing perfectly well now. His duty is to keep rodents out. I leave the door ajar 24x7 for him to come and go.

There's another one called Jerry, less than three weeks old. He was abandoned by his mother in front of my home on Sunday. I picked him up and followed the mother but she kept a distance. Once in a while she would peek across the street. But she would go away everytime I tried to leave Jerry with her. So I assumed that she wanted to leave Jerry under my care. He's having a cold. His nose is runny. Sometimes he sneezes. I need to take him to the vet but I'm too busy day and night. This Saturday maybe.

It's been only four days but Jerry has made me-cassa-a-his-cassa. He's black with a small white patch on his throat. His favourite spot to sleep at night is on the coffee table beside the sofa I sleep on. He tried to climb on it just now by clinging on the tablecloth but the tablecloth slipped and went he down on the floor with the tablecloth. So now he's fast asleep, curled like a black furry ball on the crumpled tablecloth.

Tom is a bully. He pounces on Jerry all the time. Luckily for Jerry, Tom is out and about now doing whatever he does at night. I hear some cling-clang in the kitchen. That must be Tom on the prowl for roaches. He's on his rounds now.

It puzzles me. I'm suddenly 'swarmed' with cats. They're godsent, I guess, somehow, maybe. I take it as a good sign anyway :-)