On my way home from school I heard a faint and delicate meowing on the thick roadside shrubberies, a high pitch sound of distress call emanating from a kitten. The poor thing was softly nudging the dead mother cat with its nose, hoping to bring it back to life. I stood and watched the thing as it meowed weakly, confused as to why the mother cat was indifferent to its call. It took uncertain steps towards me with its tiny wobbly feet, not even startled. What a brave little thing. I prodded the dead cat with a stick, its body hadn't hardened yet indicating that it hadn't been a long time since its death. It had a swollen leg, left eye nearly fell out from its socket, must've been hit by a car or ganged up on by some stupid kids like the ones Larry and I met. I picked up the distressed kitten and brought it home. "Where'd you get that thing?" Aunt Lydia asked. "Roadside, its mother is dead," I replied. She looked at the kitten and pet its tiny head. "You won't keep it, would you?" "Why not?" "Because it's a huge responsibility, that kitten is still a suckling." "I can manage..." "Don't get me wrong, this thing is fragile, needy, and it could die..." I know exactly what she meant; she thought I was still that snotty cry-baby she knew from years ago. "I'll take good care of it." She looked at me beaming with pride, "What do you wanna call him? Is it a he?" "It's a he, yes...I'm gonna call him Thing." "Thing?" Her forehead creased, "Yeah, thing as in an object," "Oh, okay. Your other aunts are allergic to cats, especially the black ones, you know what they say about black cats do you? But I'll talk to them. Just make sure Thing does not wander around the house or it'll drive them crazy." "Okay," I said. "And thank you...".

I brought Thing in the basement, cleaned him with wet cloth and noticed he had two different eye colors like Larry's. "Did you lose your twin too?" I asked Thing. He purred softly and meowed. I called Olivia to employ her expertise in the kitten rearing department which was an alien world to me. She did a crash-course on Cats 101 which I took mental notes of, she also told me about this store downtown which sell all things cat. I thanked her. 'Oh by the way, just wanna let you know Larry had just been discharged today, though it might take couple more days before he can go back to school, do you wanna talk to him?" "Must've been hard for him, he loves school so much. I'm glad to know he's doing well but I can't talk to him right now, maybe some other time." "Okay, dear. You take care," "I will, Ms. Magsalay. Goodbye..." "M'bye...." The line went dead. I went back to check on Thing. He's sleeping soundly on my pillow, a tiny black lump of pure sadness. I pat its head and told him I lost my mom too, and I know how hard a world without moms could be but we'll get by somehow. I felt like a complete idiot.