Seth has a great passion for cats except for the orange one. At one point, he started detaching himself from orange cats because he noticed that some of his orange cats left him, either they died at an early age or they just gone off somewhere. Then one day, one of his cats gave birth to an orange cat; they named him Oring. He didn’t hate Oring, but he was emotionally detached from him. He barely noticed him and he didn’t play with him. But one night something happened that made it all changed.
Six years ago, Seth was a bit drunk when he was on his way home. He crossed Buhangin road with hazy thoughts and was almost like sleep walking. Then a car moving beyond the city’s speed limit was coming on his direction. When the car was few feet away, Seth got distracted by the car’s bright light and he snapped to his consciousness and was able to jump off to the sidewalk, just in time to be saved from an accident. He got up with few scratches on his arms and elbows and he continued his way home. Then when he finally arrived in their house, he found Oring lying on the floor with two of his back legs broken.
Seth got shocked when he saw Oring in that state. He hurriedly went upstairs to wake up his parents and siblings and asked them what happened to Oring. Surprisingly, nobody knew what happened. They said Oring was fine when they fed him that night, so they didn’t have any idea what exactly happened. Seth brought Oring first thing in the morning to the clinic to have his legs checked. The doctor couldn’t do anything, his legs were badly broken.
Seth believed that instead of him getting hurt that night, Oring sacrificed himself. Whether this is a matter of superstitious belief he got from his grandmother or just a plain coincidence, we can never know. But Seth believed it that way, that’s why in return he diligently and religiously took care of him for six years.
Every day at 12 noon, Seth would bathe Oring, clean his genitals and legs, and then he would place him on his box. From their Oring would watch other cats play; see them running and jumping around just like how he used to do those things. At night, Seth would put on his diaper so he could at least walk around the house and sleep with other cats. This has been Seth’s routine everyday for six years, even when he was working or studying. He would make sure that his free time would be at lunch so he could go home because he’s the only who one knew how to bathe Oring due to his delicate state, and he also made sure that he went home at night just in time to bathe Oring again and put on his diaper. And all those six years, Seth and Oring developed a relationship beyond owner-pet relationship. Oring became his brother and best friend.
Last April 6, 2011 Oring died of infection.
Some people do not understand why Seth care so much for Oring to the point that he gave him such a special burial. I myself, though I understand Seth, cannot grasp every inch of Seth’s emotion towards Oring. It is something only Seth and Oring can ever know. It’s their link, their bond… their love for one another. I even cried and felt devastated even though I only met Oring for two years and did not even reach the kind of relationship they had. All I know is that if Oring did save Seth from that accident, I will be forever thankful because I would not have met Seth if something happened to him that night, and for two years, I am honoured to become part of Oring’s memories, the most important cat of the most important person in my life.