This afternoon, a little after lunchtime, I was rushing to go out of the house when this kitten tried to give me a present. It was a live, struggling snake! She was about to place it at my feet when I saw her and started shouting for my Mom, who was in another part of the house.

The little kitty Cinderella was most probably frightened with my hollering for my Mom (who wouldn’t if a live, struggling not-so-small snake had been brought home by a feline half its size and was about to be offered to you?) that she ran away and took it in the living room.

The snake was quite long, approximately 90+ cm. (3 ft.) and a little thicker than an adult’s thumb in diametre. When Cinderella ran towards the living room with me and my Mom in hot pursuit, she made it clear that there was no way she was going to drop her prey. The snake was tightly clenched right in the middle while Mom tried to hack its head with a hand plough.

Probably realising her prized quarry wasn’t safe with us, Cinderella ran to the neighbour’s, towards my auntie’s backyard. A small door separates our lots so I was able to open it to find the brave kitten mercilessly munching on the snake, making it seem like it was sashimi while the creature was still struggling violently to get out of the kitty’s jaws. The snake had no chance of surviving such a determined cat. A few minutes later, it was lifeless and Cinderella kept on chewing on it.

By that time, I really had to leave for a meeting and wanted to make sure the snake was properly disposed of, meaning buried where no cat could play with it and stuff it somewhere it could cause it to rot and cause foul odour. So I fed all the kitties their favourite fish. Cinderella followed but seemed so thirsty she drank a lot from their water dish first.

The poor brave kitty! She must’ve been spent by the whole adventure that when I got home tonight, she insisted that she sleep on my lap. Since I had to stand up now and then, she settled herself on top of my books, beside my laptop, where I can watch over her.