THE PET

Susan tapped the alarm off and got up rubbing her eyes. The clock showed 6.00 AM. She looked at the calendar. It read July 6. It was a year since her cat died.

Throughout the year, she had forced herself to forget about Jessie but she wasn’t able to accept the fact that Jessie was dead. ‘She’s too energetic to stay dead,’ she thought to herself.

Jessie had passed away on the 6th of July last year at 8 in the morning, closing her wistful green eyes, resting her fluffy head on Susan’s palm. Susan couldn’t believe it. Just yesterday Jessie had torn apart the cushion that Susan had given to her; and the next day, she lay dead on her favourite Susan’s palm.

Susan sighed and took the letter from the bedside table. It was from her cousin Genelia. She read it again:

“Hey birthday girl,

Await me today. I have a small gift for you or maybe should I say a surprise for you!

Signed with love,

Genelia.”

The letter was given to her by her mother at the stroke of mid-night along with her birthday gift, a vase similar to the one that Jessie had broken a few days before her death. It was her second favourite after Jessie. “Uh… Jessie was very affectionate to me. She could have lived longer than just five years. Too bad…” Susan sighed.

She then got out of her bed, freshened up and went down to greet her parents. “Surprise!” Genelia jumped from the sofa and took Susan in a quick hug. “Genelia… what…when…” Susan was speechless. “Happy birthday cousin!” Genelia greeted her. “She just came in yesterday after you went to bed. She said that she would surprise you in the morning.” Susan’s mother explained as Genelia grinned.

(Genelia lived miles away and for the past five years, she had studied abroad. She occasionally met Susan at parties and never had she met the five year old deceased cat.)

“What’s it about the surprise gift?” Susan asked. With a wider grin, Genelia answered, “Wait for it birthday girl, you were born only at 7.59. There’s two more minutes. Wait for it.” And she laughed. “Oh come on Genelia, just two minutes…” Susan groaned. But she knew that it was impossible to talk Genelia into anything. So she decided to wait for the centuries-long two minutes to pass.

At last, the digital clock read ‘7.59’. It was followed by the long, standard, birthday song after which Genelia gave her ‘the surprise gift’.

It was a small box with holes punched here and there. “Be careful with it Susan! It’s fragile!” Genelia cautioned. Susan nodded and slowly opened the box. What a surprise!

Inside the box, curled up on a blue cloth, lay a fluffy white form with a black patch for the forehead and a fluffy white tail with a brown tip. “Well I knew how much you miss Jessie. It’s a pity that I never got to see her. This little fellow here just walked into our house and we thought that you might like her.” Genelia said.

“When I asked your mother about her, she agreed to have her. You like her, don’t you Susan?”Genelia asked. Susan nodded absentmindedly. “Go on Susan, fish her out. We want to see her. Genelia refused to give even its description.” Her parents urged her.

With trembling hands, Susan took out little Jessie or at least an exact replica of her. She was almost like Jessie’s twin with the same wise, green, penetrating eyes that stared at Susan. Her mother gasped as it mewed with its green eyes smiling at Susan.

Instinctively, Susan looked at the clock. Was she surprised to see the clock read ‘8.00 AM’?