Monthly Prompts | Cat sanctuary (Santuario gatuno) [EN/ES]

Once upon a time, there was a cat named Tito, who lived with some old people on a sidewalk in Caracas, the house was huge for those old people and Tito was their only companion, in the afternoons the old people would go into one of the rooms of that big house, but the cat was not allowed to enter, always stealthily watching for the grandparents to come out, he was very curious to enter to see what was inside, he spent hours and hours waiting in the room, looking for the right moment.

One day the old lady was left alone, Tito became anxious because he was sure that day he would achieve his goal, crouched behind a flowerpot, he waited for the grandmother to enter, before she could close the door, the kitten, without touching her, passed underneath and stayed inside.

Tito could not believe what he was looking at, he was impressed, it was a cat sanctuary, there were pictures of cats of all colors, of all sizes, with eyes of all colors. He was dumbfounded when he saw that next to each cat's picture there was a lit candle, the old men used to put them on every day.

The brave cat did not notice that the grandmother was looking at him and with a smile she said, "You are very daring, Tito, you entered the forbidden room, look, here are all your ancestors we have had many cats and they are all here in this place, here is even your great-great-grandmother. Carlos and I don't like you to enter this sanctuary, because you might get scared and we don't want you to be sad, here is your whole family from all generations."

He listened very attentively to the grandmother and could not stop looking at all the pictures that were there, there were many and there was one that looked the oldest and was so similar to him that he was shocked, saying to himself, "This must be my grandfather". In silence, the grandmother was lighting the candles and Tito was contemplating it with admiration.

From that day on, Tito visited the shrine with the grandparents.

Había una vez un gato llamado Tito, que vivía con unos ancianos en una vereda de Caracas, la casa era enorme para aquellos ancianos y Tito era su único acompañante; por las tardes los viejitos se metían a una de las habitaciones de aquella casona, pero al gato no se le permitía entrar, siempre sigiloso vigilaba atento a que los abuelos salieran, tuvo mucha curiosidad de entrar para ver qué había allá dentro, pasaba horas y horas esperando en la sala, en procura del momento propicio.

Cierto día la anciana quedó sola, Tito se tornó ansioso porque estaba seguro que ese día lograría su cometido; agazapado detrás de una maceta, esperó que la abuelita entrara, antes de que ella pudiera cerrar la puerta, el minino, sin tocarla, pasó por debajo y quedó adentro.

Tito no podía dar crédito a lo que estaba mirando quedó totalmente impresionado, era un santuario de gatos: habían fotos de gatos de todos los colores, de todos los tamaños, con ojos de todos los colores. Quedó boquiabierto cuando vio que junto a la foto de cada gato había una vela encendida; los viejitos a diario se las ponían.

El intrépido gato no se dio cuenta que la abuela lo miraba y con una sonrisa le dice:

—Eres muy atrevido, Tito, entraste a la habitación prohibida; mira, aquí están todos tus antecesores hemos tenido muchísimos gatos y todos están aquí en este lugar, aquí está hasta tu tatarabuela.

A Carlos y a mí no nos gusta que tú entres a este santuario, porque te puedes asustar y no queremos que te pongas triste aquí está toda tu familia de todas las generaciones.

Él escuchaba muy atento a la abuela y no podía dejar de mirar todos los cuadros que estaban allí, habían muchísimos y estaba uno que se veía el más longevo era tan parecido a él que quedó totalmente impactado, diciéndose a sí mismo “este debe ser mi abuelo”; en silencio la abuela iba encendiendo las velas y Tito la contemplaba con cierta admiración.

Desde aquel día Tito visitaba el santuario con los abuelos.