33. Cairo, 1996 - Lost

In which Themba goes prowling.

Brothers are separated…then reunited. Not all wounds heal as easily. 

Eleanor

There’s a knock on the door, and I open it to Abdul, Themba in his arms. 

Weeping with relief, I lift Themba out, thanks pouring out of me. Abdul, 5 foot 4, in his traditional washed-out gray-blue galabaya ducks his head in embarrassment. I know he doesn’t understand my ways, but he still seems to get it. When I first came down, tear-stricken, five days ago, begging him to please help me look for Themba, he’d immediately gone up to the roof, and reported back that his family had seen Themba there earlier, but he wasn’t there now. Every day since then, as I come and go from Council, he’s shaken his head sorrowfully to my unspoken question. 

Tlali has just looked lost and confused, wondering about the flat and mewing mournfully. He’s always been the greater snuggler and lap cat than Themba, but now he’s like glue. By day four I begin to believe I might have lost Themba forever, and am just empty and bereft at the thought. 

Now Themba squirms in my arms, getting ready to jump out of them. I thank Abdul again, shut the door, and let Themba jump down. He makes straight for the kitchen and tucks his head into a bowl. He’s filthy. Covered in grime and dust and dirt. And probably fleas too, I think to myself. 

Where have you been? What adventures have you had? Themba’s the bold one. He’s physically smaller than Tlali, yet he’s the dominant brother and more adventurous. I’m overjoyed he’s back, but when Tlali sees him, he arches his back, hisses loudly and turns into a bottlebrush. Themba tries to approach, but Tlali just hisses some more, keeping his distance. 

“Alright,” I say as I reach down and pick Themba up. “Bath. You’re filthy. You stink. Your brother won’t come near you. And that’s what you get for putting us through the wringer like this.” He fights it, but his heart isn’t it. When he really wants to fight me, it’s a second by second battle to keep him in the bathtub. But tonight he’s vaguely cooperative. Emerging clean and bedraggled, he sets too with furious licking. Tlali comes and helps him out. Themba washes Tlali’s face in return. 

Brother’s reconcile. My family is back together. My heart is mended.

But it’s not. 

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Bonus Material

• Cats and buildings on Cairo: photographs