Justin meets a Friend
Written by Dr.Laxmi Iyer

Meet Justin Scott - a hard boiled, hard hearted, thick skinned, high profile news reporter with CNN. Day in and day out, all days of the week, he's out on the beat. Sniffing out news stories. Tracking people. Rushing for interviews. Returning home late at night.

His days and weekends are one continuous run. He's always on the move...constantly alert for whispers of a scam, signs of an invisible deal...sending the truth spinning out on satellite vision.

He has no time for family, friends, movies, weekend retreats, kids, pets... He is always busy. Always on the prowl. Reading, writing and talking. His life is one continuous whirr...of words.

He is not exactly a cynic but he's seen enough of life not to be gullible. He trusts no one. Shrewd, smart and savvy, he's wise to the ways of the world.

He is not exactly a heartless man but in his world feeling about things don't add up to much. Wars happen. Crimes happen. Daylight scams happen. Good people sometimes suffer. Bad people sometimes win.

And animals certainly don't have a place in Justin's world. He has absolutely no time for people - for relationships - why would he spend time with animals? He has no particular fondness for animals.

He neither likes nor dislikes them. They are an unlucky part of creation who often end up suffering humankind's gustatory instincts.

In a way, he abhors the idea of factory farming animals for food but he knows that there's very little that can be done about it. There are bigger problems to be solved, bigger wars to be fought - on a global arena - on the politics of poverty and war.

Yet, quite paradoxically everything that had happened to him in his life was registered with a deep philosophical bang. Surprise! Surprise! God and philosophy are strong pillars of support that practical, worldly wise Justin clings to during all his troubled hours

One day, Justin was feeling particularly irritated. He had done double duty and yet had to report early the next day. And early was real early! " And Justin make sure you turn up at 7 a.m. Otherwise you will miss the interview ". His boss's sharp tone boomed into his ears.

He wished he could talk to at least one person in the world about the way he felt. He never spoke to anyone about anything personal, worse of all about how he sometimes felt! About his feelings.

That day, while getting his car out of the garage, he saw a helpless, little kitten mewing.
Justin had never had to handle a helpless kitten in his whole life. All the times in his life, when he had seen some animals injured, all he had to do was call his twin brothers.

They would come running to the injured animal's side - almost like some kind of holy crusaders. They would be the ones to feed and nurse them back to good health.

That had always been the way he had tackled the defenseless, injured stray animal problem. Now, as a young adult, far away from home, family and friends, all he could do was look even more helplessly at the kitten.

The kitten mewed even louder. Suddenly, he remembered there was milk left over in the thermos flask and a few biscuits.

He quickly rushed to the car to get the milk and bread. He poured the milk into a box which served as a makeshift saucer. The kitten happily lapped it up. He was relieved to see that the kitten was healthy.

He remembered there was a bungalow near the office where an old lady who was very fond of cats stayed. Quickly he bundled the kitten into his jacket and walked across to her home.

Quietly, he left the kitten near the gate, wrapped up in the muffler. His conscience clear, he returned back to the garage and drove home.

Imagine his surprise then when the next day evening, once again he spotted the same kitten in the same place mewing in the same helpless way. Once again, he repeated the previous day's good deed, this time wrapping the kitten in a thick towel and leaving her on the porch.

After this, Justin was happy to see that the next day there was so no sign of the kitten.

He had half expected her to be mewing once again at the same spot. For several days after that, each day when he drove off, he would absent mindedly look at the spot, wondering if the kitten was there.

He did that more by instinct than feeling.

Justin sure was flabbergasted when a few weeks later, after reaching home, while parking his car, he heard a scrambling sound.

He looked everywhere but could see nothing. He thought it was the sound of rats scampering off. That had happened on a couple of occasions.

Just as he was about to lock the garage door, he saw from the back of the car a small newspaper roll trying to fall down. He thought to himself, That's peculiar. He had heard of spirits and sometimes half expected to see one himself. If he did see one, he told himself, he would neither be surprised nor shocked.

Shrugging his shoulders, Justin shook his mind telling himself to be very practical. His trained, logical mind bent down to explore. He carefully held the newspaper roll, half expecting a lizard, snake or rat to pop out.

Imagine his surprise when he heard a mew. Curious he opened the newspaper to see the same kitten that he had rescued a few weeks ago.

" Meeeow ". Justin greeted his new friend with a bright and chirpy " Hi! GoodSpirits".
That's what he had decided to name her.

No more did he need to confine his thoughts to himself. He had found a friend.