Despite all of the exciting and happy moments of my time here in Egypt, last week my friends and I experienced the loss of three sweet (and one not so sweet) pets we had acquired in Cairo. Though the only thing more populous than people in Cairo seems to be cats, who actually seem to fare quite well on the relatively warm and forgiving streets, Krystina and I recently adopted two little kittens that were well on their way to an early end. No more than two weeks old, she found them covered in oil, dirt, and soot, straggling their way blindly into a busy street full of pollution-sputtering taxi cabs and careless drivers. We brought them home, soaped and shampooed them, re-opened their eyes, and made them a cozy little bed. Immediately we fell in love with them and adopted them into our home. Named Kibda and Mukh (Arabic for "liver" and "brain"), our precious little babies seemed to be very sweet and happy, though what they really needed was a mother. The vet diagnosed them with worms and severe malnourishment, and left us with a grim smile. Despite their cozy beds, warm heat lamp, and two-hour bottle feedings of milk, our sweet babies passed in only a few days. We will truly miss them.
The third tragedy came to Matt and Nick, who decided it would be a "great" idea to be a crocodile from the "Friday Market"--an open market that takes place on Friday mornings in the City of the Dead, the tombs were most Egyptians bury their family members, which also happens to house close to 2 million of the poorest Cairenes. For a mere 50 L.E. (about $10 USD) Matt and Nick made it home with a foot-long baby crocodile and managed to smuggle it into Nick's flat unnoticed. Appropriately named "Boots," the crocodile was neither friendly nor intimidating--though it was small and basically non-threatening, its rows of sharp baby teeth still looked like glistening little razors to me. However, poor little Boots wasn't very interested in his goldfish snacks, and perhaps wasn't very healthy to begin with. And today, Boots as well is no longer with us. Though he will never grow into a big beast, he will likely not be forgotten in short time, as his memory will be preserved along with his salted and dried mummified body which is shortly to be transported (perhaps illegally? shhhh) back to the states.
posted by Katie Warren @ 10:09 PM
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