Dust Lump
“No way, where did this come from?”
A pitch-black kitten was hiding alone in the bushes, meowing nonstop. It was so tiny it looked barely smaller than my fist. Fist? ‘Ah, it must have come in through that garage window.’ There was nowhere else it could have gotten in, so that had to be it.
I let out a short sigh and stared at the kitten, its tail puffed up in fear. ‘……What am I supposed to do now.’
I had never raised an animal in my life. I once won a hamster from a stationery store raffle and brought it home, but Mom made me return it to the shop owner, so I never got to keep it. Raising an animal costs money, and our family never had that kind of leeway. In a way, it was only natural. ‘Besides, Mom hated mice with a passion.’ To adults, hamsters, guinea pigs, and field mice all looked like the same thing—mice.
Anyway, that wasn’t important right now. ‘Hmm……’
I had no idea what to do, so I just crouched down and stared at the kitten that looked like a ball of dust. If I had found it a little earlier, the staff might have done something. My timing was usually good, but this time it was a bit off.
“Huuu……”
— Meow! Meow!
The longer I stared, the tighter it curled up, pressing itself into the corner. I should at least give it food and water. ‘I’ll have to let it out eventually.’ It might as well leave with a full stomach. Water could just go in a dish. But what about food? I stood up and searched on my phone for what cats eat. ‘Kittens can’t just eat regular food.’
The kitten looked extremely young. There was kitten formula, and if it had teeth, you could soften dry food for it. It was more complicated than I thought. ‘If it were bigger, I could’ve just let it go.’
I shook my head lightly while looking at the dust ball still hiding in the bushes. ‘No choice, then.’ If I closed all the doors leading to the yard, it wouldn’t be able to wander around the house. I’d have to shut the doors for now and go out. ‘Is there a vet clinic nearby?’ If worse came to worst, I could leave it at the clinic. If they said no… I’d think about it then. I couldn’t bring myself to just release something this young outside. Especially with the weather getting colder lately. ‘No matter how I look at it, the timing is terrible.’
“Kitten food? Do you know roughly how many months old it is?”
“Uh… no. It was just curled up in the corner of the yard, so I couldn’t really tell.”
The receptionist at the animal clinic nodded at my answer. She thought for a moment, then started asking more questions—approximate size, meowing sounds, where I found it, whether there were other cats nearby, and so on. I answered calmly as I recalled the details, and she brought over a small bag of food.
“It might be a kitten that’s already weaned from its mother. It’s not exactly a stray since it came inside the house on its own. At this size, it’s not a baby anymore, so this food should be fine. Feed it three times a day, and soften it a little with water……”
‘So it wasn’t a newborn.’ If it wasn’t a baby… maybe more like a teenage cat? Still, it was definitely small. ‘Well, there’s no restaurant or anything nearby, so it probably hasn’t had much to eat.’ Maybe it was small because it had been starving.
“And if you’re planning to keep it or foster it temporarily, you’ll need to get the vaccinations. A checkup too.”
“Vaccinations?”
Cats get vaccinations? Probably something like the rabies shot dogs get.
“Yes, the essential vaccines are these……”
After listening to the receptionist’s kind explanation, I decided I should bring the kitten in right away. If it had been locked up alone in an empty house for a long time, its condition might not be great. With the cold weather, it could have caught a cold or something. ‘I hope it’s okay……’ I wasn’t going to keep it, but if I was going to foster it temporarily, it needed to be healthy. And if a young kitten died in my house, it would feel awful.
“I’ll go get it right now.”
“Do you have a carrier?”
“A carrier?”
I bought a white carrier from the pet shop next to the clinic and got straight into the car. Driving a little anxiously, I arrived home. I parked roughly at the front gate, opened it, and went through the entrance into the yard.
“Kitty.”
I called for the kitten as soon as I entered the yard, but there was no answer even when I called loudly. I walked over to where I had found it earlier, but nothing was there. It must have moved in the meantime. ‘All the doors out of the yard are closed, so it should still be here……’
I looked around, searching the corners where a kitten might hide. Then suddenly—
— Meow! Meow!
‘Up?’
The sound was coming from above. I looked up and saw the kitten perched on a tree branch, sitting there nervously. I had no idea how it got up there. More importantly, could it get down?
“Hey, the vet wants to see you. Come down.”
The kitten just kept meowing from the branch. Well, it couldn’t understand me, so that was to be expected.
“Uh, uh……”
As I slowly approached, the kitten started backing up on the branch. Then its hind paw slipped, and it began flailing its back legs in the air. The sight was so ridiculous I almost laughed, but it looked dangerous, so I rushed toward the tree. Sure enough, both hind legs came off the branch, and it was left dangling by its front paws, struggling.
‘Unbelievable.’
Cats are supposed to have good motor skills. This one clearly didn’t. Watching it flail stupidly, I let out a small laugh and quickly brought the carrier over. Once it had something to push against with its hind legs, the kitten relaxed and steadied itself. I didn’t miss the chance—I grabbed it and put it straight into the carrier.
“Got you.”
— Meow! Meow! Meow!
“Ow, you’re loud. We’re going to the vet, okay? To the vet.”
Judging by its behavior, it seemed healthy enough to beat up every stray cat on the street. Still, it needed a checkup.
“Let’s go, Dust Ball.”
I picked up the now-heavier carrier and got back in the car.
“Oh my, you’re back already.”
The receptionist looked surprised I had returned so quickly. I gave her an awkward smile and set the carrier on a chair.
“I was worried it would run away… so I came straight back.”
She smiled softly and handed me a form and a pen.
“Could you fill this out before we register? Leave the age blank, and just write the name, contact number, and address.”
“Ah, sure.”
I took the paper, quickly filled it out, and handed it back.
“Does the kitten not have a name yet?”
“Uh… no.”
“Could you at least write a simple nickname? We need a name for the medical records.”
I hadn’t expected I’d have to give it a name. I was only planning to foster it temporarily, and now I had to come up with a name too. Had I ever named anything in my life? Well, not really. Coming up with a game username wasn’t that different from naming something, but I had almost never named an actual living creature before. ‘A name… what kind of name……’
What should I call it so people would say I did a good job? I stood at the reception desk thinking for a long time, then looked back at the carrier. Inside, the black kitten was meowing and glaring at me. ‘I saved it, and it’s already acting ungrateful.’
I considered naming it “Ungrateful,” but I had a feeling it would actually live up to the name, so I crossed it out. ‘Hmm……’
After a short moment of thought, I wrote down the name that came to mind and handed the paper back to the receptionist.
“Alright, we’ll register it as Meonji.”
Meonji. I didn’t know how long I’d have it, but while it was staying with me, I’d call it Meonji.
After finishing the registration, I sat down next to the carrier. The constant meowing made me think it must have been a chick in a past life.
“Meonji and Meonji’s guardian, please come into the exam room~”
“Yes.”
It was my first time in an animal clinic exam room. I carefully carried the carrier inside. A friendly-looking vet was waiting with a smile.
“Hello. Let’s take a look at Meonji……”
The vet opened the carrier door and gently took Meonji out. Meonji meowed and struggled with all its might, but being so small, it didn’t accomplish much. In the end, the vet held it and checked its eyes, ears, teeth, and everything else.
“Hmm… It looks healthy with no major issues. We’d need more tests to be sure, but no skin problems, ears are clean……”
As soon as the vet loosened its grip, Meonji bolted back into the carrier and hid.
“And as you can see, its movement is good too.”
The vet smiled while looking at the carrier. I looked at Meonji meowing inside and let out a small laugh as well.
“Oh, and… the receptionist mentioned vaccinations. How do we go about that?”
“We can do the vaccinations after an additional checkup, once we confirm there are no problems.”
“Additional checkup?”
“There could be side effects from the vaccine, parasites, or other invisible issues. It’s the same with people. You don’t get a flu shot when you’re already sick.”
I had asked something obvious.
“Then can we do the checkup right away?”
“Yes, please wait just a moment.”
“What am I supposed to do with this……”
— Meow!
Meonji was hiding in the corner of the living room. Not house dust—cat dust. Age: two months. Gender: male. Breed: Siamese… well, not exactly countryside, so just a mixed breed. The vet didn’t think it was a full stray, and mentioned its mother might have been a pedigree cat.
A lot of thoughts ran through my head. For now, I decided to foster it temporarily while looking for someone to adopt it. I could keep it myself, but raising an animal meant being responsible for its entire life. Was I capable of that kind of responsibility? Honestly, I wasn’t sure. I could handle financial responsibility, but everything else… I was still lacking. ‘And… it’s kind of a hassle too.’
Meonji, who had been quietly watching the battery-operated cat toy in the corner, suddenly dashed over and swatted at it. It seemed like it had relaxed a bit. This was a far cry from how it had freaked out at the clinic when getting washed, nails trimmed, ears cleaned, and shots.
‘Well, better than being quiet, I guess.’
I let out a short sigh and looked at Meonji. It was ridiculously cute—cute enough to have survived this long on nothing but its looks. ‘I wonder if any of my friends would want to raise a cat.’ I should ask them when they come over. It would be much better to give it to someone I know than a stranger. ‘Until then, I should at least make a room for Meonji to stay in.’
Was there any cat with a better life than this one? Probably not.
— Meow! Meow!