Lily and the Question Mark Cat

Near the bustling market of a hillside town, 8-year-old Lily kept bread crusts in her jacket pocket—just in case. One rainy Tuesday, she spotted a scruffy calico cat with a tail curled like a question mark, sniffing empty chip bags near the noodle stall. Her own stomach growled, but she only had half a curry puff left. “It’s too small,” she sighed.

The next day, Lily packed two curry puffs. The cat was there again, this time shooed away by boys tossing pebbles. “Stop it!” Lily stomped her foot, placing the food on a banana leaf. The cat blinked, inching closer before devouring it with a grateful purr.

By week’s end, Lily saved her snack money to buy dried fish from Mrs. Lee’s stall. “For the street cats,” she mumbled. Mrs. Lee grinned, adding extra fish heads. “I used to feed them too,” she whispered, like it was a secret.

One stormy afternoon, the cat vanished. Lily searched until dusk, finding her drenched and limping behind the old mosque. With help from Mr. Tan, the neighborhood handyman, she rushed the cat to a vet. “You’ll need to clean her wound daily,” the vet said. Lily named her Patches and vowed to care for her.

Patches now naps on Lily’s porch but roams free, her crooked tail a familiar sight. Kids nearby leave bowls of rice and fish scraps, and sometimes, Lily still tucks a curry puff in her pocket—ready for the next hungry wanderer.