The Vila, that is what the place was called by its
dwellers, was situated in a calm part of town. There was a very narrow street
that led you in. It was the only way in and out; one car at a time. There were
trees and flowers planted along the entrance; quite a beautiful sight during
the spring and the summer. As you passed the entrance, it opened up to thirteen
houses lined up in a near circle all painted in different bright colors. To the
right the houses were burgundy, orange, green and purple; to the left they were
blue, yellow, beige, and green and somewhat in front of you they were white,
pink, red, brown, and one covered in tiles. The dwellers of the Vila parked in
front of their houses leaving enough space for the drivers to maneuver the cars.
The people that lived in that Vila came from different
social backgrounds and classes; some had more money than others and also more
culture. Nonetheless, they all lived there in harmony. Right up until the
present moment.
One thing that was noticeable when you walked into the
Vila was the cats. There were many of them and they were lovely; black, orange,
gray, mixed wonderful tabby cats. Some of them were very friendly and came up
to you for affection while others ran off as soon as you approached them. All
the people that lived in the Vila took care of the cats although a few of them
belonged to the people who lived in the brown house smack in the middle of the
Vila.
All was well, however, during this summer the cats
started dying. Each day one of the cats would be found dead in the middle of
the Vila. It was a mystery. How could this be happening? What was causing their
deaths? There were no signs of cuts, blood or wounds. The cats would just be
lying there motionless. Unfortunately, it was always the owner who would find
them. It seemed like they were on their way home to die.
The owner of the cats was intrigued and when he found
the third dead cat, he decided to take it to the vet and have it examined. He
had already buried the previous two in the backyard. He wanted to find out what
had killed the cat. At first he didn´t give it much thought, for the first cat
to be found dead was his oldest and he thought it had died because of old age. But
when he saw the third one, he wrapped the corpse in a blanket and took it to
the vet and left it there to be analyzed.
Three days had gone by when he got a phone call from
the vet informing him that the cat had been poisoned. Someone had fed it poison
not that he had eaten something that made him sick and killed him, but actual
chemical poison. It had been murdered. Intrigued the owner dug up the other two
cats and took their decomposing bodies to the vet also. Three more days went by
and it was confirmed that those two had also been poisoned by the same
substance.
The people in the Vila were shocked at the findings
and they decided to have a meeting that night to talk about the issue. Everyone
showed up except for an old couple, who didn´t care much for the cats and went
to bed early due to their old age. They lived in the white house.
At the meeting, the people in the Vila came up with a
way of watching for signs of who could be poisoning the cats. However, first
they decided that it would be important to save the remaining cats. Those who
could take the cats in and keep them safe indoors did while the other cats were
taken to shelters and other people´s homes. It would be just a temporary
measure for the cats did belong to that family in the Vila and they were sure
to be missed.
The second thing they did was decide to keep an eye
out for anything or anyone that could be suspicious. They knew it would not be
easy to solve the mystery for the cats liked to roam around and about and they
could have been fed the poison in any other part of town. However, the owner
had a gut feeling that it was someone in the Vila.
Two weeks had gone by and the cats that were being
kept indoors were driving the people crazy. They were used to going out at
night and they meowed and scratched the doors to try to free themselves. So the
people in the Vila decided to let them out. It was painful to see those little
animals cooped up indoors. Besides, the cats brought life into the Vila. It was
heartwarming to see them just lying around in the sun.
One evening the man who lived in the brown house was
arriving from work and noticed that his favorite cat – the black one – was
walking strangely. He managed to pick it up and immediately he took it to the
vet. The vet examined the cat and due to the suspicion of the previous poisonings,
he gave the cat some medication and left him in the clinic for observation.
The man who lived in the brown house went home and
started asking the neighbors whether they had noticed anything strange. A boy
who lived in the green house said he had seen the black cat eat from a bowl
that was placed near the white house where the old couple lived. As fast as he
could, the man who lived in the brown house ran out and managed to get a hold
of the bowl. He took it to the vet and they had it checked.
Three days later the vet called the man who lived in
the brown house and told him that the same substance that had been found in the
dead cats had been found in the bowl. The man who lived in the brown house knew
who the bowl belonged to.
Enraged he walked over to the old couple´s house,
knocked on the door. He waited for a long time before the old man came to the
door.
-
Is
this your bowl?
-
Young
man, I was in bed already and you have come over to disturb my sleep and ask me
whether that belongs to me. Couldn´t you have done that in the morning?
-
Answer
me old man! Is this your bowl?
-
Yes,
I think it is. I´ll have to check with my wife but I am almost sure that it is.
Where did you find it?
-
You
have been killing my cats.
-
Hold
on there! There is a law against falsely accusing someone, isn´t there?
-
I
really don´t give a shit if there is or not!
By then most of the neighbors had gone outside to see
why the man who lived in the brown house was yelling at the old man.
-
Young
man, I do not know what you are talking about. I will have to ask my wife about
this, but I am not going to do that right now. She is asleep.
-
I
just want to know why. That´s all. Why did your wife kill my cats?
-
Young
man, I have already told you that false accusation is a crime.
One of the neighbors decided that he should butt in
and calm the man who lived in the brown house down.
-
He
is right. It is late. Tomorrow we can all meet and hear what they have to say
and work this out in a civilized manner.
-
Civilized?
My cats were killed by these old monsters and you want me to be civilized?
Having said this, the police arrived and tried to
settle the situation.
Apparently the old woman had been tired of cleaning
the cat poop in front of her house and decided that getting rid of the cats would
be the best solution.
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