Ilkbahar - Spring

Neptune was proven right about the blind spot, but how long would the oversight, the lack of perception last? The attacks on Pluto and his dysfunctional family had ceased for now. Kubbeli Evler as predicted became a safe haven, and the new home for the nomadic tribe of stray cats. The sightless eyes of the mountain – les yeux de la montagne, had servants to hunt and find, and it was only a matter of time before Pluto and the seven cats of Kubbeli Evler would be discovered.

The group arrived during the zenith of summer, as the burning furnace of the sun scorched the earth, suffocated the air, and boiled the sea water. The surrounding lands of the Mediterranean have always been of equal importance to the vast expanse of water itself. More than 5000 years ago the early Egyptians on the southern shores called it Wadj-Ur, the great green, when the sun was battling against a world emerging from an ice age, and the lands on all sides of the infant sea were bright emerald, green. Full of the basic ingredients for sustaining life, and the early years of the Ba invasion upon the world. The ancient Greeks and Romans called it the Great Sea surrounded by land. Mediterraneus; the Latin word meaning midland surrounded by land, or in the midst of an expanse of land. The history of the Mediterranean Sea was never a predominant waterway like the earth’s great oceans, it was always submissive to the surrounding land. The land that Ba would master and control, not like the migrators, and hunters of the land, but as settlers.

The hot summer would fade, as the earth spun, and the area named Mediterraneus moved away from the spotlight of the sun. Away from the burning orb. The north easterly Bora winds changed from bringing cooler comfort to the oppressive hot and humid temperatures of the summer. Now the winds brought the cold blasts of winter air from the north, together with the free riding, the hitch-hiking precipitation, bringing its heavy abundant load of rainfall which would refresh the dry parched earth. The dry arid land that had begged for weeks for the welcoming deluge.

Then came the primary season, the season of rebirth, the newborn, Ilkbahar, meaning the first season of the year.

The land had been quenched after the hot dry arid summer, as the rains doused the terrain, high, low no tract or elevation was overlooked. The roots, the seeds hiding in the earth started to sprout. The colours started to fill the barren earth like an artist’s rainbow spectrum palate board. The exhausted colours of dusty brown and sepia were now complemented with a vast spectrum of greens, early spring flowers of yellow, white and pastel light blues appeared, making even the ominous higher mountain granite rocks appear inviting, and interesting from afar.

The winds from the north and the south continued to play games over the land, as huge thunderheads of clouds appeared like an artist’s brush strokes on the canvas in the sky. The midair collisions between conflicting and unsettling winds squabbled over the ownership of the land. Hearken at the sound of the commencement of their distant rumblings, a show of disapproval, as the brutal, savage dance of nature began in earnest in the skies. The earth shook as the sudden shock of violent claps of thunder rose and fell away in threatening anger; a warning of the noisy battle yet to come. The sudden huge sweeping flashes of lightning as black clouds thrashed against each other for ascendancy. There was no end to the chaotic crescendo of the sound and light show, treating the earth and the land with disrespect, and sending lashings of rainfall as a show of disapproval. This was nature at its most violent and unrelenting.

It made the long hot bright languid days of summer a distance memory. Some even doubt its return.

During the shortest, darkest, the coldest wet nights there was always shelter to be found in the many Ba structures of Kubbeli Evler. Kubbeli Evler was a site of many Villas owned by Ba. The properties were fully occupied in the summer, but in the winter and springtime they were empty, but the lack of Ba on the site meant there was also a lack of food, in particular waste food. This presented a problem for the stray cats of Neptune, Pluto and the seven cats of Kubbeli Evler. Most of the summer they found scraps of leftovers from Ba, as there was one or two kindhearted Ba that would intentionally feed the stray cats. Unfortunately, the source of food from Ba came to a sudden halt because of their absence during the winter months, and the spring.

The stray cat family had to venture outside the boundaries of Kubbeli Evler and forage for food in the neighbouring farms and fields. Field mice and rats were the most popular. Pluto let the seven cats discover the challenges of their new surroundings themselves, as he would sometimes disappear for days. It was Lady that would suggest where they could find food. Most of the small hotels had closed for the winter months, but the Ba world was never quiet for very long. The mixture of the refuse and discarded waste from the Ba, now had to be supplemented by food found on hunting trips, which allowed the group to survive the days and weeks of the bleakish period of the year.

This was the trade off, the sacrifice of living in the blind spot away from the hunting murderous eyes of the mountain, and its servants of death. Compared to the Capricorn club there was a scarcity of food. The Capricorn club’s kitchen always provided leftover food, and general garbage that could sustain an army of stray animals, but fortunately for the strays, Wicked advice to leave, and find shelter at Kubbeli Evler was the correct decision, and saved their lives. However, it came at a price – the scarcity of food in the winter and springtime.

The seven cats of Kubbeli Evler always travelled in numbers. They felt safe in numbers and in a group. If one looked closely at their movements, travelling in a single line, along well used, well-trodden pathways, even within the bounds of the Kubbeli Evler property site. The path may take abrupt turns, negotiate gaps in walls, or wire fences, as well as the use of the open expanse of Ba roads, and pedestrian walkways created for Ba in their world. Nevertheless, there was an unwritten rule, every step must have a secondary exit, any path, even the smallest of pathways of trodden down grass in the fields or overgrown gardens must have a secondary exit for the purpose of a fast illusive escape. It was the same for stray dogs, and sometimes the animal pathways were used by the wildlife coming from the remote areas in the hills and mountains where Ba and their machines did not penetrate.

Lady always encouraged the seven cats to visit the neighbouring farm where Dag the dog and Yasli the cow lived. There was always the availability of fresh milk, and that was a welcome assurance. The pathway between the farm and the Kubbeli Evler wasn’t a straight line, and it meandered around fields, as well as disused and overgrown gardens. Dag was always eager to hear the news about the love of his life – Lady. Everybody knew that Lady would give birth in the springtime, which was a special time of the year in any rural community.

Yasli was especially happy to see the seven cats, always encouraging them to steal her fresh milk from the farmer’s storage area. Her daily life was all about eating and producing milk, either eating outside, or now in the winter eating and sheltering in the cowshed, a small crude stone and corrugated iron structure, where Yasli and the seven cats would often lay and doze. Yasli enjoyed their company, with the knowledge that she was feeding the hungry stray cats. All the animals would daydream with Yasli, full of grass, and the seven cats full of her delicious milk. In the semi darkness the milk could easily be the famous golden yellow colour, as without a reasonable light even the eyes of the cats could not determine all the colours of the spectrum. But, if delicious had a colour, then all the seven cats agreed it would be golden yellow.

It was during these visits that the seven cats were introduced to Yarrak, the head of the chickens, and Kaz the gander goose. Both would wander into the cowshed at various times. Yarrak lived amongst the orchard trees and the hen houses, which Ba had constructed. Just like Yasli, Yarrak and all the chickens were part of the livelihood of the farm, making a profit for Ba, with the sale of the milk and egg produce. For the farm animals it was an arrangement, they were fed and housed, in exchange for their eggs or the milk they produced. There was a distinct difference between these animals and the seven stray cats. There was also a distinct difference between the pampered pets, compared to Lady and Dag the guard dogs. These were working dogs, they served a purpose and never lived inside the Ba house.

Kaz the gander goose was different. He thought he was a guard dog, and yet he was a goose. He wandered around the farm taking his food from Ba, but he served no purpose, so he designated himself the task to guard the property and the animals. He was dependent on Ba for food and shelter, but he didn’t produce anything, compared to the chickens and the cow. The farm already had a guard dog – Dag, but this fact didn’t interfere with his self-importance, and his perceived role and assignment. In fact, Kaz was more diligent and had more curiosity than Dag the dog. Dag slept in the cowshed with Yasli most of the day; it was Kaz that patrolled around the entire grounds of the farm. It was Kaz that would boom the siren of alert for possible intruders with his loud and irritating trumpeting sound – HONK; HONK; HONK!

Each animal from the farm treated the seven cats differently. All the animals recognized the group of cats as a family of strays. The seven cats most of the time would always appear together, sometimes one or two would join Pluto on his wanderings elsewhere. There were other occasions some of the seven cats would stay behind, especially if they were feeling unwell or tired. Sometimes to keep Lady company. Nonetheless the farm animals recognized the difference between the seven stray cats. Not just recognizing a different type of animal, cow to cat, or chicken to cat, but they recognized them as feral, semi wild, not under the control of the Ba world.

The farm also had a cat named Nettles, an old, domesticated cat that seldom came outside in the cold and wet months. It preferred the summer heat, or the heat of the wood burning fire, and knew its days were numbered, and the day approached when she would take that final walk with Neptune to the next realm.

Yasli and Dag were the most protective and easy going with all the seven stray cats of Kubbeli Evler, both appreciated their company for different reasons. Yasli for the pure company of another animal spirit. Dag for any news about his sweetheart Lady, and knowledge of her welfare. Neptune always said that Kaz the gander thought he was a dog, because in the last life he was a dog. Neptune joked that his body had changed but his mind would never, he thought he had remained a dog in spirit, however this time he was the boss dog. Kaz could never be entirely trusted by the seven cats when it came to the appearance of Ba. Kaz thought like a dog; he thought he was the best friend of Ba, and this particular Ba farmer owned his loyalty. All strangers were potential intruders whether they had two legs or four. He made an exception for the seven cats, as Yasli and Dag had quietly told Kaz the story of the strays from the Capricorn club. But, if any of the Ba appeared, his allegiance immediately changed to Ba, and he would start honking an alarm, which also served as an alarm for the seven cats of Kubbeli Evler to either hide out of sight or make fast their departure from the farm.

Yarrak, the boss of the chickens, was also wary of the seven cats. He didn’t like that there were so many stray cats. One or two were acceptable. He couldn’t remember a day without Nettles, the old farm cat being around. Nettles was his best friend on the farm. But seven cats were too many. Yarrak would sometimes reach down pretending to eat something from the ground, and bite the leg of one of the seven, just for the fun of it. It was a demonstration of authority, a subtle warning. A warning to the seven cats about his family and brood in the orchard field, or in the hen house. Sometimes there were small chicks scattering around in the dirt. The Ba farmer didn’t always find every egg, the broody hens always tried to hide the eggs out of sight from the farmer’s collection. On occasions those hidden eggs hatched, and out danced a bundle of feathers, with bright blinking eyes. A fine meal for a hungry stray cat.

Whenever the seven cats came anywhere near the orchard field, Yarrak was on guard. For instance, it could be one of the many secret paths connecting the farm and Kubbeli Evler site, the beady eyed Yarrak kept a very close eye on the stray cats. With his swirling, jerky neck movements taking snapshots from those two sides of his head as his facing eyes tried to gain the full picture, something which Ba and many animals take for granted with two forward facing eyes.

Yarrak the boss chicken was saying under his breath. “I have both my beady eyes on you lot!”

The only encounter the seven cats had with wild animals in that first winter was with three Yaban, wild pigs from the remote mountains. The encounter was a surprise for both groups, as both were out foraging for food.

In the harsh winter months, the wild pigs Yaban would venture down into the valleys, into the towns and farms of the Ba. Their food has become scarce, and the rubbish bins are easier to find than the sparse hunting in the remote hills. An unguarded hen house full of eggs would be a delicious find for these hungry foraging wild animals. The same animal tracks are used by wild animals, as the stray animals, as the tracks that transverse the land are strategic and purposeful. It was winter and springtime; the tracks were hidden out of sight as the rainfall in these temperate climates not only changes the general colour, but the grasses and wild growth now stood tall and strong making the animals traveling along these tracks invisible to the Ba world.

Meeting physically head-to-head was a surprise for both groups. Although, both had been alerted to each other’s presence in the surrounding vicinity. Both sets of animals had smelt their unique and distinct urination, and sometimes a left-behind molting of their hair covering, but the sight of each other was no less disturbing. The Yaban stood taller, and far larger, larger than a big dog, so the seven stray cats fled in every possible direction. It wasn’t necessarily a reason for running for their lives; the seven cats of Kubbeli Evler, Yaban are omnivores, they ate meat, vegetables, and dairy produce, it’s unlikely that the three Yaban would attempt to hunt, kill and eat the stray cats. Both sets of animals were looking for the same food sources. Although Yaban are a much larger animal, their agility and speed in the close confines of the animal track that day made it impossible for the larger animal to capture the fleeing feral cats. The seven cats darted in every direction, making it bewildering and impossible to consider a worthwhile chase.

In the event that both groups of animals found a huge source of food, leftovers from Ba, for instance, it would be the Yaban that would out muscle the feral cat. Nonetheless, that’s not considering the craftiness and stealth of the average feral cat, and that is not taking into account the teachings of Pluto and Luna upon the seven cats of Kubbeli Evler.