The rescue of the cat
One day, in March 2002, Olga, the tea lady at Verbum, found a baby cat 2 blocks away from Verbum school. The cat had been abandoned in a box and was hungry. Olga didn´t want to have him at her home because she already had 2 cats at that moment. So, she decided to go for milk to give to the cat. When she came back and put a cup of milk in front of him, he sniffed it but was not able to drink because he was only 4 or 5 days. Then Olga decided to take him to her home.
She fed him with a baby bottle for a month and named him Bartolo. During the day Olga placed Bartolo in a box, with many little balls of soft paper and a clock that tick tocked just as it’s mother’s heart would have.
Bartolo with “baby bottle”
Bartolo was very fond of Beto, Olga´s dog. Afterall, Beto was very hairy and that reminded Bartolo of his mother. They used to sleep together at night.
Bartolo with Beto.
Bartolo grew up and when he became older he left home every night to meet his friends and girlfriend/s. He returned every morning for breakfast. But one day he didn´t come back.
The days went by and Olga became very upset. She looked for him in the neighbourhood without success. She asked to the neighbours for any clues or sightings
After a month, however, a neighbour told Olga that she spotted Bartolo on the top of a tree, 2 blocks away from Verbum school. When Olga heard the news, the students were coincidently on their coffee break from class and were quickly informed on the latest developments of Bartolo’s whereabouts. Two the students, Simon and Davi, offered Olga to help look for Bartolo after class. Marina and Natacha, Verbum teachers, accompanied the three of them for additional moral support. They brought along a tin of tuna in the event a bait was needed to coax Bartolo. Sure enough, they found him atop of a tall tree.
Bartolo was scared, dirty, and too weak to jump down himself. The group tossed tuna up in the air with the hope of enticing Bartolo to jump down for more. Bartolo was not fully convinced but was hungry enough to catch some tossed slivers of tuna which inspired him to crawl down a few meters. But when Bartolo only had 3 more meters to go, he suddenly became discouraged and lost his inspiration. Then Simon persuaded Davi, a mountaineer, to climb the tree and rescue Bartolo from his misery.
Davi gritted his teeth and climbed up the tree and was able to hold the cat. He passed Bartolo off to Simon, who then placed him in Marina’s arms until her mother, Olga, returned home. They all cheered joyously, ecstatic that they had safely rescued Olga’s beloved kitty.
Upon closer inspection, they discovered that one of Bartolo´s legs was hurt and for that reason was so hesitant to climb down the tree.
Bartolo was extremely happy to be home with his family again. Olga, whose birthday had been just a days before, said that it was the best present she had ever received. Simon bought another tin of tuna and Bartolo thought that it was the best present he had ever received. He was famished and devoured the tuna.
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