The Third Cat

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My name is Victor, I’m eleven years old, and I live with my parents and two cats in a flat on the third floor. My mother’s name is Cristina. My father’s name is Andrei. The cats are called Pixel and Mango.

Nama saya Victor, saya berumur sebelas tahun, dan saya tinggal bersama orang tua saya dan dua kucing di sebuah apartemen di lantai tiga. Ibu saya bernama Cristina. Ayah saya bernama Andrei. Kucing-kucing itu bernama Pixel dan Mango.

Pixel is black and very fat. Mango is orange and very stupid. Once Mango fought with her own tail for an hour. She lost.

Pixel berwarna hitam dan sangat gemuk. Mango berwarna oranye dan sangat bodoh. Pernah sekali Mango berkelahi dengan ekornya sendiri selama satu jam. Dia kalah.

My mother loves cats. She has a cat T-shirt, a cat mug and cat socks. Her phone is full of cat photos. Of me she has only four photos.

Ibu saya menyukai kucing. Dia punya kaus kucing, cangkir kucing, dan kaus kaki kucing. Ponselnya penuh dengan foto kucing. Foto saya hanya ada empat.

One Sunday in October, at breakfast, she put her phone on the table. On the screen was a small black kitten with white paws.

Pada suatu hari Minggu di bulan Oktober, saat sarapan, dia meletakkan ponselnya di atas meja. Di layarnya ada seekor anak kucing hitam kecil dengan cakar putih.

“Andrei,” she said. “Look. This is Tofu. Tofu needs a family.”

“Andrei,” katanya. “Lihat ini. Ini Tofu. Tofu butuh keluarga.”

My father didn’t look at the phone. He drank his coffee and slowly put the cup down.

Ayah saya tidak melihat ke ponsel itu. Dia meminum kopinya dan meletakkan cangkirnya perlahan.

“No,” he said.

“Tidak,” katanya.

“You haven’t even seen him yet!”

“Kamu bahkan belum melihatnya!”

“I don’t need to see him. We have two cats. Two cats are enough. Two cats are actually too many. Pixel ate my shoe yesterday.”

“Aku tidak perlu melihatnya. Kita punya dua kucing. Dua kucing sudah cukup. Dua kucing bahkan terlalu banyak. Kemarin Pixel memakan sepatuku.”

“She only chewed on it a bit.”

“Dia hanya mengunyahnya sedikit.”

“It was my wedding shoe, Cristina!”

“Itu sepatu pernikahanku, Cristina!”