Then-student was going back to Malaysia for a holiday, and asked me to look after her cat, Xiǎo Lóng 小龍 / “little dragon”.
What can you do when it’s someone else’s place? The point of my presence, anyway, is to keep the cat company: help it feel less alone and deserted. So, I sat in an armchair, reading, with my feet up on a pouffe. Xiǎo Lóng went on my lap: on all fours, with his face towards me but head dropped, in a doze.
This went on for a while. I then broke the silence and asked Xiǎo Lóng, “Happy?”
In answer, he rolled over and, belly up, looked at me backwards over the top of his head, reached out a paw and stroked my cheek.
(London, UK, 1995)
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