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, as in the case of staying with Jiāng (see Jiāng the Abyssinian cat), 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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