Big Brother Bubby the Christmas Cat--圣诞小猫Bubby哥
Big Brother Bubby the Christmas Cat--圣诞小猫Bubby哥
It was about two weeks before Christmas 2014. I could tell as soon as my wife-to-be walked through the door by the way she handled her bag and her sheepish apologetic look she was concealing a potentially damning secret in there. But the hopeful tenderness she revealed was not so damning, but conciliatory.
Thus she carefully placed her bag on the dining room table, opened it, and the head of a mewing kitten tenuously emerged to peer at its surroundings. My wife withdrew the kitten and snuggled it in her arms.
"So I guess you want to keep it," I commented. It didn't take a genius, which I'm not, to figure that out.
"Can we?"
With Christmas only two weeks away, how could I say no? Kittens always make Christmas better. They climb the tree and swat all the balls onto the floor and peek out between the boughs for cute photo ops. Plus it was almost my bed time. I had a 5:30 wake up call and didn't want a big discussion before bed. And how can you say no to your wife-to-be about a kitten? What the hell? I like cats too.
"Well, if you promise to clean up all its shit, I guess it's not a problem."
"Thank you."
I went over and pet the cat in her arms and then held it myself before giving it back to her, then went to bed. Thus Bubby the Christmas kitten came into our house. I call him Big Brother Bubby for the story because he has since become the big brother to Goose, who I wrote about earlier.
Bubby, like Goose was a street cat abandoned by its mother. He was thin and starving when the better half found him perched in a planter along Qianhai Lu (前海路) walking home from work one night.
When I woke up the next morning and went into the kitchen to make coffee, I heard the incessant mewing of the kitten, but he was no where to be seen. It sounded like he was roving back and forth behind the baseboard molding under the sink and stove. I opened the dish sterilizer to see if I could spot him behind it, but there was no cat to be seen. I single, partially eaten fried fish lay close to the corner joint of the baseboard.
"How the Hell did he get under there?" I thought. Rather than waste precious morning time, I decided to let the future wife deal with it. She ended up having to remove the baseboard to remove the cat. When I got home, he was tied under the Christmas tree with a long red ribbon and bright red ribbon harness she'd made for him. A food and water dish were nearby as well as a temporary litter box.
Now, of course, he prefers to drink from the fish tank and has taught Goose to do the same. Or they run into drink the shower water after we shower. Go figure!
As Christmas approached we handled the little bugger more and more each day until he wasn't only not scared of us anymore, he craved our company. Each day he greeted whoever got home first with enthusiastic meowing. I threw him up on the bed one cold (for Shenzhen) January night to sleep with us but he scampered off. Three days later he was begging to sleep with us. And that's how he stayed warm and got through the winter.
Now he's a permanent member of the family and has taken on responsibility of his own by playing big brother to Goose. Oh sure, they fight sometimes. He also gets jealous at Goose sometimes because he doesn't like to share his time with Mommy and Daddy with Goose. Goose always has to sneak up to us when Bubby is occupied or sleeping to get his time. But if Bubby thinks Goose is in trouble, he's the first to race to his aid. If Goose gets stuck or suffering and wet after a bath, Bubby will rush to his side to let him know everything's OK. If Goose is playing by himself, Bubby keeps a watchful eye. If he senses trouble, Bubby leaps to his aid.
But whereas Goose is a sociable cat who likes to make new friends, Bubby remains terrified of every human being on Earth, except my wife and I. He's taught Goose to flee every deliveryman and house guest too, but Goose always emerges tentatively, then joins the action. Bubby keeps to his hiding places.
Having two cats is just about right for us. Fortunately, both of them know how to use the toilet so we don't have to clean the litter box anymore. Between the two of them, I'm pretty sure we'll have a warm bed this winter.
images: all mine