This article was published on Financial Times Chinese website
The other day, I opened the front door and saw a 1-month-old kitten lying on its side on the dirt, its fur sticking up and its body covered with ants. 7.5-year-old daughter reacted faster than adults, and when I felt bad, she had already crouched down and grabbed the kitten’s body. The kitten, of course, was unresponsive, its whole body stiff, like a plastic toy to be manipulated. I hurriedly told her the kitten was dead and told her to go wash her hands again.
The kittens ran into our yard a few days ago, 3 of them, grayish gray with black and white stripes. A friend saw a picture and said they were very common civet cats. There is a big cat following them, we guess it should be the mom of the cats. one of the 3 is bold and dares to run over to us fearlessly at the first sight, even if he is held in the hand, he won’t leave a shadow. The other two would dodge and approach cautiously, eat, carry off, and so on.
So naturally, the brave kittens were most favored.
When I saw the dead cat, my daughter was sad and called her mom to come down, and the 3 of them were sad together. I was better, they mother and daughter crouched on the ground holding their heads and crying, making me wonder a bit if my sympathy is weak. The big cat was lying next to them, in the shadows about three or four meters away. There are water tanks left behind after construction, often infested with wild cats and dogs, and presumably this family’s nest.
My daughter said the one that died must have been Creepy, the bravest one. Well, I just realized that my daughter has named 3 kittens. I said maybe it wasn’t Creepy, it was the other one, but my daughter said for sure that it was Creepy, it must be him. I asked my daughter how she was so sure, was she able to observe the different patterns of each cat? She said no, only Crawl loves to run around. It dared to run out of my yard and outside the iron gate by itself.
At my wife’s suggestion, we dug a hole in the ground and buried the kitten. Some days later, my cousin came and planted some more sunflower seeds. My daughter said the creeper would turn into a flower.
We have since wondered over and over again how the cat got lost. My daughter thought it probably ran out to play on the road and got run over by a car in the dark, because it looked kind of squishy. I, on the other hand, thought it probably got thirsty, went to the side ditch to drink, and drowned. How else do you explain all the hairs sticking up on it. I’ve also looked at the little pool in the yard and there are no signs of paws struggling in it, which puts my mind at ease slightly.
Anyway, a very small and very cute life gone. It wasn’t supposed to die on the doorstep, so presumably the momma cat brought it over to us and wanted us to help save it.
In hindsight that cat proved to be indeed Creepy. The remaining two kittens were much more cautious of people. My daughter named them Fear and Odd. She could easily and naturally distinguish between the two cats. I thought at first it was because she could tell the cats looked different, but she said that Fear was the least timid, hence the name Fear. Well, if we go by that standard, I think I could be called Sleepy or Sloppy too.
With 3 becoming 2, there will be more good food for the timid Fear to share. My wife bought cat food for kittens and adult cat food in different tubs, but I don’t know if the two kittens and the older cat can tell the difference. We also offer out leftover meat bones, fish bones, leftover milk, and the most popular, fish bones from salmon. One time Oddie wailed while gnawing on it, barking at the bite, and it was adorable.
The kittens somehow found out that they could get under the screen door and would claim that people weren’t paying attention to sneak into the storage room and steal food. It’s funny to think that I used to live in a village with a mouse problem and thought about getting a cat, but now I’m starting to get a cat problem in my house. Kittens are unreasonable, I go to drive it away, they rushed at me huffing and puffing, fierce me. Of course, every time, I carry the cat behind the neck of the skin, to invite out. They don’t hold a grudge anyway.
The kittens scurried around the yard, stomping on our newly planted lettuce greens and pea seedlings. Half a month or so down the road, it’s both gotten bigger and its belly has gotten rounder. These days they’ve gotten bolder too. In the past, they used to run away when we went over to them to eat, but now they are ignoring us a bit, and secondly, they have started to practice climbing trees. The big cat is watching from the side and doesn’t care about anything. He’s in the yard a lot now and has probably made it his home. And the big yellow cat that used to use the yard as a national highway is nowhere to be seen. Today I went out and met the big cat at the door, it stopped and waited for me, probably wanting me to go first before it entered the yard. Then when it saw me dawdling too much, it came over to me and passed quickly when it got to me and got into the yard.
The big cat sometimes runs up to the screen door and yells twice as much as the kittens do, and I guess it probably wants food. It’s not in the habit of sneaking into the house, I don’t know if it’s out of caution or courtesy.
Anyway, three cats, one large, two small, have taken up residence in our yard. A friend has said that we should give these cats shots, something I’m still debating. Our current practice is to occasionally fish for the kittens, hold them in our hands, and then wash our hands.
We’ve discussed whether or not to take the kittens in and make them our pets. My daughter sometimes thinks about it, and I categorically refuse.
I can understand that humans who live in buildings nowadays are very much in need of pets, it’s instinctively set up. Our factory settings require us to be relatively naked and connected to all things in heaven and earth, and the connection is first by the senses and second by the mind. Lose the connection and the odds are that people will go insane.
Swiping, drinking, and reading won’t solve these problems, it’s relief at best. The deeper the body is involved, the more satisfaction it seems to get. That’s why jerking off a cat is more healing than swiping a jitterbug, and rolling in bed with a lover is more pleasurable than reading a book.
The daily routine of modern life is more connected to man-made objects and less connected to life. While man-made objects have improved the quality and efficiency of our lives, the hunger and thirst of the body and mind are unprecedented and difficult to soothe. The old saying that buildings are not grounded is actually quite true. It is difficult to connect with one’s mind and body even if the gardens in the neighborhood are well constructed. People need a few pots of green on their balconies, and they need pets.
When a person has physical contact with a pet, he will not feel the tension of security, the anxiety of responsibility, or think about what to do, but will be relaxed, happy, and healed, and the experience will be even more relaxing than that of yoga or meditation. People have to put on work clothes every day, use knowledge to turn themselves into tools, play various social roles, alienated for a long time, and have to self-regulate, and it’s good to release one’s most natural “humanity” by connecting with pets every day. Pets can make people feel that they are still individuals and part of nature. To put it in an extreme way, pets are related to the basic needs of modern people. Protecting pets should be seen as a basic human right. However, in some cases, pets are not viewed as a right of the owner, but are disposed of as an object that can be eliminated. People’s attitude towards objects is nothing more than a love of the new, disposing of the old and replacing it with a new one. When people treat their pets as objects, they are ignoring the most natural part of their “humanity”, that is, they are treating themselves as artifacts, as monsters that do not need to be connected to other beings.
However, I’ve never considered pets to be the best human fulfillment solution. To be honest, I’m not really comfortable with having an animal as a pet myself. It always felt like it was depressing for the animal, and I used to have budgies, a cat for a while, and a hamster in the house. But it’s hard to say that I’ve made any connection with them, emotionally. Pets are the product of countless years of collaboration between man and nature, and they are much less “natural” than any other man-made object.
Pets are amazing, they can be called upon to drink. You can connect when you want to, and you don’t have the mental burden of tossing it aside when you want to. And, the experience of connecting with the same pet doesn’t decay significantly as the days go by. Lovers fight and break up and break up, but not with pets. If there’s one item in the world that can be analogized to a pet, it’s probably a slave.
Still, these civet cats in the yard are good. They can climb trees in the yard, turn over worms in the dirt for food, or eat handouts given by humans. They’re kind of like parasites in my house and kind of like neighbors with a delicate relationship.
I met my friend next door the other day. The friend said that two kittens had recently arrived in the yard, so they bought cat food. We quickly compared photos to confirm it was the same pair of kittens.
My daughter always says these days that the kittens come less often and don’t show up during the day. I now know the answer. When I got home and told my daughter, she had no reaction and wasn’t at all worried about the kittens moving away.
I’m quite thankful for those kittens. I’m sure my daughter will remember those cats when she grows up and remembers the yard. Because she has cried for Crawl and fed meat to Fear and Odd. These connections of life will make up memories and a unique experience of life in her childhood.
I don’t know why, but I keep thinking that kids who live in neighborhoods are missing memories. It seems like there’s still color in the day-to-day, there’s playing and watching and socializing with other kids, but how much of the daily routine is memorable?
コメント