Memory of my two cats

 Wrote this in 2007.  It was not finished.  I felt the intention for this essay was much bigger than just the tree story.  But we'll never know.  

Now both my cats are gone.  I miss them both terribly.  Very terribly.  

My two cats

I have two cats. One named dong dong, one named bao bao. They are awesome. But I am not a good master. I did not train them well. They always want to eat our food. They always jumped on the table in search of our food. I actually like them to enjoy some of our food. However, I also want them to go away and stop bothering us eating our food sometimes, especially when my mom and sister presented.

My cats are the only ones that eat a lot of human food. I’ve yet seen any other people’s cats that enjoy eating this variety of food. I am actually proud of that. Because our food is much more authentic than those so called cat food. My cats also enjoy some bones. Of course, I don’t want them to eat unhealthy food, like the ones too salty, or too sweet. To my surprise, they even eat something that I’d think they hate, like Curry.

I sometimes gave my two cats time to explore the outdoor world. I had them on leashes, of course. I love to see them outdoors. They seemed to me more alert and energetic. I took them outdoor after they arrived to my house for a few weeks, I think. At first, I was of course, nervous. So I supervised them very carefully, without leashes on. Because I thought I did not need to. It took very little time for them to venture all over my yard although they were still small. They loved it. And I loved it. We tried to put collar on them, bound by a grass rope. Amazingly, they found a way to escape the collars as soon as they were out under the big blue sky.

There were times that I let my cats wondering outside without leashes. I tried to accompany with them of course. However, without leashes, I could not go with them everywhere, and I could not restrain them. As you could imagine, they went to neighbor’s yard I could not follow. I was kind scared at first, very anxiously and impatiently waiting for them to come back. They always did. So I grew careless. I would go inside and do my own things, just went out to check them occasionally. There’s even once I walked on the street and called out Dong Dong’s name, he appeared and ran towards me. That feeling was so overwhelming!

Although I did let them out without leashes a few times, my mom and my sister thought it’s too dangerous. I agreed with them. But it was kind hard not to let them go outside since I myself enjoyed them outdoors. One sunny afternoon, I let them out again. I initially tried to keep them in my yard of course. But as always, they ran away. I thought it was ok, so I opened my basement entrance then headed inside. Around 5 p.m., Bao Bao came back meowing all the way from basement for food. I was kind worried at the time already, I tried to walk around the neighborhood calling out their names 2~3 times already. I was extremely happy that Bao Bao was back. But I wanted to wait for Dong Dong to come back and feed both at the same time. Well, that never happened. Dong Dong never came back that night. Frustration and regret just overpowered me. Mom and sister told me not to do that, and yet I still did it. It’s all my fault. I went outside to cry that night after my mom and sister went to bed.

The next day, I rode my bike around neighborhood. I rode to Summer street all the way to 114. I’d stop and chat with people in hope to get something valuable. Some told me that they saw a cat running past their house last afternoon. Someone told me that their cat went away two months now and hadn’t come back. All of them were very nice that they told me to keep an eye out for me. I went to Andover animal hospital, MSPCA to report a missing cat; called animal control to ask if they had anyone like my Dong Dong. I printed out a poster, but I did not use them. For I was afraid that might not be legal. All these efforts were fruitless. I got nothing at all.

I was going to give up, so I went to my uncle’s house to do something around 2 p.m. I came back in a different route, still hoping I could catch a glance of my missing cat. When I walked passed a house, a house with tall fence around its garden. I heard a familiar meowing. I was like stunned. It’s so dim, so thin. But I know I heard it. So I started to peek around. As I was doing that, the house with tall fence, an old lady walked out of it, trying to do some yard work. I saw her look at me puzzled. So I gather my courage to ask her if she saw a red tabby walked passed here. She said no and asked me where I lived. I told her, and she immediately said, “oh, the house with cats sitting on the window, right?” I felt a bit funny, and told her yes. At the same time, the neighbor across the street strode out and started to do some yard work. She sawed us talking and joined in. Upon hearing a red tabby, she said she saw one walking past here last afternoon.

I felt I could not do much there so I prepared to leave. But I heard that faint meowing again. I was kind shocked, because it felt so familiar, so like Dong Dong meowing! I stopped to listen. The old lady saw me. I asked her did she hear anything. The neighbor across the street hadn’t left yet, she said she heard something too! The old lady said she heard nothing, but she said since there’re lots of birds in her garden and woods on the back, maybe I should check it out. She led me to the back of her house, there’s no grass, but woods and stones. As I walked near the woods, the sound became much clearer, and the old lady heard it too. And this time it’s grew anxious. At first, I looked on the ground, searching for the source of that sound. We got nothing. But suddenly, the sound was so loud and it was above us! There, high in a tree, Dong Dong was almost shouting us from a branch so high, my heart was going to jump from my throat! Upon seeing this, the old lady was half amazed and half amused. I could only hear my heart beat in my chest like a street drummer.

I asked the old lady if she had a ladder I could use. She showed me where it was. I put the ladder up, it’s a two level ladder, one that has a second set of ladder adjusted by sliding. I tried to climb up, but at the mid way I felt it’s so shaky and got scared. She suggested to get Fire department to help out. I agreed with her and went home to make the phone call. I got home and started to call the Fire department. The receiver ridiculed at my request saying that they no longer provide this kind service. He also comforted me that the cat will come down eventually by himself. I did not get comforted at all. So I called animal control to see if they’d help. That did not work either. I called the Fire Department again, and the receiver got annoyed but politely assured me that my cat can go to that high, it could come down with no problem. Well, I’ve tried, and if those guys can’t come, I will try it myself. I searched around my house for ropes that I could use. I tried to remember what I learned at High School Gym class. I had vague idea of how I could tie myself around the waist and thigh. I managed to get some kind of rope eventually, although it’s no where near the real thing I was supposed to use. But I was determined to go anyway.

When I arrived at the woods, the old lady was showing her neighbor where the cat was. I told them that the Fire department would not come so I decided to do this myself. The neighbor left after the old lady tried to lure the cat with some of her own cat’s food. Nothing happened. Dong Dong was meowing so loud, he looked like a scared to death kid to me…those firefighters… I started to climb the ladder again, this time I managed to get on the top of the ladder. But it shook so much. The old lady asked me through the window if I needed someone to hold the ladder. I really thanked her asking that question. I did not think of that, or even if I did, I doubted I would really ask.

Well, now the base was secured, I once again tried to climb up the tree from the top of the ladder. I bounded myself to the tree by tying a rope between my ropes around my waist and thigh. Moving very carefully, I touched the cat. I finally touched my cat! However, the problem was that he’s scared to come down from that branch. He had every right mind to be scared. Because I could grab him just barely. I did not care for that, I just kept trying to reach him and tried to get him off that branch. In the end though, I had to admit, it’s really not safe for him to come down this way. He was meowing even more loudly and shook a little. And I even smelled a bit of urine. I decided to get down the ladder and went home to get something that would be safe to let Dong Dong to jump in.

I ran home and searched the house desperately. I found my sister’s gym back. It had an ok base, a bit soft for my taste, but it might do the trick. I climbed back on that tree, holding a bag, and tried to pull my cat into the bag. I was sweating like a raining day, but it’s still no go for the cat. I finally put the back on my head and hoping a miracle would happen. It did. The cat stepped into the bag on my head. I guess that the bag on my head looked much closer on that branch. I also considered myself lucky to hold that bag tightly enough. After I got the bag off my head, I quickly zipped the bag to prevent Dong Dong from peeking out his head. I climbed back down. I was totally exhausted but with whole heart of joy and a sense of accomplishment. After I put the ladder back to the place, the old lady gave some food to Dong Dong at her front gate. We started to chat a bit and found out that she’s my house’ previous owner’ sister! I should really thank the old lady!

Dong Dong was impatient and meowing all the way back to my house. My heart was racing like a maniac since I saw my cat on that tree. But now I was kind enjoying my peace of mind. It’s so good that cat was back to us. Bao Bao was smelling at Dong Dong and licking him every where while he was eating like hungry pig. My mom and sister were surprised to see both cats when they came back. And I could not stop telling them the story. In fact, I could not stop telling the story for a few days to come!

I did not know much cat before. I’ve always liked dogs. I never thought cat as pet for me. And to my knowledge, I know my sister was scared of cats. I am not sure about my mom, for she always claimed to be fearless of cats and dogs. Anyway, there’s no chance I’d be able to get cats or dogs. But when my aunt started to work in Tufts University, she acquired a friend, who owned two cats. They become really acquainted. My aunt was talking about a very small kitten one day. It’s a white kitten only 2 month old. Mrs. Ling’s daughter, volunteered in MSPCA, brought the kitten home for special care, for it’s too young to be adopted. My aunt was very bewitched by the kitten. And there’s another friend of my aunt, Mrs. Hu