Ling - Pt. 2

Story told by Ning

Ling had gotten over the scare she had at the temple but I still found her mooning over Da when I went to the club the other night.

"What a shame a good looker like him wants to be a monk," she sighed.  "He must have been brain washed by the nuns."

I wagged my paw at her and said, "Forget about him, Ling, he's serious about being a monk and wants to go to Nirvana."

She laughed and gave me a light slap on the cheek.  "Don't worry, I will leave your good friend alone."

Then suddenly she stiffened as she looked in the direction of the door.  I followed her gaze and saw to my surprise that a cat had come in and it was Da!  What the hell is he doing here, I thought to myself.  Ling appeared to be in a daze and before she could move, I jumped up and hurried over to him.

"Da, what are you doing here?"

He looked at me, then said, "Da?  My name's JJ, do I know you?" 

It was then that I realized that it wasn't Da but some cat who looked exactly like him.  He had the same black and brown spots but when I looked closer, I saw that he had a long black tail whereas Da's tail is a short stub.  That was the only difference.  I must say I was kinda relieved he wasn't Da.

"Er... sorry, you look like a friend of mine,"  I said apologetically.

Meantime Ling had come out of her trance and slid over to us.

"This is JJ," I said introducing him to her.  She was staring at him mesmerized, then recovered and said, "May I offer you a drink?"

For the rest of the evening, she stuck to JJ and I could see she was enamoured by him.  Well, I suppose if you can't have the original, a copy will do.  I left soon after and hoped she wouldn't make a fool of herself over that new guy. 

I didn't go to the club for a few nights and heard from my buddies that JJ was there every night and he and Ling were going strong. He had even given her some jewelry  and other presents. Then the next thing I heard was that she had packed her bags and gone off with him. Somehow I knew this would happen.  JJ talks with sugar on his tongue, any female can succumb to his charm easily.  Oh well she's old enough to take care of herself and I thought no more of it.

So I was more than surprised when I saw Ling back behind the bar about two weeks later.  She looked very tired and her fur was all ruffled up and dirty.  Her boss came up to me and said threateningly, "Your friend begged me to give her back her job.  One more episode like this and I shall have to fire her.  You make sure she understands!"

"Ling, what happened?" I asked.  "I thought you would be miles away from here by now."

She slammed down the glass she was cleaning, then spat on the floor, her face red with fury.

"He's nothing but a liar and cheat!" she growled.  "I trusted him but he took advantage of me.  I don't want to talk about him anymore!"

"Look, let's go outside.  You can shout and scream to your heart's content and get it off your chest, come on," I said, leading her to the back door.

Once outside, she let out a shrill scream which nearly deafened my ears, then she blabbered on.

"You know what he promised me?  He said he had business in the next town and asked whether I could help him settle a deal there.  He took all my money and said he would marry me once he finished his business there...."

"Then...?"  I asked.

She cursed once more and continued, "It turned out that he had another girlfriend in that town whom he also promised to marry!  He gave her all my money and when I found out, we had a big fight and I came back here.  Oh I wish I had wrung his neck!"

"Well, at least you found out his true colours before he got you pregnant,"  I said.

She didn't say anything to that and it was my guess that she had already slept with him, but I thought it better not to comment any further.

She then suddenly turned to me and shouted, "It's all your fault!"

"What?"  I gasped, taken aback.

"If you hadn't introduced me to your precious monk friend, I wouldn't have fallen for him - or anyone who looks like him," she raged.  I was shocked when she grabbed a stick lying on the ground and started beating me with it.

"Hey, look here," I yelled as I grappled with her. "I didn't tell you to run away with this JJ guy.  It was your own choice....."  I managed to overpower her, gave her a hard slap and she calmed down.

"Sorry," she said, tears running down her cheeks.  "I just had to take it out on someone ...."

We sat there in silence for some time until she cooled off.  

"Guess I'd better get back to work," she said quietly and went back inside the club.  I sat outside for a while pondering over the whole matter.  Poor Ling, she may not be perfect but she didn't deserve a guy like JJ.  I told myself I would punch that jerk in the eye on her behalf if he dared to show up here.  He deserved a black eye, if not two.

It was as though the heavens had read my thoughts.  A few nights later, while I was sitting there enjoying my whiskey, who should turn up but that snake himself.  Ling had taken the night off saying she wasn't feeling well.  I drew myself up and confronted him.  Without a word, I gave him a good, hard punch in his left eye.  He fell to the ground and remained there for some time.  

"Get up, you bloody jerk," I hissed.

He rolled over, one paw covering his eye, then stammered, "Ning, have you gone mad?  Why did you hit me?"

For a moment, I was stunned.  I looked closer at "JJ", saw the short stubbed tail and realized it was Da!  

"OMG," I muttered and bent down to help him up.  "Look, what are you doing here?  I thought you were someone else!"

He stood up, wincing in pain.  

"I came to tell you that Ah Hoe accidentally fell into a drain," he said.  "He needs your help."

"Oh, no!  Is he ok?"

Da nodded.  "Only a sprained ankle.  Other than that he's fine."

"Alright, let's go," I said and helped him out of the club.  I dropped Da off at the vet to get his eye fixed before I ran all the way back to Ah Hoe's hut.  Oh God, what a mess, I thought to myself.  Who would have thought Da would come to the club!  Ah Hoe had already fallen asleep when I reached his hut and I was relieved he hadn't suffered any serious injury.

The next morning, after seeing to Ah Hoe, I ran to the temple to apologise properly to Da and to see how his eye was.  Well, there was a dark blue black ring around it and the vet had given him an eye patch to wear. Of course I had to tell the whole story to him and Head Nun.  The latter was rather peeved that I had hurt her favourite boy and I was told off for being a "busybody".  As for Da, like a wise old owl, he waved off my apology and said it was all karma, he had probably punched me in a previous life, so now he had to pay back by being punched by me! 

Well, I don't know whether karma had a part in it or not but I swear from now on, I will mind my own business. I was beaten, scolded and called a nosy parker, it really doesn't pay to be a good Samaritan these days.