It was yet another hot afternoon and I was meditating under the custard apple tree when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned round and saw to my surprise that it was Mi Mi!
"Mi Mi!" I cried. "Where have you been and how are you? It's been a long time...."
She smiled and said softly, "I'm alright, Da." I saw to my dismay that she had aged and her glossy orange fur was now specked with white.
"Your kittens - I must take you to see them, they'll be so excited!" I said.
Mi Mi shook her head. "Thanks, Da, for finding them a good home. I shall be forever grateful to you for that! But it's better they don't meet me, they would have forgotten all about me by now and it's best I let things be."
"But... but ...." I protested.
She waved aside my protests and continued: "Da, I came to tell you some exciting news. I shall be taking in lost and homeless cats at Tom's house. There are so many of them in that area and they need good food and a warm bed. It's the least I can do to repay Tom for all that he did for me."
She then told me of how Tom had found her and taken care of her until he died.
"See this necklace around my neck? He gave it to me before he died, I shall always treasure it." It was a lovely string of blue crystals, this Tom must have really loved her, I thought to myself.
"Give me one or two weeks to set things up," she said. "Then do drop by. I shall be very happy to see you, and oh, do bring Ning as well."
She got up, gave me a quick hug and disappeared. It was such a brief meeting and though I didn't quite agree with her decision not to see her kittens, I was glad to hear of her future plans. She had been through a tough time and I hoped with this new purpose in life, she would be much, much happier.
Ning was a little skeptical when he heard the news but all the same agreed to go along with me to Tom's house some two weeks later. Head Nun, generous as ever, donated two big bags of cat food. We found the house without much difficulty - Mi Mi had put up a sign which read "Tom's Home for Cats" - and we were delighted to find that she had already taken in three kittens and two elderly cats! They were an adorable lot and we busied ourselves helping her cook for them.
It was then that an idea struck me.
"Ning," I said, "Why don't you stay a while and help Mi Mi? There's plenty to do and I'm sure she wouldn't mind a helping hand."
Ning hesitated."Well, I'm not sure, I'm not used to handling kittens ...."
"I could do with some help, Ning," chipped in Mi Mi. "Please?"
Ning finally agreed and when I left the Home, he was busy helping one of the old cats eat.
I didn't see him for over a week and assumed that he liked his new "job"! It came as a surprise when he trudged in one morning, looking rather gloomy.
"Ning, what's happened? I thought you would be at Tom's Home."
He looked at me, then said, "You know, Da, when I was helping out there, I saw another side of Mi Mi I hadn't seen before. When she was at the Club, she was a haughty, arrogant flirt, grabbing what she could. Now she's gentle, caring and so loving......"
His voice trailed off. I was beginning to get the picture.
"Ning," I said. "Have you fallen in love with her?"
I saw him blush, probably for the first time in his life. He cleared his throat, then said, "You're pretty smart for a monk. If you must know, I proposed to her but she turned me down. She said Tom is the only one she could ever love and there will never be anyone else."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ning," I said. "Is that why you left the Home?"
He nodded. "No use staying, I'd only be a nuisance to her. Hey, don't get me wrong, that's not all. I'm not really cut out to be a babysitter. I miss the Club, it's been more than a week since I had a decent drink. I'm off there now, see you later." He sped off before I could say anything else. Poor Ning. He had never been lucky in love but then he never took any of his girl friends seriously. Well, Mi Mi had to manage on her own for now.
A couple of weeks later, Ning came rushing into the temple, his face as white as a sheet.
"Da! Da! Tom's Home ... it has burnt down!" he shrieked.
"What?" I gasped.
"I just heard from someone from the Club. He was passing by yesterday and the whole place had been razed to the ground! He's not sure when it happened but it looked like ....it looked like no one survived the fire!"
"Oh no! We've got to go out there and take a look," I yelled and in our haste, we ran off without telling Head Nun.
It was a great shock to see Tom's house burnt to cinders. Everything was gone.
"Oh my God....." I whispered. Ning was speechless with shock.
"Mi Mi ... the kittens ... the old cats ...." he stammered. Without thinking, he ran into the ruins searching here and there for the cats and repeatedly calling their names.
"Ning, Ning, come back," I called to him. "It's no use .. they're gone .... "
It was then that I heard a movement behind me. I turned and saw an old man on a bicycle watching us. He had snow white hair and a kind face but it was his grey twinkling eyes that struck me most - they were so gentle and full of compassion - I had never seen a human with eyes like that before.
"Are you friends of those cats there?" he asked.
I nodded.
"I'm sorry, they were all killed in the fire. Some people tried to save them but the fire was too strong." he said.
Ning came back then, his body covered with ash.
"Nothing but ashes .... " he whispered, tears streaming down his eyes.
The old man came down from his bicycle and took out something from his pocket.
"By the way, someone found this among the ashes ...." and he showed us a string of blue crystals.
"Oh my God, those beads belong to Mi Mi!" I cried.
The crystals more or less confirmed that Mi Mi had been killed in the fire. Ning and I were devastated and all hopes that the cats might have escaped were shattered.
"Let's say a prayer for them, Ning," I said softly and knelt down. Ning was beside himself with grief and kept on saying, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't left the Home, I could have saved them ...."
We were unaware that the old man on the bicycle was watching us all the time. When we finally got up to leave, I suddenly remembered him and turned to thank him for returning the blue crystals but he had gone.
When we arrived back at the temple, we found Head Nun waiting anxiously for us.
"Where on earth have you two been?" she chided us.
Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "You had a visitor just now."
A visitor? Neither Ning nor I was interested, we were too sad and exhausted.
"It was most strange," Head Nun went on. "There was this old man with white hair on a bicycle and he had with him a big box which he told me to give to you both. When I looked inside, I saw that it was your friend, the orange cat and three kittens and two old tabbies, and all of them were sleeping like babies. Before I could ask him anything, he just vanished before my very eyes! I thought I was hallucinating! Do you two know what all this is about?"
It took some time before we digested Head Nun's words. Old man on a bicycle? Orange cat? Kittens?
"Head Nun!" cried Ning (he's always the first to recover in an unusual situation). "Where are they?"
"I put them in the kitchen. Why... what ....?"
Somehow the energy returned to our bodies and we zoomed past Head Nun into the kitchen!
Well, to cut a long story short, we found Mi Mi and her charges safe and sound. Mi Mi could not recall what had happened, she only remembered passing out when the thick smoke enveloped her. How could five cats burnt to death in a fire suddenly become alive again? It was nothing short of a miracle and I believed that the old man on the bicycle had something to do with it. I could see from his eyes that he was no ordinary being. He had returned Mi Mi and the others to us, alive and well. But who was he? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
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