Chief Nun had told me that she would be away for a few days on the temple's business and would only be back on the evening before the Mooncake Festival. She had already announced to the nuns shortly after my arrival that my chanting classes would start immediately after breakfast each day, that attendance was compulsory for all and anyone who skipped the classes would be severely punished.
So the morning after my arrival, we gathered in the prayer hall after breakfast. Ah Moi Kor had been put in charge in Chief Nun's absence and she and twenty other nuns sat there, waiting for me. I got the feeling that the fear of punishment was the only reason why they turned up for the classes, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered.
I looked at the scowling, castor oil faces before me and wished I hadn't agreed to teach them. But I had promised Chief Nun and I had to carry out my job. I began by asking them to chant Kuan Yin's Compassionate Mantra so that I could assess how good or how bad they were. I was appalled to find that their chanting was atrocious, it was full of wrong intonations and badly pronounced words - the Goddess Kuan Yin herself would have been shocked! To cut a long story short, I went through the mantra with them line by line and by the third morning of my stay, I was relieved to find that they had showed some improvement.
However, they still refused to talk to me and made fun of me behind my back. During meal times, I ate alone in a corner. I didn't mind, I had somehow managed to remain calm and undisturbed by all the hostility around me. Equanimity in all kinds of situations - that's what Head Nun had taught me. My only friend was Lotus who was most sympathetic and treated me with much loving kindness.
One evening while we were having dinner, the lights suddenly went out. According to Lotus, this is a common occurrence at the old temple and the blackouts would last something like an hour or so before the electricity was restored. So she always keeps a stock of candles in the kitchen cupboard for emergencies and would light them in various parts of the dining room so that everyone could see. We continued with our meal, then suddenly we heard the growling of a dog. In the faint light, we saw that it was a stray that had somehow got into the temple. It charged at two young nuns who ran helter skelter screaming their heads off. The dog cornered them near the door of the dining room, saliva dripping from its mouth. Everyone panicked and started screaming, not knowing what to do.
Scared as I was, because the dog was at least three times my size, I had to do something to save the nuns. I ran from where I sat, jumped onto the dog's back and bit its ears, hard. The dog, taken by surprise, shook me off and ran out of the dining room whining in pain. I fell into a tub of cold water that was lying nearby and which was going to be used for washing the dishes. Lotus was the first to reach me and pull me out of the water. She found a dry towel and started rubbing me down. "Oh, you brave little cat!" she said, while drying me. The nuns stood around us, watching silently. Then Lotus said, "Look, why are you all keeping quiet? Don't you think you should thank Vege Cat for his quick action? Those two nuns could have been mauled to death by that horrible dog!"
The two nuns concerned quickly came forward to express their thanks. The others stood there, looking sheepish. Then Ah Moi Kor with the sullen face (Does she ever smile, I wondered?) said stiffly, "Thank you" and marched off.
Lotus tucked me into bed that night after giving me some warm milk. That sudden plunge into cold water did shake me up a little and I was thankful that I had Lotus to take care of me.
After that incident, I found that the nuns had "thawed", so to speak. They started talking to me and asked about my life at the temple in town. They even made a concerted effort to improve their chanting and by the time Chief Nun returned to the temple, they were chanting more smoothly, although there were still one or two mistakes. Chief Nun was quite impressed and congratulated me on a job well done. Of course I didn't tell her of the problems I faced in the beginning and I told Lotus not to tell her either. Giving and forgiving - another lesson I learnt from Head Nun.
Ah Ying came to pick me up the next morning and I was astonished when all the nuns turned up to send me off. Chief Nun, seeing my surprise, said smilingly, "They've all come to send off their hero!" I guess someone must have told her about the dog incident.
It had been a wonderful stay and I would definitely miss Chief Nun, Lotus and even the stiff-lipped Ah Moi Kor when I got home.
Everyone was still in the prayer hall when I arrived back at the temple, so I had the kitchen all to myself. I jumped into my basket, stretched myself and promptly went to sleep. Oh, it's so good to be back home ....!
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