Story told by Ning
Yawn! Overslept today after a long night at the Club. Got a message from Ling to see her tonight, she had something to urgent to tell me. That female is always full of surprises, what is it this time, I wondered.
She was waiting impatiently behind the bar when I arrived.
"Ning," she called, beckoning noto me. "Look, I need a favour from you. There's a newcomer in town and he's been here for the last two or three nights. I want you to pretend you're my boyfriend when he comes, okay?"
"What?" I said. "Pretend I'm your boyfriend and get beaten up in the process? No way!"
"Please, please, Ning," she wailed. Then before I could say anything more, the subject of our conversation swaggered in. I must say he was a handsome cat with black and white fur and green eyes. He immediately came over to where we were standing and said, "Hello, Ling. And who is this?"
I opened my mouth to say that I'm a regular at the Club but Ling cut in and said, "He's my boyfriend, Ning."
"Aha!" said he. "Hello there, my name's Marcus. How about you two joining me for a drink?"
I nodded but Ling intervened. "Marcus, if you'll excuse us, my boss has asked Ning and I to have a drink with him," she said, pulling me away.
We made a beeline towards the boss' office and when the coast was clear, she said, "Thanks, Ning,"
"Hey, what's with you and that guy? Don't you like him? He seems okay to me."
"Ning, this is the first time you have met him. He was here the last two nights, we had drinks together and I can feel it in my bones he's DANGER and I don't want to be near him!"
"Well, I can't be protecting you every night, you know," I said. "Look, you'll have to solve this one yourself. Besides, I'm running out of dough, I'll have to skip a few nights from now on."
"Wait, I'll lend you some money, just don't leave me alone with him!" Ling pleaded.
Marcus didn't attempt to speak to us again and I noticed that he left the Club just a little after 12 a.m. When I left a while later and turned into the street, I heard a voice calling me. I turned round and I should have guessed - it was Marcus. He probably wanted a fight and I steeled myself for it. But I was surprised when he talked to me in a friendly tone. He asked a little about Ling, how long I had known her and told me about himself. It appeared that he was some kind of artist and specialised in making statues.
"Hey, if you're not doing anything tomorrow morning, let me show you my work," he said. "I have a little garden patch not far from here." I was of course curious, so I said okay and agreed to meet him the next day.
Marcus' garden was a small patch behind some houses. He was very proud of it and I was quite amazed at the many stone statues of cats which he had created.
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"They're all my ex-girl friends," he said.
"Really!" I said. "Did you create them from memory or did they pose for you?"
"Both!" he replied, smiling.
"It looks amazingly like Ling," I said.
"Last night," he said.
"Last night? But we were all at the Club last night!" I said, surprised.
Marcus didn't give me a reply. He just said he had something to do but I could stay in the garden as long as I liked.
I was getting a little uncomfortable. For one thing, I didn't believe that Ling would pose for him when she was so scared of him, and he did leave the Club before me. He must have gone back to the Club after he met me in the street, I thought to myself. Something was not right.
After he had gone, I went back to Ling's statue and studied it closely. She looked like she had been taken by surprise and when I looked closer, I was shocked to see tears coming out of her eyes! "OMG, am I seeing things?" I said to myself. I had to investigate. I ran back to the Club. Of course at this time, hardly anyone was there, only the cleaning lady who was tidying up the chairs.
"Madam, is Ling here?" I asked. (Ling lives in a small room at the back of the Club).
"No, there's no one in her room when I went there to clean."
"Did you see her go out last night?" I asked.
She thought for a while, then said, "Yes, come to think of it, I saw her leave with a black and white last night, after you left."
"You're sure? And she never came back?"
"She didn't come back last night, that's for sure, because I was the last one to lock up and leave. I took it that she and that black and white had gone somewhere to have fun, so I didn't wait for her. I was the first to come this morning and she's not back yet. Hey, what's going on?"
"Oh...nothing, never mind....thanks!"
I didn't know what to think but goose pimples were already running up and down my spine. I decided to go back to the garden. I went to Ling's statue, the tears were still in her eyes.
"Still here?" said a voice behind me. It was Marcus.
I decided to take the bull by the horns.
"Look, I don't know who or what you are but I have a hunch you've turned Ling into stone like all the other cats here!" I yelled at him.
Marcus smiled. "You're smarter than I thought! Yes, I turned them all into beautiful works of art as you can see!"
"But what have they done to you? You said they were your girlfriends...."
"So they were but they never really cared for me! They pretended to love me, then dumped me for someone else... they're all cruel, heartless bitches and they deserve to be turned into stone!". His face had turned ugly as he said this.
"But Ling never did anything to you..." I protested.
"She rejected me even though I'm was so nice to her and she had you pretend to be her boyfriend, don't think I don't know! They're all the same, proud, greedy, selfish bitches...!"
"Look, I want you to bring Ling back to life right now, do you hear?" I snarled at him.
He looked at me, a smirk on his face. "Only if you give me something precious," he said.
"Damn it, you know I don't have money or anything valuable!"
"I wasn't thinking of money. You know what I want? I want the heart of your precious friend, the one who is a cat monk. His heart is so pure I want to fill it with evil and destroy it!"
"What? You're insane!" I was so enraged that I lunged at his throat and for a while, we grappled and fought. He was stronger than I thought and soon he had me pinned down. Saliva was coming out of his mouth and I saw to my horror that he had sharp fangs like Dracula's. It looked like he was about to suck every drop of blood from my body!
"This is the end, old boy," I thought to myself and then just as I was about to black out, I heard Da's voice. He was chanting "Om Mani Padme Me Hum", I had often heard him chant this and he had told me that whenever I was in danger, I should chant these words. With all the strength I could muster, I blurted out "On Mani Padme Hum".
I saw Marcus recoil, then all of a sudden two huge black dogs appeared from nowhere, pounced on him and dragged him off. I heard some screaming and shrieking in the distance, then all was silent.
I turned round and saw that it was Ling! She had returned to life and so had the other cats in the garden. They all crowded round me and one of them said, "Thank you for saving us. If you hadn't come on the scene, we would have been imprisoned in our stone bodies for eternity!"
I took Ling back to the Club, told her what had happened and asked her to lock herself securely in her room. Although the dogs had killed Marcus, it was still wise to be cautious. I then decided to find Da.
He had just finished praying when I arrived and as soon as he saw me, he ran towards me and asked, "Ning, are you alright?"
"I think so," I replied shakily.
Da continued excitedly." I was praying just now when suddenly I had this terrible feeling that you were in danger. I started to chant more fervently until the feeling vanished, then you came!"
I told him the whole story and that I had actually heard his voice chanting. He was amazed but very relieved that no harm had come to me.
I never did see those dogs again and nobody in that area seemed to know about them.
The power of prayer had saved me.
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| Ning |
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