Lala, Our Garfield

The girls and I went to pick up my friend, Michelle, from her cousin, Jiin’s place.  As soon as we stepped in the house, this fluffy, sweet orange tabby came and rubbed his chubby body against the girls’ legs and purred.  He event rolled on the floor so the girls could pat his tummy.  Jiin told us that his name was “Marcus” before he was abandoned and found by her family.  Since he was found right outside of Sinbale ( 辛巴樂), the family named him “Lala”.  

Right away, F fell in love with him and asked, “Could we have him?”  My face was all red when I heard her absurd request.  "Honey, this is auntie Jiin's cat.  We don't come to her house and ask for her cat."  But to all our surprise, Jiin gladly replied, "Actually, you are more than welcome to have him.  I have been so busy with my little girl that I can no longer take care of my pets the way I'd like to.  If you like him that much, he's yours."

The girls' faces lit up and asked, "Could we?  Could we?"  

To make the story short, H and I agreed to adopt Lala as F's 10 year old bday gift.  F was absolutely thrilled.  

F was not the only person to have her wish come truth.  To have Lala in the house also fulfilled my childhood dream.

When I was a 1st grader, I found a white kitten at our front door.  I begged my grandmom to let me feed the kitten.  Though Gran grumbled that once I feed the kitten, it would never leave, she gave me a dish of milk.  As I watched the kitten lick the milk dry, I grew a new found love for cats.

Guess what my favorite cartoon character is?  Of course, it's Garfield!   I loved the personality, the smarts, the sleepy eyes and the rare tenderness he has deep down for his family.

I have had several encounters with cats that made me believe that I am a cat person.

My last year in college, I had two graduate students as my next door neighbors.  During Thanksgiving break that year, my neighbors flew home and left their cats in the apartment.  I had the habit of leaving my sliding door open to let the air in.  One night, while I was preparing for dinner, someone paid me a visit and scared the daylight out of me.  One of the cats walked in my sliding door and gave himself a tour.  He looked so at home that made me feel like I were the intruder.  Haha.

When my family moved to Penang, I went to an English expatriate friend's house for Bible study one morning and met her kitten.  Out of all the ladies in the living room, the gray kitten chose to sit next to me.  I patted the kitten while listening to the lesson.  A few minutes later, I found the little thing leaned against me and felt asleep.  My friend asked if I would adopt this kitten.  My heart said yes.  But after I learned that the kitten would most likely be put down if my family should move back to the States, I decided the timing was not right.  I could not let my impulse shorten a beautiful life.  I could wait.  

I picked up a few necessities for Lala before he came to live with us.  At the pet store, I asked the lady at the counter if I need to do anything to prevent our Golden Retriever from potentially biting or hurting the cat.  The lady looked at me with a grin and said, "oh, don't you worry about the cat.  The cats are usually the dominant ones in the house.  You should worry about your dog."  

When we brought Lala back, he hid under our beds most of the time and seemed frightened.  He would only come out for meals and bathroom breaks.  

After the first three days, he was comfortable enough to come out and inspect the house.  We had been very used to patting Maxie, our Golden that when we first patted Lala, we were amazed at how soft his fur was compared to Maxie's.  I love Lala's white feet.  It seemed that Lala were wearing mittens.  I suppose that's why the nursery rhyme says: 

Three little kittens they lost their mittens, 

and they began to cry,
"Oh mother dear, 

we sadly fear that we have lost our mittens."
What! Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie."