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Friday, December 9, 2011

Singularly Favoured


As much as Miss Mao loathed Little Boy, she adored The Daughter. More than once, The Daughter woke in the middle of the night to see Miss Mao settled comfortably on a pillow nearby contemplating her sleeping face. This spooked The Daughter so much that Little Boy was soundly scolded for not closing the door properly.

None of us knew however, the extent of Miss Mao's adoration until the day before we left. Miss Mao had laid a little tribute at the door to The Daughter's room. It was a little bird, the size of half my hand. It lay so still we thought that it was dead. We ran to get Sinfonia, who assured us that the bird might still be alive.

Somehow, Miss Mao had caught the bird gently enough in her jaws that no damage had been inflicted, and then Miss Mao had contrived to bring the living bird as a gift to The Daughter. At the door to The Daughter's room, Miss Mao lay near Little Bird, mesmerizing it with her golden-eyed gaze. Little Bird lay there, unable to move.

The Daughter cupped the little thing in her palms and settled it in a flower pot far out of Miss Mao's reach. It took a while for Little Bird to recover and fly off into the bushes where I managed to get a photo. Even then, Miss Mao bounded into the bushes and stalked the bird for another 15 minutes. We could only watch helplessly as hunter hunted prey. Fat cat Miss Mao hunting was a creature of deadly speed, precision and elegance. We had no idea she could run so fast or leap so high or strike like lightning.

Happily, Little Bird got away.

When it was all over, The Daughter realized that she had forgotten to thank Miss Mao for her little love gift. It is no small gesture when a cat brings a human a still living prey. Even more interesting was that Miss Mao brought The Daughter the WHOLE bird. Sometimes, cats bring a thigh or a head or some innards to share. Miss Mao's gesture that spoke of love, and her willingness to share the best and freshest of what she could offer.

How does The Daughter do it? How does she charm all these animals? The sheep come rushing when they see her. They will jostle each other to be able to get themselves up closest to her. Very often, when she is in the sheep's paddock she is hemmed in on all four sides by woolly bodies. Our Milo clearly loves her most. And now she has gone and charmed the Queen Mother, Miss Mao.

Next to such obvious favour, Little Boy feels quite bad because his relationship with Miss Mao is very poor indeed. And I am jealous too because hey... Miss Mao comes to ME in the mornings to get some extra helpings of Friskas. So why didn't I get a gift?! Hmmmmmmph!!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is wonderful indeed to be respected by a cat...your daughter is honored! Years ago my kitty "Lady Smith" used to bring me mice, some dead, some not! She'd bring them to the front door...several of my friends were appalled when they came to visit!

Petunia Lee said...

Theanne - Lady Smith is a lovely name for a cat. It captures all of a cat's dignity!!

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

ah, love. inexplicable. hehehe....

Blur Ting said...

haha, she has that special touch and the skill to communicate with animals. She has the kindest soul cos animals know that.

Wen-ai said...

Oh, your daughter is Dr Dolittle! Maybe she can consider to be a vet? She must have a very very compassionate heart so much so that even the animals can feel it. As for cats and their gifts, after adopting Cookie, the stray cat for almost 2 years... the stupid cat hasn't even brought any gift to me yet! But she has given Hub a half-dead cockroach once. Ugh.

Petunia Lee said...

Ting - Yeah... she has a way with people and animals. When I brought her to nursery class when she was 3, her classmates used to clap their hands and say "XXX is here!! XXX is here!"

Petunia Lee said...

Wen-Ai: It may be because there is an absence of wild life in Singapore. Sinfonia's garden is crawling with animals. Once, when we woke up too early, we spied a wallaby in the garden. There are also possums, echidnae, field mice and birds of every colour. Funny though... Miss Mao seems to leave the ducklings quite alone?

Petunia Lee said...

Fry - Yeah lor... Hmmmmmph!

Malar said...

Your daughter should have some special skill with the animals! She will be a great Vet!

Petunia Lee said...

Malar - This talent of hers was quite hidden I assure you. There aren't enough animals in Singapore to have surfaced her talent. However, she has the same talent for people too...

My Sinfonia said...

I am also astounded by how she is so in-tune with animals, for a singaporean girl like her. You should see how adeptly she just cupped the little bird in her palms, so gently. Its a gift.

Petunia Lee said...

Sinfonia - Thank you!!