Chapter 76 (1/2)
Chapter 76
My name is Lixia . I'm ten years old and I'm in the fifth grade .
My family is different from others .
Other kids have parents to send them to and fro, but I go home from school alone every day .
Mom has been hospitalized and Dad has never told me what Mom is sick with .
Because of work, Dad was unable to take me to school or fetch me from it .
It has become a habit for me to visit my mom at the hospital after school .
Luckily, the hospital was just ten minutes away from my school .
I would do my work beside her bed and grab dinner from the canteen to accompany her .
Half a semester pa.s.sed with me stuck in that routine .
Sometimes, during dinner time, a fat languid cat would roam into the room .
I would offer it some of my own food .
Mom would just keep quiet and request that I clean up the floor after .
This fat cat would let me stroke it a little after it's full .
It would even roll over and show me its belly to rub .
Whenever I play with the cat, Mom would correct my a.s.signments by drawing circles on the errors .
After she was done, she would stash them in my bag and ask me to head home .
I would get Dad to look them through again .
Days pa.s.sed simply .
One day, as I was about to leave the hospital after putting the cat down and carrying my backpack, a nurse stopped me at the exit .
”Play with that fat cat less in the future, alright, little boy?” she said kindly, kneeling down slightly .
”Why?” I asked curiously .
She looked around before answering, ”Its name is Oscar and he's a death kitty . ”
”What's that?”
”A death kitty can predict when a person is going to die,” she explained .
”How?”
Instead of answering, she got up and rushed off .
From that day onward, while I still feed the cat, I touched it lesser and lesser unless it rubbed its body against my calves, asking to be petted .
One day, the cat came into the room . I put a small piece of fish on the floor but it did not come over, and instead, jumped to the bed of an old man .
The fat cat curled up on his pillow and fell asleep soon after .
Everyone looked at the old man with a strange expression .
I was about to go pick the cat up but Mom stopped me .
She whispered to me, ”Don't disturb Oscar today . ”
I nodded and used a tissue paper to clean up the food .
As usual, Mom packed my bag and sent me on my way .
The cat was still sleeping peacefully by the old man's pillow .
And the old man was writing something on a piece of paper .
Curious, I walked over to have a look . On the paper were closely packed words that looked more complicated than those I had learned in school .
”What are you doing, eh?” I asked softly .
Mom quickly shouted, ”Don't be rude, Lixia!”
I lowered my head in shame, but the old man simply ruffled my hair and smiled . ”Oscar's a good cat . Don't bully it, alright?”
As I was puzzling over his words, Mom added, ”Go home now, boy . ”
Without a choice, I nodded and left the hospital .
The next day, the old man's bed was empty .
”Where did he go?” I asked .
”You'll know in the future,” Mom dismissed .
Oscar came into the room and walked around my legs, its long tail hooking around my calf .
”Good boy . I'll play with you after finis.h.i.+ng my homework,” I said as I stroked it .
Amazingly, he listened and went aside for a nap .
I went to get dinner after finis.h.i.+ng up .
I ate beef that day and gave Oscar the biggest piece .
He gobbled everything up happily .
I told Mom, ”A nurse told me not to play with him and the old man from yesterday told me to treat him well . ”
”What do you think of that?” Mom asked with a smile .
”Oscar's very cute,” I stated .
”Do what you want then,” she encouraged .
I carried Oscar up and rubbed its belly as it stretched out comfortably on my lap, purring softly .