Chapter 3 Hawaii (3) The Secret Garden.
Chichi was invited into the courtyard as an "envoy from afar".
The exterior wall of the entryway is decorated with hand-woven palm leaf mats and distinctive bark cloth, while seashells and dried flower wreaths are placed on the table.
The dappled sunlight fell on the other person's silvery-white hair and the colorful little blanket on their knees.
The kitten then saw clearly what the other person had been knitting from morning till night.
The blanket was only half-finished, with fine stitches and an intricate tropical floral pattern. Despite her increasingly poor memory, the other person still remembered the hand-weaving techniques.
The kitten was attracted by a piece of wool yarn that was hanging down, and it reached out its paw to paw at it a few times before the old lady picked it up from the ground and placed it on her lap.
Dry, warm hands stroked the kitten from head to back, and the kitten purred contentedly, like a tiny engine running. Its honey-colored eyes scanned the pattern on the fabric, and its paws rubbed comfortably against it.
"Geona, look."
Mailer asked the caregiver in the house, "How about we knit a kitten pattern on the back half of the blanket? Would the children like that?"
Kara frowned when she saw the fluffy kitten on the old lady's lap, and said bluntly, "Why did you let her in? The blanket will get dirty, and the cat hair will stick to the yarn and be hard to clean..."
"She is very clean."
Meller stubbornly kept the cat and gave the kitten a small seashell from the table to play with.
Kara swallowed her grumbling and turned to tidy up the medicine bottles and water glasses on the table.
“Thirsty?” Meller said, turning his head to look at the glass in Carla’s hand, as if remembering something.
“You must be thirsty after walking such a long way. Keona, go get your friend some water, use the shallow dish under the kitchen cabinet.”
Kara was clearly unwilling to fetch water for any cat friend, nor did she want to play the role of "Geona".
After dawdling for a while, I went to the kitchen to get some water and placed it on the cool floor under the eaves.
He slowly jumped off his lap, walked to the plate, and licked it very politely, taking small sips.
The old lady watched quietly as the kitten licked the water in the dish, her eyes filled with a warm light. Kara took the kitten's blood pressure and followed her gaze to the kitten at her feet.
"Don't let it touch your blanket anymore, it already has cat hair stuck to it."
“It’s alright, it would be nice if she could stay in my yard… the children can play with the kitten when they come.”
Mrs. Mailer's eyes followed the kitten as it finished drinking water and licked its paws to groom itself.
Hesitantly, his eyes were drawn to the lush plants in the courtyard. He strolled over to the base of the thick, glossy leaves of the Monstera deliciosa, raised his head and touched the drooping leaf tips with his nose, then easily jumped onto the low flower bed.
Her delicate pink nose was almost buried in the pink and yellow petals.
Mrs. Mailer stopped her knitting and watched the cat guests who had "traveled from afar" leisurely strolling in the courtyard. A childlike smile of satisfaction graced her face: "It is my honor that the guests like this courtyard."
She turned around and called out to the other person, indicating that she liked them very much.
Is anyone home?
The peace was broken by the loud banging of the door, and the kitten darted from the flower bed to under the old lady's chair.
Kara hurriedly replied from inside the house, "Please don't kick the door, Richie, I'm coming right away."
The person outside the gate clearly had very limited patience, and said sarcastically, "I don't have a spare hand to knock politely, I'm really sorry to disappoint you."
A large plate emerged from the top of the decorative fence, containing fried fish pieces with suspiciously dark marks around the edges.
It twitched its nose a few times, and smelled a faint burnt odor before humans did.
“I made too much, just eat whatever you want,” Richie said gruffly, annoyed that Kara was moving too slowly, and put the food down.
"Thank you, Hope, my dear. The fish is delicious today. You used to hate fried fish the most..." Mrs. Mailer said with a touch of nostalgia.
"What Hope, what dear."
The old man's deeply lined face turned bright red. His lips moved as if he wanted to shout something, but then he remembered the other person's inability to recognize people and his anger subsided as if a bucket of water had been poured over him.
He grunted a few times, then sighed and asked Kara, "When will Keona's family be back? Maybe her condition will improve when they return."
“I don’t know if they have time,” Kara shook her head. “I’ll call Keona and ask.”
"They're so busy! So busy!"
The gate was slammed shut with a deafening crash, and the old man stormed off. Mrs. Mailer was puzzled: "He left before we even had our tea."
1221 said to Chichi, "She stirred up a firecracker. I always say it's best not to call people by their names when you don't recognize them; just calling them 'you' is much safer..."
"Go check on the explosives." Chichi crawled out from under the rocking chair and jumped onto the adjacent fence.
An old man, who had just entered his yard, was venting his anger on palm leaves. Several broken trinkets lay scattered at his feet. A budgie tilted its head and watched its owner continue working in a fit of rage.
"Idiot, idiot Richie."
"If you squawk again, I'll pluck all your feathers and feed them to the wild cats," the old man roared at the budgie. "I really regret teaching you to talk."
"The cat's here! The cat's here!"
The parrot flapped its wings and squawked excitedly on its perch.
It hastily jumped off the fence before humans turned their attention to it.
"The cat ran away! The cat ran away!"
A slipper flew out of the yard, but luckily it was fast enough to avoid being indiscriminately attacked by the enraged humans.
1221 floated over to look at the flip-flops on the ground and clicked its tongue in amazement: "Sure enough, like attracts like. A mean person raises a mean bird."
Listening for a long time to the old man in the courtyard cursing birds, cats, and palm leaves, I came to understand the meaning of the word "bitter".
"I used to think he hated cats, but now it seems he hates all living things."
“Being harsh and impartial towards everyone can also be seen as a kind of equality for all beings.”
1221 stroked a stray tuft of fur sticking up on the kitten's tail: "Let's go to a quieter place to rest."
Away from the chaos of chickens and dogs in the yard, I yawned a little and found a quiet corner where no one would bother me to take a nap. When I opened my eyes again, I was awakened by a belated hunger.
"How about we go to the old lady's house for a free meal? That way we won't have to walk far to find food," 1221 suggested.
He was reluctant to comply.
"I want to try hunting."
Previously, when carrying out quick transmigration missions, there was no shortage of food and drink, so the kitten lacked confidence in her gradually forgotten hunting skills.
The journey ahead is long, and we can't rely on humans every time.
The kitten went to the dock full of energy, ready to catch a fish or a seagull in the shallow water.
Before it could even get into position, a fisherman disembarking threw it a small fish. The cat, having only half-finished its hunt, was now eating the fish that had been fed to it and had resumed its battle mode.
Those cunning seagulls wouldn't let the cat get away with it. They didn't even bother to snatch the fries; instead, they took advantage of the moment when the cat wasn't looking to pluck her fur.
The story ends with the kitten being surrounded and attacked by a group of seagull robbers, resulting in its unfortunate demise.
On December 21, condolences were offered to the "Catman" who returned empty-handed.
"It's okay. Making a living with your feline charm is a skill in itself. You can practice it slowly in the future."
"you're right."
The honey-eyed kitten sat there elegantly licking its tail fur, which had been plucked a few strands, trying to project an air of nonchalant grandeur with its slightly dirty clothes: "We'll fight another day."
I spent the most leisurely time of the afternoon with 1221 on another beach. In a secluded spot, I tried out the giant litter box, and the feel of it on my paws was indeed excellent.
The transparent ball of light came close to tease the kitten, which pawed at it a few times before pulling it down from mid-air and bringing it to its lap, kicking it with both paws.
Passing tourists were attracted by the kitten's sudden "performance" and stopped to watch.
"Slow down, slow down." 1221 was dizzy. "I'm going to throw up."
It delayed letting the other fly away, then walked over to a few tourists who were taking pictures of it and greeted the humans.
Capturing a human's heart is easier than hunting prey. The kitten comfortably enjoys its massage, with a hand on its head and several other hands on its back: "If only hunting were this easy."
1221: "With your current strength, you can only hope to kill your prey with cuteness."
"......"
The cat didn't like hearing that, so it flicked its tail and sent the transparent ball of light flying.
After playing on the beach all day, I was so tired that I just found a corner to sit down and sleep. The crowd on the beach went from bustling to sparse, and then back to bustling again.
After waking up late, I wandered around the various feeding bowls on the island, had a hearty meal, and the faint morning light slowly emerged from the sea.
People who had gotten up early and arrived late to surf had already gathered on the beach. A kitten rubbed its face against a tap and drank some water. After shaking off its wet fur, it spotted a familiar figure flashing across the main street.
"Looks like the caregiver is getting ready to start work today," 1221 said.
"I want to go see Mrs. Mailer."
He lingered, watching Kara's departing figure.
"Don't let humans hold you back." 1221 was worried that the kitten would get used to being with humans. "We don't have any dimensional missions now, so we don't need to revolve around any one human."
Chichi: "She said I was her guest, and I wanted to be her guest."
-
"This is Myrtle Street. There's a small park over there; we can walk through the path in the park to get to Elima Street..."
The system knows the surrounding streets like the back of its hand, but unfortunately, there's a little cat by its side who doesn't follow the usual route. Instead of taking the shortest route as directed by 1221, the cat chooses to explore some strange and unusual nooks and crannies.
“I don’t want to go into the park.” After taking a few more steps, she climbed back up the wall. “Walking here, I can appreciate human gardens and courtyards.”
“The route I pointed out is the fastest.” 1221 flew over. “Trust me, it’s faster to walk through the park.”
"Really?" Chichi tilted her head and looked at the corner not far away. "I can already see Elima Street. Let's go from here."
1221 couldn't stop it in time; the kitten had already run a distance.
"Let's take another route."
As they drew closer to a dark-colored door, the system earnestly tried to persuade them.
Chichi: "We're almost at the Mailer's house. Turning around to the park now would just be a longer route."
"Let's have a race and see who runs the fastest!"
The ball of light flew quickly toward the end of Myrtle Street, and the little cat, its competitive spirit aroused, also started running on the wall.
However, the match was forced to stop halfway through.
A half-open, dark black courtyard gate appeared before Chi Chi's eyes. The greenery inside was even more vibrant than that on the street outside, and the slightly ajar door seemed like a silent invitation.
Curiosity is like a cat's paw, gently scratching at the tip of the heart.
He paused for a moment, then peeked halfway out of his head to look into the yard.
The corner was lush with dense greenery, and the aroma of fruit was intoxicating. My gaze lingered on the huge papaya tree in the yard.
The tree trunk is thick and the branches and leaves are lush, like a dark green umbrella that has been opened.
The courtyard gate was wide open, but the inside was empty, as if no one lived there.
Apart from the thriving plants, the rest of the place was clean, empty, and spotless, devoid of any signs of life, like a forgotten corner.
Before I could even get a good look at what was inside, I was startled by a loud "bang" and jumped back.
1221, who had just slammed the gate shut after being glared at by the kitten's round eyes, floated around nervously: "This place looks evil, like it's been cursed. Let's go, let's go back to Elima Street."
"evil?"
Chi Chi became even more suspicious upon hearing this, trying to discern something from the courtyard, which was mostly covered by plants: "Could such vibrant trees grow in a cursed courtyard?"
"In short, this system sensed an ominous aura."
1221 changed the subject, saying, "There's an even prettier courtyard up ahead, let's go take a look!"
Since the system said so, it must have its reasons. The kitten listened to the advice and quickened its pace to leave the courtyard wall.
Taking advantage of the fact that the transparent sphere in front of her wasn't paying attention, she turned around and glanced at the human dwelling she had just seen.
Although there was no one there, Chichi felt that there should be someone there.
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