Little Meow

The Chinese word for "cat" is "mao," which I'm personally convinced is an onomatopoeia for the sound that the animal makes. The word for a kitten is just "xiao mao," where "xiao" means small/little. So in my head I think of the Chinese word for kitten as "little meow." I dig it.

I was in a restaurant a couple days ago just across the street from the college and on the second floor of the restaurant, one of the ones I don't go to very often and I'm actually not sure of the name of right now. It's very thin, with vibrantly colored floors and menu and a TV that's way too loud. I haven't had much luck with the things I've ordered there before, but I don't just want to go to the same two or three restaurants for 10 months so sometimes I try to do something new.

When I showed up, a guy who I'm pretty sure is the owner was sitting at a table two across from me, and there was a kitten on the table with him that kept poking at his food. The waitress girls - possibly his daughters - were eyeing it, and then I think he picked it up and put it on the ground. It kept running around his feet searching for bits of food or trying to pull its way back up, so one of the girls grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, opened a door to another room in the side of the eating area, and closed the kitten behind the door. I was a little sad, because I wanted to eat with him/her.

Later, after my food came out, the kitten managed to walk out of the door when someone else walked through it. It walked around for a little while, and then I think one of the girls noticed it again. She picked it up and was walking towards the door, but an older woman noticed that I was watching intently, and probably looked sad. She said something, and the girl looked at me. I put my hand out. I didn't know what to say, because I didn't know the word for "cat" or "kitten" yet. I know the words for "I want" and "it," but I don't know if it's for humans or animals. If it's for humans, I didn't want to look at some 14-year-old waitress girl and say "I want it." I ended up just saying "Wo yao!" [I want!]. It was clear enough what I was talking about, so she came over and handed the little meow to me.

It sat on my lap for the first little while and I pet it while it rested on my knee. Sometimes it was claw and knead my knee, which I didn't mind because it's just a kitten and not actually painful in any way. Eventually he got a little bit nosy and started aiming for my food, and then insisted on jumping up on the table. I held him off for a little while by putting pieces of meat on a napkin in very small chunks and letting it try to eat them, which it would manage after a bit of effort. But then it kept going for the noodles, and I didn't really have anything more to give him. He wanted the whole plate, not just the pieces. So I put him back on my knee, but he didn't like that, so he hopped down to the floor, and the waitress took him back again.

Peace out.