{"id":18882,"date":"2017-05-09T10:21:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T02:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.english.hku.hk\/alumni\/?p=18882"},"modified":"2018-06-06T11:01:30","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T03:01:30","slug":"homeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/18882\/homeless\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnson CHAN Man Long<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMeow!\u201d Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0heard a sound behind a stack of cardboards. She\u00a0slowly moved, pushing the stack aside, and found a grey kitten lying down on all fours. The kitten\u2019s fur was wet; it might have been hiding from the rain that was pouring\u00a0a couple of minutes ago. Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0smiled. It had been a long time since she had seen such a cute kitten. The kitten, however, looked a little scared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be scared, little kitten! I am very\u00a0nice!\u201d She gently stroked\u00a0the kitten\u2019s back.\u00a0After stroking a couple of times, she noticed something red on her finger. \u201cOh no! You are bleeding!\u201d She turned around to her trolley and found a bottle of water she had picked up from the rubbish bin two blocks down. She twisted off the cap and poured water\u00a0onto the kitten. The kitten meowed loudly. \u201cOh, but we must wash your wound! Or else you will get infected!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The kitten seemed a bit\u00a0calmer\u00a0after a while. Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0decided to sit down beside the kitten to take a rest. After all,\u00a0the stack of cardboards would not go away, and she would need the cardboard to dry before taking it to the recycling shop. She picked up the kitten and held it to her lap. Its\u00a0warmth reminded her of her own daughter, born on a cold evening exactly sixty three years ago. No one could forget the warmth of the baby in the freezing cold. She held onto the kitten with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The kitten meowed and meowed. \u201cOh you must be hungry!\u201d\u00a0She seemed to understand the kitten\u2019s needs. She put the kitten down and got up herself. Her joints cracked as she made her way to her trolley. She pushed aside several bags before\u00a0she got her hands on her treasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSee, kitten? I\u2019m going to give you one of my\u00a0lap<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>cheung<\/em>! I dried it myself! I think you\u2019ll like it!\u201d She untied the knot of the plastic bag, ripped a small piece of\u00a0<\/em>the sausage with her wrinkly hands. Then carefully, she tied the double knot, setting the bag back into the trolley before sitting down again beside the kitten. Her joints cracked once more as she held the bit of sausage out to the kitten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The kitten sniffed it, then began to munch on it. Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0smiled. No one bought her\u00a0lap<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>cheung<\/em>, but the kitten knew what was truly delicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAh Poh! You cannot feed the kitten\u00a0lap<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>cheung<\/em>!\u201d A girl\u2019s voice interrupted the scene. Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0looked up and saw a couple looking down at her and the kitten. They both wore blue shirts and shorts. The girl bent her knees and grabbed the kitten. She held the kitten up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are volunteers from the Homeless Animal Association. We are going to help this kitten to find a new home,\u201d the girl replied. The man\u00a0took the piece of sausage away and threw it into the rubbish bin. The girl took out some pellets from her bag and fed them to the kitten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that thing you are feeding the kitten?\u201d Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0asked.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCat food. It\u2019s made in America, especially made for weak kittens,\u201d the girl\u00a0answered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it expensive?\u201d Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0picked up one of the pellets and studied it. She put it into her mouth, but she had no teeth to crack it. She spat it back out.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes! It is the best kind of pellet!\u201d\u00a0the girl replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will take good care of the kitten?\u201d Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we will. It\u2019s our job.\u201d The man\u2019s voice was very reassuring. Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0nodded in approval.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time, don\u2019t feed cats with\u00a0lap<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>cheung<\/em>, okay? You will make them sick!\u201d the girl told Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0as she put the kitten into her prepared cage. The kitten meowed.\u00a0Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0nodded in agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCall us if you find other cats,\u201d the man handed Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0his card. Then they left with the kitten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0looked at the card. It had some\u00a0lines that she did not understand. It also had some numbers. But she had no phone. Never mind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cVery nice people!\u201d she muttered to herself as she threw the card onto the stack of cardboards. She went back to the rubbish bin to pick up her lap cheung<\/em>. Then she\u00a0dragged the stack onto her trolley and began to make her way to the recycling plant. She visualised a bowl of warm, white rice she could buy with the money she made today. It would be perfect for her\u00a0lap<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>cheung<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Published on:\u00a0May 9, 2017 < Back<\/a> ><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Johnson CHAN Man Long \u201cMeow!\u201d Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0heard a sound behind a stack of cardboards. She\u00a0slowly moved, pushing the stack aside, and found a grey kitten lying down on all fours. The kitten\u2019s fur was wet; it might have been hiding from the rain that was pouring\u00a0a couple of minutes ago. Chu Poh\u00a0Poh\u00a0smiled. It hadContinue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18882"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19358,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18882\/revisions\/19358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}