Inspiration Words: Italian and Cat
Shuwen (shoo wuhn) looked at her patient, who was waving her arms in circles and hitting anything they connected with. She tried to focus on calming her patient down, but Shuwen found herself wishing she could just swing her arms around in frustration too.
When Shuwen decided to devote her medical studies to brain research and helping people with severe mental disabilities, her friends all assured her she would be the perfect doctor. “You’re so calm and chill; the patients won’t have any choice but to calm down and listen to your advice.” “If I needed help, I can’t think of anyone I would rather have as my doctor than you.” Her friends spoke nothing but praise of her choice and her passion. And Shuwen did love her work. She loved bringing peace to troubled hearts and minds. She loved finding beauty in people that society tended to ignore. But today, there was no peace in her own heart, and she didn’t know how to give peace to someone else.
Shuwen and her colleagues had been locked inside the hospital for three weeks, and they had no idea when they would be able to leave. The number of Covid-19 cases in the city was nearing a hundred, and most of the cases had originated from an older woman who lived just down the street. Although everyone inside the hospital had tested negative, Shuwen hadn’t left in the past three weeks. They couldn’t have anything outside of the hospital delivered, and she was about to go crazy with the same hospital food and the same buildings around her all day and all night.
Half of her brain tried to think of ways to calm the woman in front of her and the other half thought about her cats in her apartment. Are they doing okay? Shuwen had asked her best friend to check in on them a few times and make sure they had enough food, but she was still worried about her dearest friends. The hospital consumed most of her time and energy, but going home to their welcoming, furry faces was the joy of her life. Shuwen had dated on and off in the few years she had been a doctor, but none of the relationships had panned out. Her cats were the one constant, and she missed them.
She missed the way she flopped down on the couch after taking off her shoes and immediately feeling Hei Hei (Hay hay, meaning very black) jump onto her stomach. Usually, the small, black cat would curl up and try to go to sleep while Shuwen rested after a long day. Sometimes he would push his nose into her hand, begging for attention. Coffee would rub against the couch and nudge her fingers if she left a hand hanging down for her. Da Vinci would observe the scene from his perch on the desk, unconcerned with whether or not he received any attention, but happy that she was finally there to give the other cats something to do instead of bothering him. She named Da Vinci after the Italian painter because she longed to go to Italy, but since she had no time for travel, she contented herself with the reminder of the wonderful painter in her house.
After resting for a few minutes, she would pop open the lid of the takeout that she usually picked up on her way home. Before her extended stay at work, the weather had started to get a little chilly, so she often picked up some noodles with soup. She would pour the lukewarm soup over the noodles and stirred them in, trying to separate the noodles that were starting to harden into an unbreakable mass. Hei Hei would jump onto the table and explore the lid she had set aside.
He was always exploring something, and he was the reason that Shuwen had to keep the trash cans covered. She had come home too many times to find the contents of the trash spread out across the room before she finally bought cans that you had to step on to open. Hei Hei wasn’t quite dexterous enough for that yet, but she was just waiting for him to figure out how to get inside.
The woman suddenly stopped moving, and Shuwen’s mind shot back to the present. The patient let out a low groan and clutched her stomach, a common gesture she used to show that she was feeling sick.
“I’m so sorry you don’t feel well. I think it’s time for you to get some rest.” The appointment was over, and Shuwen walked out, wishing she could focus and think about how to help her patients today.
On her way to a quick lunch, she glanced at her phone. I’m at your apartment, but Hei Hei’s not here. Shuwen heart stopped when she saw the message from her best friend.
What do you mean?
I left the window open the other day to get a little air in here, and I think Hei Hei must have gotten out onto your balcony and run away. I’ve looked all over the neighborhood, but I haven’t seen him.
No. No. No. No. Shuwen wished she could hit undo on the text message and make it untrue.
I’m gonna check with some of your neighbors, but I just wanted to let you know. I’m sorry…
Shuwen headed to her temporary dorm instead of the cafeteria. There’s no way she would be able to eat now. She wanted to puke. If anything had happened to Hei Hei, she would scream. She lay on her bed, wishing she could feel the small weight of her cat on her stomach. After 20 minutes, she boiled water for some instant noodles and stared at her phone while the noodles got cold.
Found him. Shuwen breathed again.
She was starting to answer the message with a joyful emoji, but another message came in first: Your neighbor has him, and she won’t give him to me.
What?
Shuwen called her best friend, prepared for battle.
“Hi, Shuwen—”
“Let me talk to my neighbor.”
“She won’t talk to me anymore. I’m back in your apartment now because she barely even let me see him before she closed the door in my face. I think she’s afraid Hei Hei will come out and go back to your place.”
“Of course he will—because that’s his home!”
“When I tried to get her to give him back, she said that she found him wandering around the halls crying. She saved him, and now she doesn’t want to let him go.”
“But that’s my baby. She has to give him back.” Shuwen felt her voice breaking.
“I know . . .”
“Did you offer her money?”
“Yeah, she refused.”
“That cat is valuable. I paid several thousand yuan for him. She can’t just take him, can she?”
“I don’t know what else to try . . .” There was silence for several minutes while Shuwen tried not to cry, and her friend tried not to hear the tears in the silence. “At least he’s safe for now. Maybe we can just leave him for now, and when you can leave, you can talk to her. Maybe she’ll listen to you.”
Two weeks later, Shuwen and her colleagues were cleared to leave. She didn’t join them for the celebration dinner, but instead paid for a taxi to get home as soon as possible. The ride seemed endless. What will I do if I can’t get him back?
When she knocked on her neighbor’s door, she could hear Hei Hei mewing. He always did that when she had visitors also. Shuwen sometimes wondered if the little cat thought he was a guard dog. She didn’t try to tell him no one was intimidated by his adorable little body, but she usually picked him up on the way to the door so he could see out while she talked to the visitor.
The door opened and her neighbor stood there.
Before either of them even said hello, Shuwen blurted out, “Please give me my cat.”
“I found Xiao Hei (see-ow hay) without a home, and I saved him. He’s my cat now.”
“His name isn’t Xiao Hei, it’s Hei Hei. And I will give you anything you want. How much money do you want for him? Please give him back!”
“He’s not for sale. He loves his home here with people who take care of him.”
Shuwen tried to fight and tried to argue, but she finally realized it wouldn’t do any good. “Can I see him?” She tried to peer around her neighbor who blocked most of the doorway.
“No. He’s eating.”
When the neighbor slammed the door, Shuwen stood frozen in shock, then turned around and opened her own door. She picked up Coffee and dropped onto the couch. Da Vinci turned to look at her and did something that he had never lowered himself to do when she came home from work. He stood, stretched, and dropped onto the floor. Then he walked calmly over to her, climbed onto her lap, and fell asleep as if this was his new spot.