This first story was inspired by a friend at work. The story of the story was that I was looking after some flowers for my friend while she went on holiday, unfortunately they all died on my watch… So I wrote a story instead of buying more flowers. Here we go.

Once upon a time, there was a family of four – mum, dad, Qing and Yu the cat. They lived in a beautiful house, in a beautiful village, surrounded by beautiful flowers in the Summer, and beautiful snowy landscape in Winter.

It was Qing’s birthday, in such a quiet village, birthday was never a big event – not for Qing, not for mum and dad, not even for the elders. Nonetheless, there was always an expectation in the air that something might happen – a surprise in the form of a cake, dad actually remembering the birthday – which invariably made it the most exciting day for Qing in a year. 

The doorbell rang, Qing and Yu raced to the door to see who it was, Yu leapt up to the table facing the door to take up position to watch, while a million things cam to Qing’s mind as to who might be on the other side – could it be the village quire ready to singa happy birthday? Or could it be a gigantic parcel tied in a yellow ribbon? 

 “Happy birthday Qing!” announced auntie Kathy, bending down slightly to hug Qing with one arm,  hiding something behind her with the other. 

“Thank you Auntie Kathy!” Qing replied, wearing a big smile, tilting her head to try to peek behind the visitor. 

“Who is at the door, Qing?” Mum asked while walking down from upstairs. 

“Auntie Kathy is here!” Qing said, turning around walking in a zigzag excitedly to lead auntie Kathy into the lounge, all the while followed by Yu. 

“So Qing, this is for you, I spent this whole morning making it, I hope you like it!” said auntie Kathy, holding in front of  her an array of dazzling colours. 

“What is it?” Yu meowed, he had never seen anything quite like it, carefully walking closer to have a sniff, trying to avoid any attention. 

“Wow this is amazing! How do you make that?” Qing said, touching the soft velvety petals of the flower bouquet with her hands. auntie Kathy became very animated, geisturing, dancing about, reenacting how she picked the flowers and made the bouquet. 

Qing and Yu were so mesmerised by the flower construction that they couldn’t hear a word auntie Kathy said. For Qing, she’d walked past thousands of wild flowers every day on her way to school, but she had never seen such a deliberate, manicured and colourful assembly.

As for Yu, in his 5 years of existence as a house cat, as far as he remembered, no one had ever brought flowers into the house before. He went closer to the bouquet still, sniffing, did not like the smell, nonetheless fascinated by what the visitor brought with her. Suddenly, Yu was struck by a strange thought, “what else is out there that I have not sniffed?”

“Don’t step on it.” Qing gently put her hand between the flowers and Yu, Yu gave her a “I don’t care about this” glance and slowly walked away. 

By evening, there was a collection of presents from various visitors on the dining table – a necklace, various home-made sweets, a big box of fresh cao mei, and of course, the flower bouquet. 

In the following days, Yu was always the first to have a sniff at the flowers in the morning, no one knew of course as it was too early in the morning. Qing would be the second to examine the flowers. Yu could tell that the smell of the flowers was changing fast, and Qing noticed that the colours were also fading, that the flowers were beginning to wilt. 

Yu was having a nap on Qing’s lap one afternoon, when mum and dad came back from groceries. 

“Mummmmm!” Qing cried pretentiously, “How do I keep the flowers alive? They are dying…”

“If they don’t die you wouldn’t know they are alive!” Dad quipped. Qing ignored him.

Mum came closer to the table, the flowers were looking sad. “Let me ask auntie Kathy what to do.” she eventually said, and disappeared into the kitchen.

The next day, mum got up a little earlier than usual, she found Yu sitting on the dining table next to the melancholic flowers, looking out of the window as if longing for something. She stroked him, and nipped outside. 

The next few days, just as Qing was close to giving up on the flowers, she began to see that some colours were coming back, and some of the brittle dry petals were disappearing, replaced with the soft velvet she touched some days ago. 

“Mum the bouquet is getting better now! What did auntie Kathy say we need to do?” Qing enquired, tugging on mum’s top. 

“I’ve told you.” Mum said with a hint of impatience. “If you look after things, they will be healthy.” she continued cryptically.

Yu was the only cat that knew what was happening. In the morning, mum would come back with a fresh flower, carefully replaced the worst flower in the bouquet with it, and day after day, it created the illusion that the bouquet as a whole was becoming healthy, but in fact, all the original flowers were long gone.

The next morning, Yu wanted to wake Qing up early to show her what mum did, as he wanted to tell Qing that the bouquet is not the same bouquet once stood on the table. He tried everything he could – jumping on Qing’s tummy, licked her face, bit her ears, but she just wouldn’t get up. 

Yu went into the lounge, mum was busy changing one of the flowers. The front door was slightly open, Yu felt nervous, he saw an opportunity to dash outside to just have a little look at what is out there, how many more flowers are there outside? 

Yu quietly went out of the door, crept under the bushes around the house, and there he was, overwhelmed by everything in front of him.

Yu was a very smart cat, it did not take him long to adjust to the new world around him. He learnt to swim, made friends, tried new food, saw and heard so many things unimaginable to him before.

Qing eventually got up, as she did, she went to look at the bouquet of flowers first thing in the morning. The bouquet was looking more beautiful than ever, she looked at the flowers so closely her face was almost touching them.

The house was quiet, it was unusually quiet. “Mum!” Qing raised her voice a little, no answer. 

“Yu!” Qing raised her voice a little more, no answer.

Qing looked around the house, looking for clues where everyone might be, as mum would normally be here having breakfast. As she opened the door to see if mum is out in the garden, she heard a voice calling from far away:

“Yu! Yu!” Mum called. 

Eventually, mum came back, exhausted from a combination of the heat from the Sun, the calling, the panicking and worry. Mum explained to Qing what happened that morning, that as she was busy looking after the flowers, Yu dashed out.

It took a good while for Qing to take in what mum just said, that Yu went out on his own for the very first time, that … he might have gotten lost, that perhaps Yu was trying to tell her something this morning when Yu was trying to wake her up. “Did he know he was going to go out? Did he plan it?” Qing thought to herself.

By the evening, dad and a few neighbours joined the searching party, they took some of Yu’s favourite toys, his favourite treats, and the crying Qing to look for him. “Yu! Yu!” they screamed on top of their voice.

A brown muddy thing emerged from a distance in the evening Sun, Qing was the first to spot it, she couldn’t see what it was, but she knew, by almost a spiritual connection, it was Yu. 

Qing ran towards it, the mud ball froze, Qing picked it up, getting mud all over herself. 

“Yuuuu why did you run away?!” Qing was barely able to speak. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

Qing held him tightly, perhaps Yu was too tired from all the things he did in the day, perhaps he did not want to go back into the beautiful house yet, Qing’s affection towards him felt to her one direction only. 

Everyone was very tired that evening, Qing gave Yu a wash, and they, Yu included, went to sleep very early. Yu dreamt about the cold water he jumped into, the spider he ate, the friends he made, while Qing had a nightmare about loosing Yu.

The next morning, Qing jumped out of bed and immediately started looking for Yu, eventually discovered that Yu was still sleeping. “Are you okay Yu?” Qing whispered to the cat. 

Yu lied flat on his back, did a big stretch showing his tummy, “why did you wake me up.” he meowed grumpily.

Qing went to check there’s enough food for Yu in his little bowl, while mum was just finishing tending the flowers. As Yu walked into the lounge, the smell of the fresh flower mum replaced reminded him what outside smelled like. He walked around the bouquet on the table, located the freshest one mum added in the morning, and sat down next to it.

“Are you not hungry?” Qing stroked Yu’s head gently. 

“Leave me alone for now.” Yu meowed, stretching flat on the table like a little rug.

It had been almost a full month since Qing’s birthday, whatever auntie Kathy told mum about the magic of keeping flowers fresh really worked, so Qing thought. The bouquet was as beautiful as it had ever been, “are they actually real live flowers?” Qing vaguely recalled what dad said that only things that can die can be alive. She brushed the top of the flower next to Yu with her finger, and a little ant came out which startled Qing a little. 

Yu pounced on the little ant as if it’s a monster, he licked it and the ant disappeared into his mouth. Another ant came out, Yu repeated what he did with such swift and precise movement like an experienced marshall artist.

Qing was taken aback a little, she and Yu grew up together, Yu to her had always been just a smart playful cat, she had never seen him killing anything, not even an ant or a fly. 

The morning gave way to noon, Yu still hadn’t touched his usual food. Mum and Qing were making a quick lunch. As they were chatting and preparing, Yu was watching from behind. As Yu opened a tin of tuna, as quick as a flash, Yu took a big chunk and ran away. 

Qing was flabbergasted, Yu had never taken their food before. “Mum…” she spoke slowly with a great deal of uncertainty. “Could we have found a different cat yesterday? Yu would never do that.”

Yu was sitting in a corner enjoying his catch, while Qing and mum discussed about how they could check that it really was Yu sitting in the corner. Every bit of him looked like Yu, his eyes, his colour, his coat, his tail, the way he meowed, the way he leapt up in the air. 

“Can you call auntie Kathy to see if she has a way to confirm if he is Yu? She’s so smart she can keep the bouquet alive for so long!” Qing pleaded with mum. 

That evening, the doorbell rang, Qing rushed to open the door, Yu sat in the corner, disinterested. 

“Aww Qing, you look a little upset!” auntie Kathy said, hugging her with both arms this time.

They went into the lounge together, auntie Kathy immediately spotted the same bouquet of flowers she brought with her last time on the dining table. As she started to speak, mum interrupted her:

“Oh yes, we looked after this so well, isn’t it beautiful!” mum invited auntie to sit down on the sofa, signalling away from the flowers. “Qing doesn’t know.” she whispered.

Auntie Kathy saw Yu in the corner, she instantly understood why Qing was upset. “Yu!” she called softly, Yu obliged and came sit with auntie Kathy.

Auntie Kathy played with Yu for a bit, she had no doubt that this cat was Yu, at the same time this wasn’t the same Yu as the house cat she knew before. Yu now seemed more reserved, preoccupied with thoughts.

As if to demonstrate the point, Yu went to sit by the window after entertaining auntie Kathy for a short while, cleaning himself.

“Can you bring Yu back like you can save the flowers?” Qing asked. 

“Yu is just as beautiful as he has ever been!” Auntie Kathy replied. “Perhaps you just don’t know how beautiful he now is yet.”

Qing was puzzled. “He has changed so much since he came back.” she said with tears in her eyes.

“Changes can bring out the most beautiful things, but often you can only see how beautiful something is after they are changed.” Auntie Kathy sat back into the sofa.

“Why don’t we let Yu go to do what he wants to do, and stop holding on to the Yu before?” Auntie Kathy continued, pointing at the window Yu was looking out of.

That night, Yu went out and did not come back until early morning. When Qing got up, he told her stories after stories of what he saw and did. Qing had not seen Yu being so happy for a long time. 

At first, Yu disappeared for a night, then a day and a night, then a few days at a time, then weeks without coming back. All the while, mum was still changing one flower at a time every day, the bouquet was looking as beautiful as it had ever been, but instead of sitting on the dining table,it now stood in the obscure corner Yu used to sit.