Chapter 3: Memories of Asami and Chang Juan

It was Friday and the end of another school day. Hiroshi knocked on Lin's door. Lin answered it.

"Ni Hao, Hiroshi," greeted Lin.

"Konnichiwa, Lin-chan," Hiroshi greeted back.

"Hey, Hiroshi," said Lin. "How about we sit on the doorstep and talk about what happened to our pets."

"Okay," answered Hiroshi.

Lin closed the door and she and Hiroshi sat down on the doorstep.

"When did you get Asami?" asked Lin.

"When me and my two sisters were still living in Japan," replied Hiroshi. "When she was first adopted, Zukin was 3 years old, Ai was a couple months old and I wasn't even born yet. Asami was 3 when we first got her."

"What was she like?"

"She was a cute and playful gray rabbit. Her favourite food was carrots and she liked playing with toys."

"How old was she when she died?"

"She was 11. Zukin was also 11, Ai was 8 and I was 6. We found her not responding but then we later found out that Asami had died from old age. We were sad. We also buried her in the backyard. A year later, we got a cat from a person selling kittens. We named her Yuriko. Then, we got another cat called Kenji from a pet shop. He and Yuriko had just kittens a couple of months ago."

"How many kittens did they have?"

"They had three kittens."

"Well, my cat Chang Juan was a white blue-pointed Siamese cat. She was a year old when we got her. She meowed a lot and was always kind but a bit snooty sometimes. She always loved playing with a ball. Back in China, she also had five kittens, 3 boys and 2 girls and we gave all of them away to people who wanted cats."

"That was very nice."

"Thanks. Then one day, a week after we moved here, I made dinner for Chang Juan. Then, me and Liang went to find her. We found her outside on the sidewalk. We were shocked because we saw her walking into the road and a van was coming for her. We called her but she wouldn't listen. The van tried to stop but it was too late. She was rushed to the vet…but she never made it."

Lin felt heartbroken. She looked like she was going to cry any minute now.

"That was sad, Lin," said Hiroshi.

"I don't know if I'm going to cope through my first day of school on Monday," Lin sighed, hugging Hiroshi.

"Daijoubu ne, Lin-chan," said Hiroshi, hugging Lin back. "Chang Juan might meet Asami and other pets who have died in heaven. They'll even be watching over us."

Lin suddenly gave a smile.

"Xie Xie…Hiroshi," Lin smiled, as tears streamed down her face.

They hugged for a long time.

--

What a sad chapter… But their pets will always watch over them. The next chapter has Lin and Liang going to O-Town Elementary School for the first time.