Miao

Kai Jie Cai, MA, Post-colonial studies

Domino and Stuart had sat together since the day they started school. They chose the same teachers, subjects, tables and chairs. They had developed a deep friendship. They never got bored with each other. Nevertheless, there was an examination that would decide whether they could continue to sit together throughout college. They sat at those same tables waiting for their email to inform them of their examination results. Stuart had not slept well for two days. He gradually noticed that not being able to sit with Domino in the same classroom would be a big loss in his life. He was afraid things would change between him and her.

‘How do you feel about this examination, Domino?’ he asked suddenly.

Domino had pale blue eyes. They were similar to the French actress Simone Simon. She looked at Stuart, then said, ‘I don't really know. It was an easy examination. It did not cause me too much stress. Generally speaking, I think exams are a joke, in particular this one. The institution just wants to make a profit in the end.’ She spoke intelligently.

Stuart said, ‘Yeah, I do not care about this examination either, but I still don’t know why I was stressed about it. I have not slept well since yesterday.’

‘Same. Probably because of the weather - the heat and humidity stopped us from sleeping well.’ She was lying. It was not the heat. She thought she might not be able to sit with her childhood friend anymore.

‘I had a strange dream recently. Do you remember what you dreamed last night?’, he asked.

Domino said, ‘I saw you in my dream yesterday. I was at your flat. You lived with three other flatmates. One of the flatmates was a huge fat boy. We chatted with him. The discussion was about shrimps. Then, the fat boy unexpectedly burst out laughing. He was very funny, and we laughed with him. He thought we were laughing about the shrimps, but we were actually laughing at him because he was so fat and cumbersome. After a while, this fat boy gradually transformed into a fat cat while continuously laughing with us. He became a brown Persian cat. The sound of laughter changed from the human voice ‘ha ha ha’ to the cat voice ‘Miao! Miao! Miao!’ I thought it was an interesting phenomenon, but you got freaked out. You immediately clutched my hand and escaped the flat. We saw your other two flatmates also had become

cats. One of them was eating tuna fish and shrimps. We left your apartment and saw a Lamborghini sports car. It was mine cause you did not know how to drive, kiddo.’

Domino laughed sarcastically. ‘We jumped into my car and then I said “Let’s have a good time.” The AI replied “Yes, Madam.” I instinctively pressed the gas pedal with my right foot. My car produced a masculine sound. I loved it. I could not remember where we were going. There was a group of police cars trying to stop us. Inside of the police cars, the drivers were not human beings. They were cats. They wore police uniforms while driving the police car. Through the microphone they yelled ‘Miao! Miao! Miao!’ We could not understand what they were saying. It was creepy, Stuart. You said, “Keep going! Keep going!” I calmly said, “I know. I know.” One of the police cars crashed into my Lamborghini. I shouted.’

Stuart listened to Domino attentively. He said: ‘You know I am a calm person; why was I not like myself in this dream?’ ‘Anyway, you should let me finish my explanation, just listen to me,’ she said eagerly. ‘I continued to drive the car at full speed. Unexpectedly, the car ran out of gas right in the middle of the highway. We had to park it beside the highway. It was night time. We had driven the whole day trying to escape from the cat-police. Unfortunately, we did not successfully escape, and the police car still followed us. We ran into the woods. You ran faster than me in my dream by the way. We kept running and running until the police sirens faded away. The ‘police-cat’ still ran after us. Surprisingly, as we ran, our bodies flew into the sky. The flying experience was amazing, and I do not know how to use language to describe what the feeling was. There was a full moon. We saw there was a rabbit shadow on the moon. We could hear the lousy cat noise from the ground. Then, I looked at the ground far below. It was an island. The island was the shape of shrimp.’ Domino stopped. Stuart then said, ‘Continue?’ ‘This was the end. My alarm woke me up.’ Meanwhile, both of them received an email from the principal. She wanted to see them in the office. They got off from their chairs. Then, they went there. Domino opened the wooden door to enter the office. Then they saw a giant persian fat cat person sitting in the chair. It said: ‘Miao.’