Strange Life of a Cat

The man had been working. There were several books open on his desk like last time.

He placed a cup of warm milk in front of Zheng Tan then went back to his work.

Zheng Tan looked at the cup. It was a new cup. Zheng Tan had a good impression of the man. He never used dirty cups even though Zheng Tan looked like a very plain cat.

He finished the milk, then took a tour around the room.

He realized there was a new drawing on the man’s bookcase. It was clearly the work of children and was a picture of wintersweets. It was dated the day before yesterday.

A boy about Jiao Yuan’s age came inside with a cake box full of wintersweets.

“Uncle Wintersweets, I got these from those kids.” The child obviously didn’t realize he wasn’t old enough to call other children ‘kids’.

Uncle Wintersweets? The name amused Zheng Tan. Was the man’s name actually Wintersweets, or was it because he liked the flower so much?

The boy received a bag of lollipops in return for the flowers. He left after saying thank you.

Uncle wintersweets laid the box of flowers on the side. He saw Zheng Tan staring at the box and smiled. “A lot of the kids in the neighborhood like to break tree branches. I told them to pick the flowers off any wintersweet branch they break.”

Zheng Tan now knew how he got all those flowers in his room. Kids in the neighborhood picked them for him in exchange for sweets.

“They drew this picture for me the other day.” He pointed at the picture Zheng Tan saw earlier.

Zheng Tan didn’t understand why this man, who seemed amiable but didn’t talk much to people, was so willing to talk to a cat.

Pets really did put people at ease.

Uncle Wintersweets took out a piece of paper and started sketching Zheng Tan again.

He worked quickly and soon a black cat appeared on the piece of paper. Suddenly Zheng Tan realized he drew with his left hand.

He was left-handed.

However, if Zheng Tan remembered correctly Uncle Wintersweets wrote with his right hand.

Zheng Tan remembered watching him write last time he was here. He wondered how his handwriting was. He had seen his English handwriting on his notes. His handwriting in Chinese was much better.

He guessed this man was left-handed but had trained himself to write with his right hand. This was the only person Zheng Tan knew who was equally good with both hands.

It was warm in the room and Zheng Tan was growing sleepy. He took a short nap.

Soon the sketch of him was finished. He yawned and looked at the drawing.

A black cat rested next to the box of wintersweets. Its head was tilted to the side with a look of curiosity in its eyes.

Uncle Wintersweets looked at the drawing for a moment, then he looked at Zheng Tan. “I heard many animals are extra intelligent. Are you one of them?”

Zheng Tan didn’t answer nor could he answer.

Uncle Wintersweets didn’t expect an answer from a cat. He just had a strange feeling when he saw the look in this cat’s eyes. However, after he posed his question he suddenly realized this was just a cat and couldn’t talk, so he smiled.

Zheng Tan was lost. Was he talking to a cat or to himself? What a weirdo.

Uncle Wintersweets placed the sketch along with the kid’s drawing into a folder and left the room.

He went into one of the locked rooms Zheng Tan had seen last time. Zheng Tan followed him. The room wasn’t large and had been soundproofed. The layout inside was simple. There was a piano in the middle of the room.

This man appeared to know how to play music as well.

Zheng Tan jumped onto a chair. If he was going to perform, Zheng Tan didn’t mind being his audience.

Zheng Tan immediately knew the piece of music he was playing after hearing a few notes.

‘For Elise’ was too famous. Many children liked to play this piece.

However…

Zheng Tan didn’t know piano very well, but the music seemed different than the versions he had heard before. Uncle Wintersweets was playing very slowly. Yet it wasn’t for the purpose of teaching.

‘For Elise’ was a light piece of music. The tune was comforting and spirit-lifting. However, the music Uncle Wintersweets played was not comforting at all. Zheng Tan felt a shiver down his spine.

What was wrong?

Uncle Wintersweets didn’t move after finishing playing. Zheng Tan stretched his neck to look at him.

Holy Cr*p!

He was crying because of ‘For Elise’?

Zheng Tan didn’t understand.

Zheng Tan decided to go home. The atmosphere was too weird.

He took a stroll around campus since Youzi was still at school. A debate was going on in the lecture hall on the first floor. The topic was interesting so Zheng Tan sat on a tree and listened.

The school freshmen were debating whether left-handed people were at an advantage or disadvantage.

“A person’s left and right brain have different functions. The left brain is in charge of logic and language, the right brain is in charge of feelings and imagination.”

One side argued that left-handed people had an advantage. Many lefties were very smart people. They excelled in areas that required imagination and spatial recognition. For instance, Mozart, Bach, Caesar, Napoleon, and Newton were all left-handed. They also felt that the right brain, left brain, then right-hand reaction circuit was longer than the right brain to left-hand reaction circuit, so left-handed people were more agile.

The other side argued lefties were at a disadvantage. They were rare for a reason and no one could prove those famous people mentioned earlier were left-handed.

They even mentioned a theory by a Swiss scientist.

He believed there were equal numbers of left-handed and right-handed people at the start of human life. However, left-handed people couldn’t survive as well as the right-handed people. Scientists had conducted experiments that showed lefties often had worse autoimmune systems. 65% of people who had autism were left-handed…”

Zheng Tan watched the kids argue. They were behaving like people fighting on the streets.

They were freshmen after all, and none of them had participated in debates before. The professor watched them with a smile. She had organized this debate to inspire interest in her students. Formalities were not important.

The professor ended the debate by saying, “Only humans and apes have left-handed individuals and only humans discuss the cause of this. Many have explored the difference between left-handed and right-handed people yet none have come out with conclusive results.”

Zheng Tan always felt there was no right and wrong in debates. It was only a battle of wit.

How annoying.

He looked down at his paws and suddenly felt defeated. He wasn’t right-handed nor left-handed.

He was right-handed when he was human, now it seemed he could use both paws equally well. He wouldn’t have noticed this if he hadn’t listened to the debate today.

He remembered Uncle Wintersweets. Was he left-handed or not? He made a note in his mind to check again next time he went for a stroll.

He had planned to visit Uncle Wintersweets on Saturday but Wei Ling came over to take him to the Night Tower.

Ye Hao’s birthday was a few days ago. He was too busy to care about his birthday, but they still planned a late birthday party for him on Saturday.