The One Who Listens

Step 15: Stay

Miraculously the benches were intact, so were the bibles at the ledges. Hua Cheng gently brushed his fingers over the furniture, and thumbed gently at one such bible. The pages were dull, crickley and yellow, with the words almost illegible. There was a grand piano towards the right hand side and a small door. Hua Cheng gently nudged his way towards the ajar door and pushed it open. Seeing open space behind, E-Ming dashed in to stop almost immediately. Hua Cheng had to bend down a bit to walk through. It was a neatly maintained graveyard outside.

Tall trees around, shading the white marble tombs, carpeted by the soft green grass, the graveyard was not even gloomy to be classified as one, its condition in sharp contrast to the church in front of it. Hua Cheng looked up and around at the treetops and at the gentle rolls of land around, like the playful waves of the ocean. Hua Cheng would have walked further in, but E-Ming remained rooted.

"Come, E-Ming, Mrs Xie is waiting for us. We mustn't let her wait any longer." Hua Cheng said, and tugged at the leash.

But E-Ming growled threateningly at the nearby bush. He crouched on his paws, as if preparing for a pounce. E-Ming's growl grew louder and louder till suddenly he lunged forward. Almost immediately with a great deal of rustling in the bush, a huge white dog flashed in Hua Cheng's view. Before he would understand what was happening, the two creatures were in a fight.

E-Ming was slightly smaller than the Samoyed dog, but that was not a disadvantage. There were growls, barks, hisses, and screeches. No matter how hard Hua Cheng tried to pull E-Ming away, somehow, with an opponent in front, E-Ming turned out to be even stronger than Hua Cheng's arm strength. The dog did not really attack. She just defended herself.

In the end, a caracal was a predator.

Hua Cheng did not want a bloodbath here. The samoyed was probably someone's pet, and he should stop E-Ming from hurting the dog. At the moment, the dog was thrashing over, with E-Ming on top of her, biting her ear. He sighed, held the bouquet under his chin and ran his hand through his backpack. From there he extracted a veil of catnip. He sprinkled it over both the creatures, hoping hard it works.

It did.

As soon as E-Ming sniffed the green powder in, he stopped. Then, as if nothing happened, both of them rolled over the grass as Hua Cheng sprinkled the whole vail over them.

E-Ming got high pretty quick and forgot all about the white fluffy dog. He headbutted a nearby tomb and plopped on the grass, pupils dilated.

Hua Cheng crouched down in front of the dog and extended his hand to pat her head.

"Did you get lost?" He asked. The dog wagged her tail and arched into the touch. She had a red collar, and Hua Cheng made out the words, 'Ruoye'

"Sit, Ruoye." Hua Cheng said.

Ruoye sat back on her haunches and looked up at Hua Cheng for praise.

"Good girl" Hua Cheng ruffled her thick fur.