Grin like a Cheshire Cat
One month after we arrived in Cheshire
We have never been to Cheshire before, and neither have my cats. Only read about the “Cheshire cat” in Alice in Wonderland. We packed up all the things, searching for a pet-friendly house to rent… After overcoming so many obstacles, finally a landlord in Cheshire accepted our offer. Yay! We are moving to the UK!
I still remember how we adopted our cats many years ago. There were more than 100 cats in the rescue centre. We were so confused; how could we choose from so many lovely little kitties? Suddenly, a cat jumped on my head, it was like she had already picked me as her servant, rather than me choosing her as my pet.
The person in charge suggested that we would be better if we adopt two cats instead of one, such that they can live and play happily together in their new home. Therefore, we have followed the advice and adopted the cat on my head, Dong Dong, and her sister, Ding Ding. I really love their given names “Ding Ding, Dong Dong”.
We thought we would then live happily with our princesses ever after. However, for less than 10 years, our city has become so politically unstable, that we cannot be ourselves anymore, just as who we are used to be. At that moment, we decided to leave this place, a place once we were born and we loved most.
But we couldn’t leave our cats behind, Ding Ding Dong Dong are our family members. Sometimes they are like my friends; sometimes they are like my daughters. Ding Ding even needs me to feed her by hand. Dong Dong is more independent, but she likes to lick my hands and groom my hairs. They simply cannot live without me (or is it the other way around?).
Looking back the whole journey, I think the conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat (in Chapter VI) now has a special meaning to me:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?”
“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
(Extracted from: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/lewis-carroll/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/john-tenniel/text/chapter-6)
Yes, I am mad, and we are all mad. It is so true; otherwise we will not go such a long way to somewhere else. But this is not the end of our story; it is just the beginning. And beyond the journey’s end, my adopted street cats have become the Cheshire cats, staring at me with a mysterious smiling face: “And you alright? Can you hear me?”
我們從未去過柴郡，我的貓亦如是。我們只在《愛麗絲夢遊仙境》裡讀過「柴郡貓」的故事。我們收拾了所有東西，尋找一個寵物友善的租盤……在克服了許多困難後，柴郡一位業主終於肯跟我們簽約。Yo！我們要搬到英國去了！
仍然記得多年前如何領養我們的貓。貓舍裡面有一百多隻貓，我們感到選擇困難，怎麼會有這麼多可愛的貓貓？突然間，一隻貓跳到我的頭上，就像她已經選擇了她的僕人，而不是我選擇了我的寵物。
負責人建議我們最好領養兩隻貓，這樣他們就可以一起過新生活和一起玩耍。我們遵循了建議，領養了我頭上那隻貓『噹噹』及其妹妹『叮叮』。我真的很喜歡他們的名字『叮叮噹噹』。
我們以為自己會和兩位公主過著幸福快樂的生活。然而，不出十年，我城就已變得非常動盪，無法像以前那樣做自己了。那一刻，我們決定離開這個地方，一個我們出生並且曾經最喜歡的地方。
但我們不能把貓留下來。叮叮和噹噹是我們的家人。有時候她們像我的朋友，有時候像我的女兒。叮叮甚至要我用手餵她。噹噹比較獨立，但她喜歡舔我的手梳理我的毛髮。沒有我，他們根本無法生活（或者是反過來嗎？）。
回顧整個旅程，我覺得愛麗絲和柴郡貓（在第六章）之間的對話，對我來說現在有特別的意義：
“你能告訴我，我應該從這裡走向哪裡？”
“那要看你想到哪裡去了，”貓說。
“我並不太在乎要到哪裡去——”愛麗絲說。
“那你走哪條路都無所謂了，”貓說。
“——只要我能到達某個地方，”愛麗絲解釋道。
“如果你只是走得夠久，你肯定會到達某個地方的，”貓說。
愛麗絲覺得這是無可否認的，所以她又問了一個問題。“這附近住著什麼樣的人？”
“那個方向住著一個帽匠，”貓揮舞著右腳，說道，“那個方向住著一隻三月兔。你想去哪個方向都可以：他們都瘋了。”
“但我不想和瘋子在一起，”愛麗絲說。
“噢，你無法阻止那樣做，”貓說：“我們這裡的人都瘋了。我瘋了。你瘋了。”
“你怎麼知道我瘋了？”愛麗絲說。
“你必須是，”貓說，“否則你就不會來這裡。”
是的，我瘋了，我們都瘋了。這是如此真實，否則我們不會去到這麼遠的地方。但它並不是我們故事的終結，這只是開始。在旅程結束之後，我領養的街貓已經變成柴郡貓，用神秘的微笑看著我：“你還好嗎？你能聽到我說話嗎？” (Translated by ChatGPT; Modified by myself)