本文转自《拐哥哥的世界》 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_472c5e1d0100949n.html

音容犹存

献给大头——我家永远的爱猫

 作者：拐哥哥

大头永远长眠在枝繁叶茂的合欢树下。我想对于她来说没有比这更好的安息之所了。虽然阳光沃热着整个后花园，但从远方红树林吹来的习习南风和合欢树枝叶投下的斑驳疏影，使这方小小的角落冬暖夏凉，舒适宜人。

大头的墓前竖着一个小小的十字架，一尊天使雕像还有簇拥的鲜花。夜晚那盏长明灯的柔光、萤火虫飞舞的浮影和如水的月光温柔地环绕在十字架上。多么美妙的景色啊——也只有这样纯美迷人的意境才能配得上我家的大头。

大头优雅迷人高贵有时还有点傲慢。对我来说她是世界上最美的猫咪之一。她拥有一双圆圆的大眼睛，她的皮毛总是那么光滑柔顺。无论坐卧站立，她就象女皇一样，有时候让人感到我们是她的仆人，她才是主人。

也许她天生就是如此高贵：很任性，而且为自己的血统和优雅的姿态而骄傲，不象其他的猫咪知足常乐。对她来说，生活就是一出戏，你必须永远表现出最美的一面，为了保持身材容貌，你甚至必须牺牲一般猫咪钟爱的日光浴和美食。

当她第一次来我家的时候，她羞怯的样子，和其他猫没什么两样。但是她的羞怯很快就消失了，代之以高贵血统而带来的自豪和对袋装猫食的挑剔。她热衷于品尝不同口味的猫食，不要说一个月，就是一个星期，她也不能忍受同一种口味。她喜欢烤鸡——不要香料填塞的，只要BBQ和日式烧烤。她甚至还对鸡肉肠产生兴趣——要切成小片，不新鲜不吃。

我想她的这种习惯从有孩子之后才有了改变。她开始变的有责任感，她是一个好母亲，总是悉心照料孩子们，教导他（她）们要象她一样举止优雅，当然也教给他们不好的一面：那就是要求高标准的饮食。虽然她有了这些改变，但她对自己的血统和自豪感却一点也没变，在我们面前她总是一副高高在上的样子。

岁月不饶人。慢慢地，她的肚皮变得有点松弛了（但不能用肥胖这个字眼），但是无论我们什么时候看到她，哪怕是她刚刚醒来，她还是那么美丽优雅，皮毛光滑整洁。从那时开始，卧室和阳台成了她的世界的中心。

可是有一天，她决定要跳出这个世界的羁绊。她翻越两道篱笆，穿过马路，想看看对面的那个世界。一辆白色轿车飞驰而过，她当场香消玉殒，就象那风中的蜡烛。

* * *

现在她静静的长眠在微风轻拂的合欢树下。她在世的时候我对她的关注还远远不够，而如今她走了，但我感到她的音容犹存。我以此文来纪念她不平凡的一生，我想告诉她，她在我心目中有多么重要！

* * *

Shadow left behind

Dedicated to Dato, our beloved cat

- Once and always

Our cat rests beneath the closely-woven branches of our silk tree. I think her resting place couldn’t have been much better. It was a comfortable little corner in our backyard, warm in winter and cool in summer, and the southerly breeze coming from the mangrove bushes afar, as well as the shadow of the silk tree, provided a small radius of cool air in the backyard that was literally scorched by the sun.

Her resting place was marked with a wooden cross, a bunch of flowers and even a statue of an angel. A lantern hangs above the cross, and it illuminated the cross at night. Together with the moonlight and the glowing of fireflies it was a beautiful sight- the pure elegance of it all was charming. This was truly a setting worthy of our cat.

She was elegant, charming and at times, rather noble and sometimes even full of prejudice. For me, she is one of the most beautiful cats in the world. Her coat was always shiny and smooth to the touch, her eyes large and round, and when she sits and sleeps she always looked like a queen- sometimes we feel we were the servants and she was the master.

Perhaps that was what she is destined to grow up to be: rather self-indulgent, but always proud of her pedigree and behaves elegantly, unlike other cats that enjoyed life to the fullest. For her, life is a show and you must look your best at all times, even when the strain of putting up with your appearance outweighs enjoying the sunshine and good food.

When she first came here, she was shy, as with any cats. Though that shyness was quickly replaced by two things: immensely taking pride in her own pedigree, and having an appetite for gourmet food-in-a-bag. She enjoyed different flavors of cat food, though she could never have the same thing for a month, or even a week. She enjoys roast chicken- no stuffing, just BBQ or teriyaki. She even liked chicken luncheon- sliced into thin bits and the luncheon has to be fresh.

I guessed she changed after she had her babies. She became more responsible and she was a good mother, always taking care of her children and teaching them to be elegant just like her, though she also taught them the bad thing: having strict standards for their diet. She kept her pedigree and her pride, though, and she stayed on top of us for the remainder of her years.

Time took its toll on her. She slowly became more and more rounded (obese is too harsh of a word), but whenever we see her awake she is still a beautiful cat, groomed and clean. From that point and on, her world was centered in her bedroom (my mother’s), the upper part of my house and the sunny deck where she sunbathes.

Yet one day, she decided to leap out the constrictions of her world. She leapt over two fences and crossed the road. A white car sped past, and in a moment she was killed, like a candle in the wind.

* * *

And now there she is. Residing beneath the silk tree, with the breeze brushing past her resting place. Perhaps I had not noticed her enough when she was alive, but now that she is gone, I could feel her shadow left behind. I wrote this to remind myself of her life and that how much, in the end, she means to me.