Mao-mao has become our alarm clock since we changed the feeding routine.

It was early in the morning; the sky was still dark but Mao-mao was active. She kept walking back and forth across our pillows and once a while she licked Jeremy’s head and played with my hair. “Stop pulling my hair,” I yelled, but Mao-mao was a stubborn little brat, or I had spoiled her so bad that she didn’t bother to care for my complaint. I pushed my eyelids separated, “Damn it, it is not even 5 yet.” Jeremy knew that it was time to use something extreme so he threw Mao-mao out of the bed, violently. Oh it would not do any harm; everybody knows a cat has nine lives. She therefore disappeared in the dark, quieter than a ghost.

It was still early; the sky was still dark and now Mao-mao was playing around our feet. I peaked and the clock showed something like six-thirty. “Since when did Mao-mao fail to deliver her wake-up call on the RIGHT time,” I mumbled. She jumped around, skillfully avoiding to land on our body parts. “Okay, it is still tolerable,” I told myself. My eyes manage to shut tightly, and in my mind I could see Mao-mao practice her hunting moves, such as eagle landing, tiger jumping, or bear attack. Oh, cats are born hunters even though they are domesticated and they never give up their talents.

“Drop it! Mao-mao, drop it.”
“What is going on? Jeremy, just leave her alone.”
“Mao-mao caught a mouse.”

My eyes became wide open, “Say that again.”

“Mao-mao was too excited so I thought there must be something wrong.”
“Ahhh~ Is the mouse dead?”
“Yes, Mao-mao has killed it, and she was simply playing with it on the bed.”

Jeremy took care of the corpse and we changed the bed sheet instantly. We patted Mao-mao’s head because we didn’t want her to think that she did something wrong, but both Jeremy and I felt that some weird feeling stuck in our minds.

One of our friends told us that the highest form of affection a cat can ever show to her masters is to give them her game, which would probably always be a mouse. How should I let Mao-mao understand that whether she gives us mice as gifts or not, we would always love her?