My dad decided to replace me a few months before I left for America.
When he came across an online listing for someone to adopt a 2-year-old white Pekingese, we drove to a sleepy part of my hometown to check it out.
We rang the doorbell and walked into the owner’s apartment. After a brief eye contact with us, the dog started racing in a zigzag pattern across the tiny living room—no more than 200 square feet and not uncommon in Macau—as if he had never seen a visitor in his life.
He kept accelerating. He soon started panting loudly. He stuck his tongue out.
The owner told us that the dog was a gift from his sister to keep him company. He was in a wheelchair most of the time and had difficulty leaving the house.
“It would be best if someone else could walk him more often.”
After we saw him for the first time…
We convened a family meeting at home.
My mom resisted the idea of a pet. She didn’t want more responsibilities around the house. “Who is going to pick up its poop?” she asked.
My dad was adamant and decided to go ahead.
“One day, I am going to snap my finger, and he will jump up to a chair so you can see him on video over Skype,” he told me after he brought Xing home.
That prediction came nowhere close. He didn’t know that Pekingese is one of the least obedient breeds.
For the next 14 years…
I couldn’t remember a conversation with my parents without us mentioning Xing (“star” in Cantonese).
How he got stung by a bee the other day. How he swallowed the toothpaste cap and threw up three days in a row. How he stepped on a cockroach with his paw.
I visited home every two or three years. Every time when I arrived, Xing approached me as if I had never left.
Xing loved the park near our house. He would forget about my parents when he was there. It didn’t matter how loud my parents barked; Xing remained poised and wandered in whatever direction he pleased, wholly absorbed in his world. Honestly, it wasn’t clear who owned who.
One day I was applying for a credit card online…
Halfway through the credit card application, an offer popped up. I could get extra points for every user added to the account, for free, and for up to a maximum of three family members. No identity validation was required.
I put my dad’s name in the first field.
I put my mom’s name in the second field.
In the third field, I typed: X. I. N. G.
Then I hesitated.
“Should I give him a last name? I can’t just put the first name, right? It must be a full name… Xing Chim, it is.”
An engraved credit card bearing that name came in the mail three weeks later. My wife (then girlfriend) couldn’t stop laughing about it.
My parents still go to Xing’s favorite park…
My dad and mom usually take a daily stroll after dinner. Xing practically lives in the park now. In 2020, my parents planted his cremated remains in (allegedly) his favorite banyan tree, with a pleasant view of a reservoir.
They still talk about him every day. How he hated the vacuum cleaner and fireworks. How he got a little drunk once after sipping some beer (Yes, we had him try a little.) How he dared to pick fights with the bigger dogs in that same park.
He also loved 100-dollar bills.
