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standing on the street and see my Chinese neighbor outside her house (in reality I don't have such a neighbor). There is black smoke pouring out from her kitchen. I ask her what's up and she says she was trying to make tea and it got really smokey and she wasn't sure what to do. So I offer to go inside with her and see if we can figure out the problem. She speaks to me in Chinese, or half Chinese (I can't distinguish between Mandarin and Cantonese), but I can still understand her.

Once inside, the place is dark and filthy. She has several cats and in addition to the clutter and mess of her house, there is spilled litter and kibble all over, and cat feces on the carpet. I locate the source of the smoke: she is making tea on a small hibachi barbeque, and it is smoking because there is something foreign in the coals that is burning. I carefully lift up the grill to see what's in there, and four snakes that are on fire jump out and slither rapidly through the house. In the other room I hear one of them strike and one of the cats cries out in pain. Suddenly the cat and one of the snakes are wrestling, locked in a mortal struggle. I jump up and yell, "Oh shit!" I feel the urge to flee this horrible scene, but don't because of my obligation to help my neighbor. She doesn't look alarmed that one of her cats is injured and may be dying, just sad and helpless as we watch the scene play out. I think the snake is winning because my last impression before I wake up is the cat lying on its side, breathing heavily.

Posted by Satya at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)