All Creatures Great and Small

            Mama had been quite a feisty woman. She loved dogs, and so, of course, did I.

            When I was about three, one of my aunt's friends gave her a mongrel, a crossbreed. Of which two breeds I never found out, but he had a long furry coat, with hairs that were white and tan in colour. Mama named him "Rusty", since she said his coat had the colour of rust.

            Rusty ate whatever food we had left over. He did unfortunately have ticks. When they irritated him too much, he would lie down on our rug and rub that part of himself against the rug. Now and then, Mama and my aunt would give him a bath.

            Rusty's baths were exciting events. Mama would use the kitchen. She would shut the side door (leading to the dining room) and the back door (leading to the laundry area). Then she would block the area between the kitchen and the corridor with our old shoe-rack, so that Rusty would be trapped in the kitchen.


            She would then proceed to wet him (he would of course shake himself so that droplets of water were splashed all around him). She would apply dog shampoo on him and tick medicine to get rid of his ticks. After washing this off, she would rub him with a towel, then release him, whereby he would immediately run into the garden and rub himself on the rug again (this time, I think, to dry himself more thoroughly).

 

            Each time, I would watch, amazed at her courage and gungho-ness, as I could not see myself cornering any dog of that size to bathe it. Rusty was not Alsatian-size, but he was no poodle either, and Mama was quite a short lady, although somewhat on the plump side.

 

            Mama not only was not afraid of cornering a dog to bathe it. She was also fearless in dealing with scary creatures to accomplish her culinary feats. One dish which required this was Mama's "king crab salad".

 

            When I mentioned this once to a classmate, she gasped and said it was poisonous. This might have something to do with the fact that I later discovered the said crab to actually be a horseshoe crab. However, the fact is, my grandmother used to cook the female crabs, together with their roe, and to serve them with raw red onions and other vegetables. Coconut milk was one of the ingredients used in the manufacture of its dressing. It was a very delicious salad.

            The horseshoe crabs were to me rather scary creatures, with their sharp stinging tails. Once, my grandmother brought home two, and they scurried around our shallow drains, waving their sharp tails around.

            However, I believe the conservationists would probably frown upon this dish now, as the horseshoe crabs are probably not very plentiful in number. I have never seen them being sold in either the wet markets or supermarkets.