Francis chuckled. “I shall endeavour to avoid it.” Heglanced down at Hasim’s chest, expecting to see a kitten nestled in there, but today there was no kitten. “Where’s your little friend?”
Hasim laughed. “Eating. Kittens eat together. Later, I will see.”
“Do you need a hand feeding the cats?” Francis asked him.
“Yes, yes,” Hasim said easily. “Gel. Come.”
He led Francis through the gardens, to a small pavilion he hadn’t seen before. Inside its open pillars were three women in pink and purple robes, and several older children in white linens and little waistcoats, everyone either barefoot or wearing silk slippers. All of them were crowded around a big pot of cooked meat, set on an ornate wheeled cart.
One of the women ladled the food out onto china dishes, and handed them off to the next woman, who would set them onto the silver trays. The trays were then given to the children, who shot off through the bushes and disappeared from view, no doubt to distribute the food in different areas.
There were several cats sitting and waiting, tails swishing, near the big pot, but as soon as they saw the children with trays of their breakfast, they trotted after them.
“My, this is quite the production line!” Francis said in admiration. “How may I help?”
Hasim guided him where to stand and await a tray. He handed his empty tray to one of the women, who looked between him and Francis. She asked Hasim something in Turkish, and Hasim replied. It must’ve been a question about him, as Hasim turned to him and asked in German, “All is well with your prince now?”
“Oh, yes,” Francis said, and cleared his throat. “Yes, thank you. Everything is back under control, he is performing his duties, and I hope not to hear another peep out of him for therest of the day at least. Hopefully not until tomorrow!”
Hasim nodded and smiled. “Good, good.”
They were both given trays loaded with full dishes, and Hasim beckoned Francis to follow him. “First is breakfast, then play, then they sleep,” he said.
“That sounds nice,” Francis replied. “What a lovely life they have.”
“Yes, yes.” Hasim chuckled. “Nice for them.”
They walked through the sweet-smelling orange trees, and back to the fishpond to distribute more food for the cats.
Hasim explained in sometimes faltering German that the kittens were always fed separately, and these adult cats were fed here. They had plenty of helpers, he said. Sometimes he struggled to find the right word in German and would make an action with his hands to explain non-verbally, sometimes adding the right word in his own language.
Despite the language barrier at times, Francis understood him.
After the cat breakfast was done, they had to collect all the dishes and send them back on more ornate carts, while the children played with the cats who wanted to play. The cats who wanted to sit and observe did just that.
All of the adults had their hands full setting dishes and plates onto carts and pulling them away. When Francis asked where they went, Hasim began to explain then stopped and said, “Come, come.”
They followed the carts to another section of the garden, which at first Francis thought to be an ornamental pond with very large goldfish swimming in narrow trenches. Hasim beckoned him to come right up to the edge to watch as the helpers tossed the bits and scraps into the water trench, crouching down to wash the dishes while the fish ate the food waste.
“My, that is clever,” Francis said, astonished. He’d never seen anything like it.
“This, new,” Hasim explained, gesturing to the area with his hand. “Five year. Engineers come from Japan. These…uh, carp, Japan.”
“Oh, yes, I see now,” Francis said. “They look like those Koi carp, but larger. Very large.”
“Yes, large.” Hasim chuckled. “Too large for cats.”
“Do the cats try to catch the fish?” Francis asked.
“Well…” Hasim tilted his head, which probably meant yes. “We have the top, here.” He pointed to the very beautifully made, ornate iron bars sitting up on a hinge.
Francis had assumed it was a trellis, but now realised it must act as a gate over the water to prevent cats jumping in.
“Ingenious,” he said. “I must say, Hasim, everything looks very beautiful here. Even the most practical of things is made to look beautiful. It’s rather wonderful.”
Hasim smiled. He seemed pleased.
Francis realised this must have been what Hasim was in the middle of doing yesterday morning, when Francis had first stumbled across him, and he had interrupted the schedule. To make up for that blunder, Francis was determined to be useful today.
