Polly's Descriptive Essay

When we are ill and sick, while some of us may immediately think of visiting a doctor, taking some pills and capsules, some prefer traditional Chinese prescriptions – visiting a Chinese herbal medicine doctor. Being a frequent patron of a Chinese herbal medicine store near our home, mom and I always go there, not only for getting cure for illness and ingredients for making medical soup, but also for visiting my friend – the cat which symbolizes the Chinese herbal medicine store.

As I walk into the herbal medicine store, on the left hand side, I can see rows of shelves, on which there are orderly placed glass containers. Some are filled with different kinds of dried sea creatures; for example, light brown dried scallops, ivory-white dried sea horse. On the right hand side, herbs are placed systematically in separate wooden shelves in traditional Chinese style.

The mixture of the natural scent of different kinds of herbal medicine is so familiar to me. Slightly bitter, with an underlying meaning: all these are good for health. At the counter, there comes my old friend – Ms. Know-It-All, a cat kept by Mr. Cheung, the owner of the herbal medicine store.

Ms Know-It-All has got neatly-combed short white hair, with a pair of bright green, but fading eyes. In elegant steps, she walks slowly around the store; although she is old, she still jumps around the store without breaking anything. Very often, she likes to crouch quietly at the working counter, accompanying Mr. Cheung, who is always busy sorting out different packs of medicines.

Sitting at the entrance, she successfully becomes the symbol of the store for nearly ten years. Thus, she has been wearing a natural herbal ‘perfume’, which is the same as the scent of the medical store.

Most of the patrons are over sixty, entering the store with a stick tapping the ground. They should all be knowledgeable in keeping good health with traditional Chinese prescriptions. Some of them purchase packs of herbal ingredients for making healthy soup, while some visit the herbal medicine doctor, bringing along with their grandchildren. The kids usually bring with them their favourite portable electronic device – the Game Boy. It seems to me that, no matter how playful and talkative the children are, when they meet Ms Know-It-All, all of them become so calm and quiet that they greet her by touching her hair softly, calling her “meow meow” in very soft voices as a way of showing respect to her. Without showing any signs of rejection, she closes her eyes, enjoying the feeling of being liked and loved by little kids.

Whenever the doctor is sitting in front of the diagnostic desk with his patients, Ms Know-It-All walks slowly in her elegant steps towards the patients. She jumps on the desk and rubs the patient’s hands with her little head, like an old woman showing care to whom she cares and loves.

When there are few people in the store, she looks out at the street with her half-opened eyes, just like an old lady sitting quietly in meditation. I guess those people who know about her, including the patrons of the store and the passers-by, do having an intention to know what she thinks about the crowdedness of the street. I am no exception. Does this annoy her? Or is she thinking about all the changes in the past years?

Mr. Cheung told me that, when she was young, the insects in the store, including cockroaches, ants and worms; and the most importantly, mice, were caught and eliminated by her. She really did a great job in keeping the store a mice-free environment. So, nobody in the store dare to treat her badly. For those people who live nearby, even if they have not patronized before, they have long knew her contributions.

This inspires me to think of how our society treats elderly people. It is especially upset to read news about elderly people being maltreated. It is undeniable that these people contributed their time and effort to Hong Kong ’s economy when they were young. However, few of us have put that in our mind. I really hope that we keep the spirit of treating old people well, because all of us will get old in the future. I believe that none of us wants to be abandoned by society.