BEIJING, December 24, 2012 (City Weekend) — Lucky struts into Red House and, like much of the clientele that frequents this off-Gongti dive, he and Tuxedo Sam wrestle on the floor while they wait for their pizza. A Spanish-speaking patron appears un-amused by their antics, but Lucky’s a regular here, so it’s all good.
Although he’s perfectly at ease in places like Red House, Yugong Yishan (where he won this year’s Halloween costume contest) and psy-trance festivals in the countryside, it’s not the scene he was born into. A couple of years ago, he decided to leave the family from Xinjiang who lived with him in a Gongti hutong and he moved into a 17th-floor apartment with his new owner, taking his life from rags to riches, hutong to high-rise.
Being nouveau riche hasn’t gone to his head, though. He revels in the spoils of gentrified Dongcheng hutongs, but he’s just as happy to scamper around his old stomping grounds, where people still call out to him using his former name. “Mao Mao, lai le!” they yell. “Shi Mao Mao ma?” they ask anxiously.
Lucky can often be seen running from place to place alongside his master’s bike. If he must use wheels, he avoids public transportation, opting instead to hop in a car, on the back of a stranger’s scooter or into his owner’s bike basket. When he needs to unwind, he shuffles over to someone and sits on their feet, swings on a swing-set or takes off someone’s socks.
But, like so many of us climbing the social ladder, he sometimes forgets his manners. He was once kicked out of the Opposite House for running behind the bar and standing on the sofas, and he showed up at this reporter’s 26th birthday party uninvited and covered in some goo with an ungodly odor. He ran away half-way through his first and only haircut, not even giving the vet enough time to cut off the dreadlocks that have grown behind his ears.
Social transgressions aside, his strawberry-blonde coat, big brown eyes and unabashed joie de vivre make him absolutely irresistible whether he’s tearing up the club, hearing some band you’ve probably never heard of or checking out local tourist attractions, including various sections of the Great Wall and Tian’anmen Square.
He looks like Robert Redford, if Robert Redford were a dog, which is probably also why he can saunter into a Peking duck restaurant and walk out with an entire duck carcass, on the house. Lucky’s a busy fella, though, so he’s likely to bury any bones he’s given. With so much to do, there’s no time to savor bones.
It's Mikala! 