Hiro Arikawa - The Travelling Cat Chronicles

This kind and considerate grandmother died some ten years ago, at a ripe old age.

Satoru had moved away when he graduated from junior high, but Yoshimine had continued to write to him, and when he told him of his grandmother’s passing Satoru had come a long way to attend the funeral.

When he was thanked for attending, Satoru smiled. ‘She was my grandmother, too, wasn’t she?’ he said. Yoshimine nodded, his eyes filling with tears.

His father, who was in charge of the funeral, had no intention of taking over the farm, and placed the house and its land in the care of nearby relatives, who had already got used to farming the fields and rice paddies when Yoshimine’s grandmother was no longer able to.

Yoshimine had proposed that he take over the farm, but was persuaded otherwise. Apparently, the farm wouldn’t make him much money and it would cause him a lot of trouble when it came to finding a wife.

‘Well, as my relatives predicted, no marriage prospects so far,’ Yoshimine told Satoru now.

‘Well, if I were a woman, I would definitely be interested,’ Satoru said.

‘If you know any women who share your values, be sure to introduce me to them.’

Smiling, Yoshimine poured more shochu into his glass. Now that they had checked the fields for the evening, it was time for a couple of drinks with dinner.

Satoru had some beer with his, but later drank only barley tea. He had never been much of a drinker, and had recently become even less able to hold his liquor.

‘I was hoping that before I leave tomorrow, I might pay a visit to your grandmother’s grave,’ he said.

The grave was in the hills behind the house. In Yoshimine’s small truck, it would take less than five minutes to get there.

To celebrate his friend’s visit, Yoshimine had planned to stay up late with him, but with an early-to-bed-early-to-rise habit drilled into him, he didn’t even make it to midnight.

SATORU AND YOSHIMINE went out first thing in the morning in Yoshimine’s truck, talking as they drove about the night before.

Perfect, I thought. I have my own little something to take care of while they’re gone.

Hey, orange tabby. Yes. You .

You remember what I taught you yesterday, don’t you? We’re going to go over how to handle yourself in a fight.

I crinkled up my nose and flattened my ears back. Okay, when you see an angry cat like this, what do you do?

The orange tabby followed suit, crinkling up his nose, laying his ears back, arching his back and making the fur on his back and tail stand on end.

Excellent. Well done.

Now, the final test. When I make an angry face, instantly strike a fighting pose. Impress Yoshimine. Listen, we need to have this nailed before I leave. So keep on your toes.

The orange tabby was full of spirit. Just then, Satoru and Yoshimine came back.

Timing it perfectly, so they were just coming into the room, I signalled to the orange tabby to adopt a fighting stance.

The kitten puffed up the fur all over his body like an exploding ball of wool. He was determined to show Yoshimine his best stance.

‘ What the—?! ’ Satoru sounded totally confused. ‘They were getting on so well yesterday. I wonder what’s happened all of a sudden.’

Who knows? Kittens are pretty impulsive. Perhaps he changed his mind?

‘Maybe he’s already forgotten about yesterday.’ Yoshimine looked puzzled, too.

‘Well, let’s see how it goes for a while. He might just be in a bad mood.’

Satoru was planning to leave in the morning, but held off until the afternoon. He tried out a few things, including putting the kitten and me in separate rooms for a while.

Unfortunately the kitten continued performing until we left. Every time I urged him on, he took up his best fighting pose. He was really into it, for a kitten. If he kept this up, he might actually make something of himself.

‘Why don’t you leave Nana here and see how it goes? Give him a few days and they might get used to each other,’ suggested Yoshimine when he got back from his morning farm chores.

‘I don’t think so,’ Satoru said doubtfully. ‘Nana got furious and hid in his basket, so it doesn’t look promising. It’s too bad, but if they don’t get on, forcing them to be together is sort of cruel.’

‘Really? That’s too bad. He’s such a good cat.’

Yoshimine, I don’t dislike you, so don’t think badly of me, okay?

But I’m still not ready to leave that silver van for good.

Satoru still seemed a bit sad about the whole thing, but with the little orange tabby looking so angry, wearing that ominous look, he finally gave up on the idea. Holding my basket to his chest, he climbed into the silver van.

‘It really is a shame.’

‘You say that, but you look pretty happy about the whole thing.’

To Yoshimine’s teasing, Satoru gave only a ‘Hmm’ in reply. His remark seemed to have hit the nail on the head. ‘Well…’ he went on, ‘it’s true I’m going to find it hard to part with Nana.’

‘If you like him so much, why do you have to give him away?’

Oh. You threw that pitch right down the middle, didn’t you, Yoshimine? A straight pitch, just like when you stuck your hand inside my basket when we first met.

Satoru looked perplexed and didn’t reply.

‘Never mind,’ Yoshimine said, not pressing the point. ‘If you ever have any trouble, come round, okay? I may not have any marriage prospects or savings, but one thing is certain – farmers never lack for food.’

‘But you see how Chatran and Nana are.’

‘They’re not going to kill each other, and if it comes to that, we can just force them to live together even if they don’t want to. They’re just animals, you really don’t need to worry so much about whether they get on.’

‘That’s absurd. When animals are under too much stress, their fur can fall out.’

‘If it really doesn’t work out, then I’ll set it up so you can stay in one of the unoccupied houses in the village. People are afraid their houses will deteriorate so they want someone to live in them. The village is doing its best to attract young people to come here from the city, too.’

‘Thank you.’ Satoru smiled, but his voice was still a bit shaky. ‘If I really can’t find a solution, then I’ll definitely take you up on that.’

‘Good. I’ll look forward to it.’

Satoru and Yoshimine shook hands firmly.

‘Thank you for everything. I’m pleased I was able to pay a visit to your grandmother’s grave.’

He got into the van, but just before he started the engine Satoru said, ‘Oh, that’s right,’ and rolled down the window. ‘Yoshimine, do you remember the name of that cat I used to have?’

Yoshimine shook his head.

‘He was called Hachi. He looked just like Nana, right down to the marks on his face like the Chinese character for eight. And Nana got his name because his tail looks like the character for seven.’

Yoshimine burst out laughing. ‘You said Chatran’s name was kind of corny, but the names you come up with are cheesy, too.’

‘One names them according to the way they look, and the other is into clichés. I’d say it’s a tie.’

Satoru beeped his horn lightly and drove off down the lane.

‘You shouldn’t act up like that, Nana, getting all upset over a little kitten.’

Ahem. You said you were going to leave me there, but do you really think that’s gonna fly?

‘I am a little relieved, though. That we can go home together.’

This I already knew.

‘Like I promised, do you want to stop by the sea on the way back?’