Hiro Arikawa - The Travelling Cat Chronicles

We continued our drive along a river, then down a hill, and emerged on a road that ran alongside the sea.

Waa—

‘Wow.’

We both shouted out at almost the same instant.

‘It looks just like the sea.’

He was talking about the pampas grass which spread out along both sides of the road. Its white ears covered the flat, sprawling fields from one end to the other, and swayed in the wind like white, cresting waves.

It hadn’t been long since we last stopped, but Satoru pulled over again.

Even though there were so few cars on the road, Satoru came around to the passenger side and carried me out. He must have been afraid I might leap out. A little over-protective, I thought, but if that makes him feel better, I’m happy to let him take charge. Satoru had big hands and I felt secure and calm whenever he held me.

I wanted to see this scenery from a slightly higher vantage point, so I slipped from his hands on to his shoulder and stretched my neck. I was now just at Satoru’s eye level.

The wind was rustling, the ears of the pampas grass swaying. The waves were rolling further than the eye could see.

It was just as Satoru had said. This was like a sea on land. Unlike the sea, though, there was no heavy booming sound. In this kind of sea, I might be able to swim.

From his shoulder, I leapt down to the ground and nosed my way into the pampas grass.

The path before me was blocked by the thick stems. I lifted my head and saw, far above me, the white ears waving against a clear blue sky.

‘Nana?’

Satoru’s worried voice reached my ears.

‘Nana, where are you-uuu?’

There was the sound of dry grass being trampled so I knew that Satoru had entered the pampas grass sea, too. I’m here, just here, just near you.

But as he called me, Satoru’s voice drifted further away. From where I was, I could see Satoru, but he couldn’t see me, hidden as I was by the pampas.

I guess I have no choice, I thought, and followed quickly after Satoru so he wouldn’t get lost.

‘Nana?’

Right here! I answered him, but it seemed like my voice was being carried away by the wind and didn’t reach him.

‘ Naaaaana! ’

Satoru began to sound desperate.

‘Nana! Nana, where are you-uuuuu?’

Satoru started to call out into the distance and, unable to bear it, I let out a loud shout, as big as I could make it.

I’m right heeeere!

And then there he was, framed against the sky, gazing down at me. The instant our eyes met, his stern look melted. His eyes softened and light caught the trails of water sliding down his cheeks.

Without a word, he knelt down on the earth, placed his big hands around my middle and hugged me. That hurts! My guts are going to squeeze out.

‘You silly thing! If you wander off in here, I’ll never be able to find you!’

Satoru’s whole body shook with his sobs.

‘For someone your size, this field is like a sea of trees!’

A ‘sea of trees’ is how Satoru had described it to me earlier. Inside a forest like that, internal compasses don’t function and you totally lose your way.

You’re the silly one. I’d never wander so far that I’d actually lose you.

‘Don’t leave me… Stay with me.’

Ah-hah! Finally .

Finally, he had said what he really meant.

I’d known for a long time how Satoru felt.

I knew he was searching hard for a new owner for me, but that as each attempt came to nothing, he felt hugely relieved to be taking me home again.

‘It’s such a shame I can’t leave him here,’ he’d tell each of his friends, but in the van on the way home he’d be all smiles. How could I ever leave him, having experienced that kind of love?

I will never, ever, leave him.

As Satoru wept silent tears, I licked his hand over and over, my rough tongue wandering over every knuckle and crevice.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. I realized how much Hachi would have regretted it – being separated from a child who loved him so much.

But Satoru was no longer a child. And I’m a former stray. So this time we should be able to make things work out.

Okay, let’s get back on the road! This is our final journey.

On this last trip, let’s see all sorts of wonderful things. Let’s make a pledge to take in as many amazing sights as we can.

My seven-shaped crooked tail should be able to snag every single marvellous thing we pass.

Back in the van and driving off, the doves-about-to-appear CD came to an end. Then a woman’s low, husky voice started to sing strangely and in a foreign-sounding language I couldn’t understand.

The doves-about-to-appear song was one his mother liked, apparently, while his father preferred this one, with the husky-voiced woman singing.

The road was lined as far as the eye could see with those purple and yellow flowers.

We continued driving at a leisurely pace. Hmm… when was the last time we had to stop at a traffic light?

We were no longer by the seaside but heading inland, and sturdy-looking wilderness spread out on either side. Finally, we could see cultivated, rolling hills.

I was in awe of this land, so flat and magnificent. It was like nothing I’d ever seen.

Wooden fences lined the roads now, and in the plots behind them there were – well, I wasn’t at all sure what they were. Large animals, noses to the ground, chomping away at the grass. What the hell were those things?

I put my paws up and pressed them against the passenger window, stretching up as far as I could. I often did that to check out the scenery outside, so Satoru had made a seat for me out of a large box with a cushion placed on top. Whenever I saw something that piqued my interest, I’d always lean forward like this.

‘Ah, those are horses. This area is all pasture.’

Horses? Those things? I’d seen them on TV, but this was my first time seeing the real thing. On TV, they looked much bigger. The horses chewing grass along the road were certainly large, but they were also relatively slender.

I craned my neck around to take a last look back at the horses as we passed, and Satoru laughed.

‘If you like them that much, let’s park up for a closer look next time we see some.’

In the next pasture we came to, the horses were in an enclosure quite a long way from the road.

‘It’s a little far away,’ Satoru said ruefully as he got out of the van, walked around to my side and picked me up.

When he slammed the van door shut, the horses, so distant they appeared smaller than Satoru’s hands, stopped chewing grass and raised their long heads to look at us.

There was a tense moment. The horses’ ears pricked up as they appraised us.

‘Look, they’re watching us, Nana.’

Not just watching, but carefully checking us out. They wanted to see if we were a danger to them. If we had been close enough for them to realize we were just a human and a cat, they would have been relieved.

Given their size, I didn’t think they needed to worry. But animals have an instinct. Whatever their size, horses are grass eaters, and grass eaters have a long history of being hunted by meat eaters. This makes them timid and skittish.

On the other hand, we cats may be small, but we’re hunters. And hunters are fighters. We’re on our guard, too, with creatures we don’t know, but when it comes to a fight we’re more than willing to face up to animals much bigger than us.

That’s why when dogs meddle with cats for fun, they end up whimpering, their tails between their legs. A dog ten times our size? Bring it on!

In my view, dogs have long since given up hunting. Even hunting dogs just chase their prey for the sake of their master these days, and they don’t finish it off themselves. That’s the crucial difference between them and us cats; even if we’re just hunting a bug, we’re intent on making the kill ourselves.