The Cat Who Liked Rain

Eleven

Sometimes, Lukas simply couldn’t understand how he’d had the courage to do what he had done. Like now, when he ran through the garden in his stockinged feet then started jumping up and down and flailing with his arms in front of his dad, who had stopped dead in astonishment. Lukas tried to explain what was happening, but he was in such a hurry that he mixed everything up. The words whirred round and round inside his mouth and came tumbling out in the wrong order. He could see that his dad hadn’t a clue what was going on. That only made Lukas all the more excited. He started again from the beginning, but Axel merely shook his head.

‘I don’t know what you’re on about,’ he said. ‘And why are you running around the garden with no shoes on? What do you think your mum would say if she saw you?’

‘Whirlwind is going to cut down the currant bush,’ Lukas yelled. ‘But he can’t, because it’s Night’s. How will Night be able to find his way home if the currant bush isn’t there any longer? They’ll have to build their track somewhere else.’

‘Calm down now,’ said Axel. ‘What track?’

‘The currant bush,’ yelled Lukas again. ‘The currant bush, the currant bush...’

He shouted so loudly that Whirlwind and his friends heard what he was saying. Whirlwind immediately came storming in through the garden gate and joined in the discussions. He and Lukas started shouting at each other, and Axel understood even less of what they were saying. By now, Beatrice had begun to wonder what all the yelling in the garden was about. When she looked out of the door, the first thing she noticed was that Lukas had no shoes on.

‘Come in this minute!’ she cried.

Lukas heard what she said, but he couldn’t answer — he had no time to put shoes on. Besides, he didn’t have any words left. His mouth was completely empty. There was nothing left to come out, not even a squeak.

Then Lukas did something he’d never dared to do before. He didn’t dare now either, but he did it even so. He attacked Whirlwind and started punching him. Naturally enough, Whirlwind was angry and was just about to start hitting back when Axel grabbed hold of his arm. Beatrice came running up and took hold of Lukas, who was preparing to attack Whirlwind again. It was absolute chaos. Whirlwind’s friends thought it was best to keep out of it, and they lost no time in hastening away on their skateboards. The neighbours were fascinated by what was going on, and were lined up along the fences, taking it all in.

‘That’s enough of all this nonsense,’ Axel roared. ‘What on earth’s going on?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Beatrice.

‘Lukas is an idiot,’ yelled Whirlwind, in a temper.

‘That’s enough, now,’ said Axel.

‘You’re the one who’s an idiot!’ yelled Lukas at Whirlwind.

‘Shut up, the pair of you,’ roared Axel.

He was really angry now. He dragged Whirlwind and Lukas in through the front door and slammed it behind them.

‘You mustn’t go out in your stockinged feet,’ said Beatrice again. ‘You’ll catch your death of cold.’

Lukas said nothing. He just stared at his mother’s feet. She had also forgotten to put her shoes on before running out. But he made no comment. The only thing that mattered was the currant bush.

‘So, let’s sit down in the kitchen and sort all this out,’ said Axel. ‘Everybody.’

‘Me first,’ said Whirlwind.

‘I was first,’ said Lukas.

‘I’m oldest,’ said Whirlwind.

‘I’m youngest,’ said Lukas.

Axel sighed and sat down at the kitchen table.

‘I suppose I’d better start things going,’ he said. ‘And I think Lukas had better speak first — but not because he was the one shouting loudest.’

Lukas gave Whirlwind a self-satisfied smile. He explained to his dad why he didn’t want Axel and his friends to build a skateboard track where the currant bush was standing. Words were no longer jumping around in his mouth. They came out in the right order.

Then it was Whirlwind’s turn. He glared angrily at Lukas.

‘Everything’s become a problem since that cat vanished,’ he said. ‘It was bad enough when it arrived. Then it became a problem when it went missing. I hope it never comes back.’

Lukas roared like a lion and hurled himself at Whirlwind. It happened so quickly that neither Axel nor Beatrice was able to stop him. The chair Whirlwind was sitting on was overturned, and the pair of them landed on the floor. Then Lukas felt his father’s fist grabbing hold of the back of his collar. He was picked up and returned to his chair.

Lukas was afraid that his dad was now so angry that he wouldn’t want to hear another single word about cats or currant bushes. But he was wrong.

Instead of ranting and raving, Axel burst out laughing.

‘That cat has bewitched us,’ he said. ‘I think it’s sitting back somewhere and laughing its head off at us.’

‘But it’s not sitting under the currant bush, that’s for sure,’ said Whirlwind.

‘Night can make himself invisible when he wants to,’ said Lukas.

Axel stood up.

‘Let’s go out and take a closer look at that currant bush,’ he said. ‘Maybe you can build your skateboard track without needing to dig up the currant bush?’

‘That’s not possible,’ said Whirlwind.

‘Of course it is,’ said Lukas.

‘How?’ wondered Whirlwind, far from pleased.

Lukas couldn’t answer that. He was afraid that his dad wouldn’t be able to solve the problem.

But he could. They went out and took a closer look at the currant bush. Whirlwind started by explaining what their plans were. His dad thought for a moment, then said:

‘But why don’t you build your track over the top of the currant bush? You could make it a sort of roof.’

Whirlwind was about to protest when Axel went on:

That would mean that the currant bush was untouched, but you’d still have your track. And Lukas can help you to build it. That’s only fair.’

‘He’d only get in the way,’ said Whirlwind angrily.

‘But surely he could hold the planks and keep them steady while you do the sawing,’ said Axel.

‘I want a dog,’ said Whirlwind out of the blue. ‘A big dog. That barks whenever anybody says “Lukas”.’

‘You can’t have a dog and a cat in the same house,’ said Lukas.

‘I think you can,’ said Axel. ‘But we’d better hold back for a while before getting any more pets. What we must do first is wait and see if Night comes back.’

‘He will come back,’ said Lukas firmly.

‘Yes, yes,’ said Axel. ‘Perhaps he will. But now it’s time to go and eat. And I don’t want any more arguing.’

Then Whirlwind and his friends built their skateboard track, and Lukas was with them although he wasn’t really allowed to help. It took almost a whole week, and most probably the track would never have been finished if Axel hadn’t lent a hand in the evenings.

But there it was in the end, and the currant bush had got its roof. Lukas could crawl underneath the track and hear the swishing of the skateboards passing over his head. He’d even be able to sit there and wait for Night when it was raining.

But Night didn’t come back. And the day when Lukas would start school was coming closer and closer. Every afternoon, he would nag away at his mum until she helped him to write another letter to Night. Then he would place it under the currant bush, and the following morning it would have vanished. Deep down he knew that there wasn’t a postman collecting his letters. You couldn’t be so childish as to believe that when you’d soon be starting school. Perhaps the letters simply blew away during the night. Perhaps there was some strange animal that came out at night and enjoyed eating paper.

Lukas tried harder and harder to think the unpleasant thought that in fact, Night would never come back. He was missing, and would always be missing. And Lukas would never find out why he’d run away. Night had become a riddle that would never be solved.

One day, just before Lukas was due to start school, he made his first attempt to get help in finding Night. He’d gone to town with his mum when she went shopping. He’d taken with him all the thirty-two kronor he’d saved, but he didn’t say what he was intending to do with it.

Next to the big shopping mall where Beatrice would spend at least an hour was a park with a children’s playground. He’d been allowed to go there on his own before, while his mum did the shopping. He promised not to run away, and hurried to the big park.

But he wasn’t actually going to the playground.

He knew that there was a fountain in the park, known as the wishing well. People who wanted a wish to come true would throw money into the water. His dad had often said that it was sheer madness, throwing money into the well. But Lukas had decided that he had nothing to lose. He believed that somehow or other, Night would discover that Lukas had thrown all his money into the water. And then he would have to come back.

He was out of breath by the time he reached the fountain. It was in the form of a big fish squirting lots of water straight up into the air.

As he had some paper notes as well as coins, Lukas had taken his secret piggy bank with him. So that the notes wouldn’t blow away, or just float on the surface of the water, he’d decided to throw in the whole lot: then he could be sure it would sink to the bottom.

He was the only one by the fountain. He knew that when you threw in your money, all you should be thinking about was the wish you wanted to come true. Otherwise nothing would happen.

But as he was thinking so hard that he closed his eyes, he couldn’t keep his balance when he threw the piggy bank into the well. He fell into the water and got soaking wet through.

It wasn’t very deep, but the water was freezing cold and he started shivering. He couldn’t see any sign of the piggy bank, no matter how hard he looked into the bubbling water.

Then his teeth began chattering, and he ran through the park in his dripping wet clothes. He didn’t wait by the car, but ran straight into the supermarket, and eventually found his mum in among the shelves. She stared at him in horror.

‘You’re wet through!’ she said. ‘What have you been doing?’

‘It’s a secret,’ Lukas told her. ‘Some secrets can make you wet.’

Lukas couldn’t understand why, but Beatrice didn’t ask him any more questions. Perhaps she suspected it had something to do with Night.

She left the trolley and its contents where it was, and drove him home so that he could put some dry clothes on.

‘I expect it’s true that some secrets can make you wet,’ she said. ‘But no more wet secrets today, all right?’

‘I promise,’ said Lukas.

Then Beatrice drove back to the mall to finish her shopping.

Lukas sat by the window, looking for Night.

But he didn’t come back that day either, even though Lukas had almost sacrificed himself in the wishing well.

Now there was only one thing he could do.

Wait. And wait. And wait.