The Cat Who Liked Rain

Six

Lukas stood absolutely still.

It was as if his heart had stopped beating. He couldn’t stop looking at the empty saucer. So Night had come back. He’d returned to his currant bush, he’d found the saucer of food, and he’d eaten up everything that was there, because he was so hungry. Lukas couldn’t possibly stand still any longer. Night must be somewhere close by.

‘Night,’ he shouted — no, he yelled. He yelled so loudly that a neighbour who was sweeping up fallen leaves jumped and almost dropped his rake.

Then Lukas started searching. He would have to find Night now. On the opposite side of the road, where they hadn’t started building houses yet, there was a lot of high grass, bushes, and some trees. That’s where Night must be. Lukas looked left and right, then ran over the road. And started looking for Night. Now that he was sure that Night wasn’t far away, he wasn’t frightened any more. He was so sure of himself that he could turn the search into a game. He imagined Night as a wild and dangerous predator who could only be tamed by Lukas. A red lion, he thought. The rare and highly dangerous red lion can only be found in the jungle on the other side of the River Rowan. Lukas picked up a broken-off branch lying in the ditch. He had a weapon now, and would be able to overcome the red lion.

At that very moment the postman arrived on his bicycle. Lucas ducked down behind a bush. The postman, dressed in blue, was one of the most dangerous of all enemies, and had to be avoided at all cost.

But the postman noticed Lukas and waved to him as he pedalled past.

One of the more friendly postmen, Lukas thought. There aren’t many of them. But sometimes you get lucky.

Then he carried on searching. It was still a game, looking for the red lion. But the lion became more and more difficult to imagine, the more he searched for it. He started to feel frightened again, when he couldn’t find Night. Eventually, the red lion had disappeared altogether, the tree branch was just a branch, and not a weapon; and there was still no sign of Night.

Suddenly, Lukas was angry with his cat. Why was he acting like this? Why didn’t he come home?

Lukas went back over the street, taking with him the empty saucer, and went back to the house. He kicked off his boots and went into the kitchen, where his mum was. He felt a need to talk to her.

‘Night’s come back,’ he said.

‘Really?’ said Beatrice in astonishment. ‘Where is he?’

‘I can’t find him,’ said Lucas. ‘But he’s come back home. I know he has. He ate the food I put out for him last night.’

Beatrice looked at him in surprise.

‘Now I don’t understand what you’re talking about,’ she said. ‘What food?’

Lukas explained what he’d done the previous evening.

‘You mean you went out in the middle of the night?’ she said. ‘And the saucer was empty this morning?’

Lukas nodded. Sometimes it took such a long time for parents to understand what their children were saying. Lukas wondered why parents always thought so much more slowly than children. Why was it so difficult for parents to understand things that were so simple and straightforward?

‘There’s no cat food left,’ Lukas said. ‘We’ll have to buy another tin so that I can put out some more meat. And I’ll be sitting out there, waiting until Night comes back.’

‘Of course you will,’ said Beatrice. ‘Why don’t you go to the shop and buy whatever you need. It’s marvellous news that Night has come back again.’

‘No, you can go to the shops,’ said Lukas. ‘I’m going to sit waiting by the currant bush.’

‘Oh, come on! It’s not all that urgent,’ said Beatrice.

‘I’m not going to give Night another chance of escaping,’ said Lukas. ‘You can do the shopping.’

Beatrice went to the shop. Meanwhile, Lukas carried out one of the kitchen chairs and sat down next to the currant bush. The neighbour who was raking up leaves gave Lukas a curious look. He couldn’t resist asking why Lukas was sitting on a kitchen chair and staring at a currant bush.

‘I’m just sitting and thinking,’ said Lukas. He didn’t want to say that he was sitting there, waiting for Night to come back. He was afraid that Night wouldn’t show up if he seemed to be too certain that his cat really was hovering around in the background.

It’s children who ought to be curious, he thought. Adults shouldn’t stand by fences, asking unnecessary questions.

The neighbour shook his head in response to Lukas’s answer, and continued raking up his leaves. And Lukas carried on waiting.

Beatrice came back and put some more cat food onto the saucer. Then she also wanted to wait and see if Night came back. But Lukas told her to go back indoors. He wanted to be alone.

It was cold, sitting there on the chair. Cold and boring. Lukas kicked away, and dug out a hole in the ground with his heels. But still Night didn’t make an appearance.

Then it started raining again.

Beatrice came out and told him he’d catch a cold if he carried on sitting out there in the rain. But Lukas told her to bring him an umbrella. And his dad’s sou’wester. Beatrice shook her head and sighed. But she did as he’d asked.

Lukas sat out there in the rain, holding an umbrella over his head. The neighbour had stopped sweeping up leaves when it started raining, but Lukas could see him standing in the window of his house, keeping watch.

In the end, Lukas couldn’t sit waiting on the chair any longer. Maybe it was better if he didn’t sit there? Maybe Night was a bit afraid that Lukas would be angry with him for running away? Maybe it was better to do what the neighbour had done, and stand looking out of a window?

Lukas decided that this would be best, and carried the chair back to the kitchen. Beatrice made him a sandwich. But Lukas didn’t have time to sit eating in the kitchen. He sat on a chair by the window and stared at the currant bush. He suddenly noticed something moving behind the currant bush. He pressed his nose up against the windowpane. Had he been mistaken? No — there it was again. Something moving. Something black...

Lukas yelled out loud and raced into the hall. He didn’t have time to put on his Wellingtons, but rushed out in his stockinged feet, ran over the soaking wet lawn, climbed over the fence and staggered up to the currant bush as fast as he possibly could.

Then he discovered that it wasn’t Night.

It was another black cat. But it didn’t have a white tip on its tail. It was another cat eating Night’s food — and perhaps this was the cat that had eaten the food Lukas had put out the previous night as well?

Lukas was so angry that he aimed a kick at the cat. It ran away, of course. Lucas picked up a stone and threw it at the cat. It gave a squeak when the stone hit it. Then Lukas picked up a handful of gravel and threw it — but the cat ran over the road and vanished into the bushes where the red lion normally lurked.

Beatrice had followed him out and came up, carrying his Wellingtons.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she said, and sounded angry. ‘Are you throwing stones at the cat?’

‘It ate Night’s food,’ said Lukas angrily.

‘It couldn’t know that it was meant for Night,’ said Beatrice.

‘But it’s Night’s saucer,’ said Lukas.

‘That’s enough of this nonsense,’ said Beatrice. ‘Put your Wellingtons on this instant. Then we’re going in.’

Night didn’t come back home that day either. Lukas didn’t bother sitting by the window any more, staring at the currant bush. He shut himself away in his room.

What could he do?

Night had been missing for over three whole days now. Lukas tried to understand why Night had wandered out into the rain. What had happened? Had Night been upset about something? Had he run away?

It seemed to Lukas that it wasn’t easy to understand what went on inside a cat’s head. Lukas knew how he behaved when he was angry or upset or happy. But he wasn’t at all sure how Night reacted in such circumstances. Lukas knew that Night’s tail would be upright when he was pleased and contented, and that he would rub up against Lukas’s legs, and that he would purr. But what would Night do when he was upset?

Lukas didn’t know the answer to the questions he asked. And when he asked Beatrice, she didn’t know either.

‘You ask such difficult questions,’ she said. ‘I don’t think anybody can answer them.’

‘Not even Dad?’ Lukas asked.

‘Not even Dad,’ said Beatrice.

‘How come that there can be questions without any answers?’ Lukas wondered.

‘You tell me,’ said Beatrice. ‘That’s something I also ask myself at times.’

Lukas went back to his room, and continued thinking. There was another possibility that he preferred not to think about. Somebody might have stolen Night, bundled him into a box and run off with him. But who could be so nasty as to steal a cat? Who could possibly do anything like that?

Lukas had no idea what to do. He didn’t think he’d have the strength to start school if Night didn’t come back. He wondered how on earth he’d be able to live a whole life, become an adult, and later on an old man, without knowing what had happened to Night.

That night, when he’d gone to bed, he decided to ask Whirlwind to help him. Perhaps the pair of them might be able to work together and find out where Night was? Lukas wasn’t at all sure that Whirlwind would want to cooperate. But he’d been unusually quiet since Night had disappeared.

Perhaps he would help to search, despite everything?

The thought of talking to Whirlwind made Lukas feel a bit calmer. He curled up under the covers, and tried to imagine Night lying next to his face.