Caleb - Things Said to Cats

I did not mean to overhear her scolding the cats. Truly, I didn’t.

One morning silent morning, I was designated to help out with the cafe by the head priest to get used to speaking the language with locals.

The moment I arrived, Miho-san told me to grab some boxes from the back of the cafe right away. I had not even managed to put my guitar down. I walked around the corner and froze.

Aika was already there, standing in the sunlight, pink hair glowing faintly at the edges, hands on her hips as she glared down at the cats. I just keep accidentally intruding on her like this.

‘You traitors!’ she started hissing.

Uh oh! I walked in on her moments with the cats again..

‘Even this week? I got you better food now. How dare you still abandon me for him?’

My heart stopped. Him?

‘He’s not even that special,’ she continued as she dramatically stabbed a finger at the air. 

Ouch!

‘Okay, fine, he feeds you. Some of you cats stare at his face. Do you think he is pretty? Whatever. He’s tall but not scary. However, he is not your mother. I am your mother.’

I’m technically a “Father” cause I am a priest…

One of the cats meowed defensively. Aika scoffed.

‘Oh don’t give me that. I raised you. I fed you. I let you stay at my home during winter and you repay me by worshipping a church man? Really? Him? That guy?’

I muffled a nervous laugh. Woah! How did I end up in Aika’s most wanted hit list…

I didn’t know whether to step out or die behind a trash can. I’ve never heard someone say positive things about me yet spit it in a venomous way.

‘But,’ she muttered begrudgingly.

There’s more?.. Now what?…

 ‘Yes, he has nice hands, fine. The way he plays guitar is so suave. And his voice is hmmm… fine. And maybe he smells nice. Whatever.’ She added and shrugged.

I nearly choked holding back my carbon dioxide. I smelled nice? Was she even that close enough to smell me?

I considered announcing myself then, but she kept talking and I felt rude intruding into her private talk time with the cats.

I should just come back later…

‘He’s probably some sort of angel hybrid. Middle of the road handsome. Too charming. The kind of man who ruins everyone’s day accidentally. A walking distraction…’

I pressed a hand to my burning face. She thought I was handsome? Ruinously so?

I didn’t know how to breathe anymore. I didn’t want to be a person to lead someone away from the Lord. But I’m not gonna lie and say I didn’t feel happy hearing that.

She sighed, ‘but he’s not for me. Friend or anything.’

And suddenly the scolding wasn’t funny anymore. I announced my presence by clearing my throat. She jumped so hard one of the cats leapt out of her arms like a launched missile.

‘O-oh! I—I didn’t hear you—how long—when—‘ she stammered. Her face turned cherry red.

‘I just got here,’ I lied. Forgive me Lord. It was a necessary act of compassion. Lest this girl combust and get sent to you immediately. 

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she was too flustered to interrogate. I held out the boxes.

‘I was to help the cafe for the morning.’ I explained.

The cats left her side and circled my feet. Traitors to their core. Aika glared at them.

‘Don’t come to him now! Stay with me! Loyalty, please!’

I couldn’t help but laugh. She froze as she looked at my face. As if my laughter was something dangerous for her.

I crouched down to pet one of the cats. ‘You’re very devoted,’ I told it.

‘I’m telling you, they’re not loyal,’ she muttered in Japanese.

‘I think they’re loyal,’ I said in English.

Aika swallowed slowly. As if deciding whether to respond or not. Her head tilted the slightest bit.

‘No. They are not loyal,’ she replied in surprisingly good English.

I smiled. ‘You speak very well.’

She shook her head quickly. ‘No. Not really.’

‘You do,’ I insisted softly. ‘Maybe we can practice together sometime? Just for a few minutes, whenever I am around the cafe, like today, if that was fine with you.’

Her hands curled slightly at her sides, like she didn’t know where to put them.

‘Maybe…’ she whispered. 

A tiny maybe. A door barely cracked open, but open nonetheless.

She bent down to set the bag of kibbles on the ground and the motion made her sleeve slide back for half a second. Just long enough to see the faint, healed-over edges of something that didn’t belong on someone so gentle. Not fresh bruises or wounds, but some marks of a life that had not always been kind.

She tugged her sleeve down immediately. I pretended not to see. I didn’t look again, but my chest ached.

‘Aika?… Are you alright?’ Yeah, nah. I couldn’t ignore it after all. 

She stiffened when she realized I saw it. Pure panic flashed through her eyes.

‘No!’ she said too quickly.

I want to help you. Let me hold your hand and pray for you…

‘I mean, yes. I mean, I’m fine.’ She corrected.

She wasn’t fine. Even her voice backed away from itself. Yet, I didn’t push. I’d have to wait for her to be ready to open up. Instead, I sat on the bench beside the cats and tapped the seat gently.

‘You can sit… Only if you want to.’ I murmured.

Her eyes flicked to the seat. To me. Back to the door.

‘Um.. I have to…’

I nodded. She looked conflicted and pained.

Aika, you can accept kindness you know… I didn’t have the courage to tell her that yet.

She looked at me with annoyance, exhaled and then sat. Not too close, not too far, just enough that I could feel her presence. I took out the guitar from behind me.

‘I’m not going to sing loudly,’ I started. ‘Just practicing.’

She inhaled slowly.

I played the chorus again with her revised version. It sounded even better this morning. She didn’t look at me, but her shoulders finally relaxed. 

‘You were right. The lift was exactly what the melody needed.’ I smiled.

She swallowed and hesitated before responding. ‘It matches your voice better,’ she murmured.

‘Thank you.’

Tender silence stretched between us as I played just chords on the guitar. Mostly hymns. Barely being audible, she eventually hummed to the tune. A harmony that slipped between the notes like it always belonged there.

Even though my breath caught, I managed to follow her hum with a chord. She went speechless after realizing what she had done.

‘Sorry… sorry… I didn’t mean to. Forget it, please forget it, I’ll go.’  Her face flamed red.

‘Aika.’

She stopped.

‘This is beautiful… I mean.. your singing. You talent. Don’t run from something beautiful.’ 

I may or may not have said that while looking at her face. She bowed her head to leave and end the conversation. I noticed that her hands trembled slightly.

‘It’s ok. We can just sit down. We don’t have to talk.’

I didn’t reach out, as much as I kept thinking of it. I simply played, and she only listened. Her breathing steadied slowly. Minute by minute. Note by note. 

When I ended the verse, she whispered, ‘Why do you always pray? Even when no one’s watching?’

I smiled gently. ‘Because prayer isn’t for being seen.’

She looked at her shaking hands.

‘Do you ever pray for yourself?’ she asked.

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Do you?’

She didn’t answer. Her throat moved like the truth was stuck there.

‘I can pray with you,’ I offered softly. She looked like she had a lot to unpack, but was afraid to burden me with it.

‘If you’d like. Not for anything heavy. Just for peace.’

She hesitated, and barely noticeably, eventually nodded.

Thank you Lord.

I closed my eyes. She didn’t close hers, but that was fine.

I prayed softly.

‘Father, thank You for today. For the small joys You hide in ordinary places. For courage that grows quietly. For people who carry more than they show. Please bring peace to the hearts that need it most. Please fill us with love and forgiveness.’

Her breath hitched faintly. I continued.

‘And for Aika… please let her feel safe. Even for a moment.’

I opened my eyes to her wiping her tears away.

‘S-sorry,’ she whispered.

‘Don’t apologize. Tears are honest. Honest things don’t need apologies.’ I said.

She looked me straight in the eye and something shifted. Like the first hint of trust bloomed in her. 

‘I have to go work. Something.’ She stood abruptly, cutting our eye contact.

The cats watched her dash into the cafe, then looked back at me meaningfully. ‘You’re doomed.’