The Cat Who Liked Rain

‘That kind of thing takes time,’ said Whirlwind’s friend. ‘Hurry up, now!’

When Lukas had finished, Whirlwind’s friend set off again. And then the next skateboard arrived, ready to be cleaned.

And so it went on for several hours. Before long Lukas thought it was all so exciting that he almost forgot what they were actually doing — looking for his missing cat. Twice he had to run back home for some more water. All the time he was afraid the washing powder would run out, or that somebody would complain that he wasn’t cleaning the skateboards well enough. But nobody said anything, and Whirlwind seemed to be pleased. Lukas thought that when he grew up, he might become the world’s best skateboard mechanic. No matter how hard he tried, he would never be as good a skateboarder as Whirlwind was.

But Night was still missing.

When they’d finished searching all the gardens and all the other places where he might be hiding, nobody had seen a black cat with a white tip at the end of its tail.

‘He’s not around here,’ said Whirlwind. ‘He must be somewhere else.’

Lukas felt a lump in his throat. Night mustn’t be a long way away. How would he be able to find his way back home again?

But he didn’t say anything.

‘That cat will never come back,’ said one of Whirlwind’s friends. ‘You can forget that cat.’

‘Hmm,’ said Lukas. ‘I suppose I’ll have to forget about him then.’

It was so very difficult for him to say those words. It was the most difficult thing he’d ever said in the whole of his life. It felt as if Night had heard what he’d said, that Lukas had decided to forget about him. But it wasn’t true, of course! He would never forget Night, and he would never stop looking for him. Never ever!

Whirlwind and his friends went off to compete with one another. They were looking for a place where they could make a skateboard track of their own. Lukas went home with his bucket. It almost felt heavier now that it was empty, and he knew that Night hadn’t been found today either.

He paused by the currant bush, turned the empty bucket upside down, and sat on it.

He felt sad again now. If only he could understand why Night had run away! Why had he disappeared?

It seemed to Lukas that he would have to do what he’d been thinking of doing for several days. He must run away himself, just like Night did, and go looking for him at night. He must live like a cat in order to be able to find him. As he sat there on the bucket, he started miaowing. He tried to make the same sound as a cat. After a while he became quite good at it. But he wasn’t able to purr. The best he could do sounded like Axel when he had a cold and gargled.

Lukas suddenly realised that the next-door neighbour was standing by the fence, staring at him.

‘Have you started miaowing, Lukas?’ he asked.

‘No,’ said Lukas. ‘I’m only gargling.’

Then he went indoors. The kitchen was empty. Beatrice had gone shopping. Lukas put the bucket and the rag back in the cleaning cupboard.

Then he went to his room and lay down on the bed.

He had no option now.

Tonight, he must run away.

Eight

What do you actually do when you want to run away? Lukas didn’t know. And so he stayed in his room all afternoon, thinking about what to do.

Children sometimes ran away from home in the books his mum and dad read to him when he was finding it hard to go to sleep. Lukas curled up on the bed and tried to remember everything he’d heard about those children.

What surprised him most was that children always ran away when it was dark outside. How come that children in books are never afraid of the dark? Without hesitation, they all dared to climb out of a window when it was pitch black, and howling gales were lashing the swaying trees. Why wasn’t it possible to run away when it was still light? Lukas asked himself. Why couldn’t you at least start to run away before the sun had set, and all the shadows had become so scary?

And besides, where would he run away to? In the books his mum and dad read to him, the children were always running away to somewhere in particular. To a parent who lived a long way away beyond a vast, dark forest. Or to a castle on a rock in the middle of a raging ocean. But where would Lukas go to? He didn’t know where Night was, after all! It would have been much easier to run away if he’d known where Night was hiding. But then again, if he knew that, he wouldn’t need to run away.

Lukas sighed and put the pillow over his face. It was always difficult to do something you’d never done before. Besides, he’d never heard anything about running away being something they taught you in school. Whirlwind had never said anything about lessons in running away studies.

Lukas threw his pillow at the wall in frustration.