The Cat Who Liked Rain

They came to a clearing. It was a bit lighter there. Dad took off his cap and placed it on a tree stump before sitting down on it. Lukas did the same. That’s why we have parents, he thought. So that we know when to take our cap off and put it on a tree stump before sitting down.

‘A rainy-weather land,’ said Axel again.

Lukas had the impression that Axel wanted to tell him something, but didn’t know how to begin.

‘I understand how sad you must be because your cat has run away,’ said his dad after a while. ‘You want him to come back home, of course. But you can’t tame cats. They might live with people, but they’re still wild. It’s a bit hard to explain. Do you understand what I mean?’

‘Yes,’ said Lukas. Although he hadn’t a clue what his dad was saying. How could a cat be wild and tame at the same time? Could people be like that as well? Was it the wild Lukas who had run away the previous evening? And the tame Lukas who was now sitting on a tree stump in the depths of the forest?

‘You have to understand that Night is just as happy when he’s living out in the wilds,’ his dad went on. ‘Maybe he was a cat that couldn’t be tamed. If we’d forced him to stay at home, it would have been like locking him up in a cage.’

Axel scratched away at the back of his neck before continuing solemnly.

‘I thought it would be best if we had a little chat about this, just you and me,’ he said. ‘Your mum and I are a bit worried about you thinking about Night all the time.’

‘I want him to come back,’ said Lukas, and could feel the lump in his throat.

‘Maybe it’s better for him to be living wild in a rainy-weather land,’ said Dad.

‘Cats don’t like rain,’ said Lukas.

‘But Night ran away when it was pouring down,’ said his dad. ‘Perhaps Night is an unusual cat who likes bad weather.’

Lukas needed to think about that. Maybe his dad was right? Maybe Night was the only cat in the world who liked rain? But in that case, where is this special rainy-weather land?

He asked his dad.

‘Nobody really knows where it is,’ said Axel. ‘But what I do know is that all the cats who live there put umbrellas up when it’s sunny and they sit outside in their gardens, and they are happiest when it’s raining. The raindrops are warm, and they give you a tan. Sometimes the rain is so warm that they have to find a place where the sun is shining so that they can find some shade and feel cool.’

‘That’s a very strange country,’ said Lukas. ‘Is it on the map?’

‘No,’ said his dad. ‘Only the very best and most remarkable cats ever find their way there. They don’t need maps. They follow the rain clouds, and they eventually get there.’

‘Is there food for them in that country?’ Lukas wondered.

‘There’s everything a cat could possibly want there,’ said Axel. ‘Cats couldn’t possibly find anywhere better to live than the rainy-weather land.’

Lukas didn’t really know what to believe. Obviously, what his dad was saying was a fairy tale — but it was a lovely fairy tale. It was easier to think about Night after having heard Dad talking about this strange country far, far away, where it rained all the time.

‘That’s why I took the day off,’ said Axel. ‘So that we could come out here into the forest and talk about Night.’

‘Will Night ever come back?’ Lukas asked.

‘Possibly not,’ said his dad. ‘But I’m quite sure that he’s thinking about you just as much as you’re thinking about him.’

‘Can’t we go and visit him?’ Lukas asked.

‘Where?’

‘In the rainy-weather land.’

‘There’s no way we could go there, neither walking or by car,’ said his dad.

‘How did Night get there, then?’

There was a long pause before Axel answered. Lukas had the feeling that his dad didn’t really know.

‘Cats have remarkable eyes,’ he said in the end. They can see much better than we can when it’s dark. Sometimes, when it rains at night, really big drops fall to the ground — as big as beach balls. Cats who want to go to the rainy-weather land creep inside those enormous drops. Then they start spinning round at tremendous speed and woosh! — They vanish; and when they’ve vanished they are there.’

Lukas didn’t know what to think. What his dad had told him sounded exciting — but could it really be true? Did raindrops as big as that really fall during the night?

‘I want Night to come back even so,’ said Lukas. ‘Even if he can only come to say hello now and again. Maybe it’s possible to write letters to that strange land?’

‘We’ll have to see if we can find out the address,’ said Axel, standing up. ‘Maybe all we need to do is to leave a letter under that wild currant bush where he used to lie and sleep? Maybe the cats have a secret postman who collects such letters?’

Lukas decided that he would write a letter to Night as soon as he’d learnt how to write and spell at school. Now he wanted to start school immediately.

‘I’ll write letters to him,’ said Lukas. ‘I’ll write every single day.’

They walked back through the forest. Lukas held his dad’s hand. When they got back to the lake shore, Lukas remembered something.

‘We didn’t see an elk,’ he said.