In The Middle Of Nowhere
Texas, a Tuesday in 2006. It was hot, and his yellow Audi 80 had broken down by a road filled with sunflowers.
Mr. Cat didn't need to feel the cold drop of sweat rolling down his forehead to know that he was sweating. In fact, no one needed to look at the transparent halos that had formed under their armpits to know. The sun was at its peak, objects no longer had shadows, the landscape had taken on a flamboyant hue, and the hoods of cars shone like jewelry left in the open air. The weather forecast for this particular Tuesday had predicted 96 degrees, but Mr. Cat, and probably the entire population of Texas, knew that the blonde weather lady had a different number in mind. After all, this place had a tourism to maintain; a quest that would be hard to achieve if they announced the real temperature (which was almost 107 degrees). Whatever the weather forecast said, though, it made no difference as to the annoying proximity of the sun.
The smell of gasoline was not something he liked. The only scents that invoked pleasant memories in him were the aroma of coffee in the morning, and the astringent scent of the sunflowers from nearby. And yet, his nose was slowly and reluctantly beginning to tolerate the smell as he stood in front of the raised hood of his yellow Audi 80. With his hands firmly holding it open, supported by a stick he had picked up on the ground to prop up between the gray cables, the feline had been angrily staring at this complex tangle of wires for half an hour, cursing all the while. To passers-by, it looked like he was just sunbathing in the wrong place.
He knew this car like the back of his hand, if not better. Usually, he would be able to diagnose exactly what the problem was, but today, during this heatwave on a Tuesday 2006, his car fell victim to a mysterious illness which he had not learned of yet. Stumpy and Quack Quack, sitting in the backseat, had been complaining about the exhaust pipe repeatedly spewing out carbonaceous smoke - and then it was absolute misery; the wheels started to act up, and the car let out a long, shrill whistle before giving up at the side of the road.
Of course, it was a yellow Audi 80 (and he liked to remind himself of this fact, because nowadays so few people had that model that they could be counted on the fingers of one hand), something old and not very solid. Yes, he had checked it quickly before they left for the supermarket because a certain frog kept pressuring him to get her a cleaning product… but that was no reason to accuse the car for its little mechanical problems! His vehicle - no, his friend - was resistant. It had survived roads that were snowed-over, icy, hot, recovered from multiple damages, and carried the heaviest of bags… it wasn't going to let out its last breathe here, on the side of some road in the scorching sun!
"Hey, nutcracker, how about making yourself useful for once and helping me out?!"
It was clear that this was not just a mere suggestion, but nobody came out of the car. Mr. Cat let go of the wrench in his hand - whose only real purpose was to show passersby that he was repairing his car, not voluntarily getting a sunburn - and violently threw the back door open. He thrust his arm inside, and a hysterical cry immediately echoed.
"HEY! This is RAPE !"
"Stumpy, stop pushing! You're crushing Quack Quack!" said a high-pitched voice.
"Quack!" the duck agreed, clearly in pain.
"Mr. Cat, give Stumpy some time to come outside!"
"Give him time? It's not like he's wearing a wedding dress! I just want him to get his ass out of the car and help me so we can go back home! I feel like I'm burning up!"
Stumpy emerged from the car a few seconds later, like a princess stepping out of her carriage, and the cat glared at him scornfully. He took off his baseball cap (a red one with the letters "MCS" on it), put it on top of the car, and turned towards the open hood. As soon as he saw the incalculable number of gray cables presented before him, his irises shrunk to the size of dots and his eyes widened. There was a minute of perfect silence before a loud, resounding:
"SKBLBLBLBLBL! What am I supposed to do here? I'm not a mechano-therapist!"
"You don't touch anything. Just follow my orders," the cat said, picking the wrench back up.
"Why don't you ask Quack Quack instead of breaking my-" started the squirrel, before receiving a blow to the head which pushed his hat down so far it covered his eyes.
"Ask the duck?! To fix my car?! Never!"
"Quack?"
"But Mr. Cat, Quack Quack could help you identify the problem more quickly!" whined the voice from earlier. "He knows a lot about enginery stuff! Don't you, Quack Quack?"
The duck responded by a second affirmative Quack, but the feline didn't lift his nose from where it was. He continued to make some adjustments with his wrench, stating firmly:
"I said: it is out of the question for that duck to repair MY car! Pfff … Hey, nutcracker, check the fuel gauge!"
"Uh…? O-okay…!"
He obviously had no idea what the cat was asking from him, but he decided not to stoke his friend's rage and went around the car. He looked at the indicators next to the wheel, which were visible to him from the driver's seat.
"Uh… zero?"
His answer resounded in the cat's ears like a declaration of war, and the latter gripped his fists tightly to avoid throwing the wrench at Stumpy's head.
"Zero?! What do you mean, zero?! I asked you to look at the fuel gauge, bonehead! Not the speedometer!"
"Oh, okay, okay! Chill out, dude, it's not my fault that nobody ever explains anything to me… Jeez.. Well, there are two letters, and… I don't know? What am I supposed to say?"
Yet again, Mr. Cat had to use all his patience to prevent himself from fuelling his car's fuel tank with his friend's blood. He sighed loudly.
"What letter is the little arrow pointing to…?" he demanded to know between gritted teeth, mustering up all his ability to remain calm.
"E!" Stumpy said hurriedly, as if he had just discovered a purpose for himself in this world.
"Shit…" murmured the cat, tensing up in front of the hood of the car.
"So, Mr. Cat… I guess we're not playing the engineer that much anymore, are we? Hee hee…"
"Hey tadpole, since you're talking so much, why don't you show us your supposedly exceptional mechanical talents? I bet you don't even know where the fuel tank is!"
Kaeloo swallowed, and yelled: "Excuse me?! I'll show you your fuel tank!"
The passenger door slammed noisily, and out stepped a green frog wearing a yellow romper with black flowers on it. With a sulky pout and clenched fists, she walked around the car and opened the trunk under the feline's bright, amused gaze. In front of her were dozens of cans full of liquids - some were pink, and some were black. A frown crossed her face and she couldn't stop herself from asking:
"Um, Mr. Cat?"
"What's the matter, froggy? Can't you tell the difference between a can of gasoline and any other can?"
"H-Hey! I'm not an idiot! What's this other pink liquid, anyway? It looks weird!"
"Well, I'm not surprised that drugs must look weird to you".
"WHAT?!" cried Kaeloo and Stumpy in unison, lifting their heads to stare at Mr. Cat.
The cat sighed, a grin taking over his face. These two idiots would push him to the end of the rope, someday. His friends weren't particularly stupid, but they suffered from a severe lack of common sense, especially the frog. Seeing the colors of their faces change in reaction to his outrageous words was usually a pleasure, but he wasn't in the mood to screw around with them today. The heat persisted, the horizon was covered with a sandy mist, the insects hummed and screeched constantly, and no other cars were passing by. It was certainly one o'clock, and his tail would probably catch fire if he stayed for much longer in this place.
"Come on, froggy, you were the one who asked me to buy cleaning products, remember?"
"Aaaahhh! But - I can't believe you would-… you didn't have to buy so many cans, I just asked you for a small bottle!"
"If the idea of traveling 50 miles every week for a one liter bottle that won't even last one damn day seems enchanting to you, I'm sorry to tell you that's not really my thing. And with these, I won't have to listen to your whining for at least two months! So, are you getting the can, or are we just going to camp out here?!"
"What a wimp," she muttered as she grabbed a black can with both her hands. She barely got it out of the car before dropping it. "Ow! It's so heavy!"
"Psh. Girls are good for nothing!" taunted Stumpy as he walked towards his friend, his head held high. He grabbed the can and was about to pick it up…
"Move over, baby, and I'll show you what a real man looks -"Said Stumpy, just before a loud cracking sound was heard.
The squirrel was standing with his back arched, his legs bent, and his head raised. His widened eyes towards the scorching sky, not making even the tiniest movement for several seconds - and silence reigned with him, until a door opened and Quack Quack came out, picked his friend up in the same state he'd found him in, and silently laid him in the car's backseat.
"ARGH!Can one of you prove to be useful for once!" the feline exploded, throwing his wrench on the ground."Okay, duckface, it's your turn. You have one chance before I fill up the fuel tank with your blood!"
"Quack!"
In the blink of an eye, the black can found itself in the cat's paws. Mr. Cat raised an eyebrow at his friend and sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time on this damn trip. Of course the most useful of the three had to be the most despicable one (to him). However, even though the cat knew that he would always be annoyed by certain traits the duck possessed, he would never admit that his intelligence and resourcefulness earned him a certain respect from him.
The sound of liquid pouring broke the absolute silence on the road, and Kaeloo began to contemplate her surroundings. The road was long - very long - and narrow. Only two vehicles could pass through it at a time, and there were no white lines in the middle. On both sides of the road were sunflowers stretched as far as the eye could see. The orange flowers in the middle were hardly visible, lost in the sea of yellow, and the horizon failed to indicate how many flowers there were, so it created the illusion that these fields were infinite. The yellow of these flowers came together with the blue of the sky, a perfect encounter between two soft and soothing shades. A warm breeze blew, and the large yellow petals fluttered in unison, like a huge golden ocean crossed by calm waves.
And when the frog turned her head to the left in amazement, she noticed, with such astonishment it almost dizzied her, that the same portrait was painted in the opposite direction: sunflowers of equal length, yellow dominating orange, and ... and that was it. This landscape, notwithstanding its majesty and the hues it had to offer, was composed of few elements. But all the same, it was still attention-grabbing because of the sheer extent of it: yellow sunflowers, and a blue sky, both unending. She even began to wonder for a second, if they hadn't gotten lost - because everything in this place suggested that they were. The landscape was identical on all four sides of the compass, and the contemplation offered by the silence would easily disturb fragile souls.
Kaeloo spontaneously began to walk towards the fields. One step and her foot drowned in the soil. The sandals she wore did nothing to stop the ticklish earth from squeezing between her soft toes, and she shivered.
"Hey, froggy, what the hell are you doing?"
After all, it felt like she was walking on the sun, and this sensation was too beautiful and too real to be denied.
When she turned to face the cat, her red eyes shone with a thousand lights, and the latter fell silent, gazing discreetly at her. She laughed naively, looking like a child waiting for people to give into her sneaky, adorable ways.
"I think this landscape is magnificent! I don't know why it's captivating me like this, I mean, we see this place every time we go shopping, heehee…" These words were accompanied by a laugh, and Stumpy and Quack Quack shot her intrigued looks.
"But today, I really want to, um, take advantage of this unplanned incident… and see the good side of things…"
Her gaze shifted again towards the yellow fields, and Mr. Cat seized the opportunity to approach the open backseat. He stretched his arm out on the roof of the car - and retracted it immediately because the surface was burning hot -, grabbed his waist with his free hand, and leaned forwards to whisper to the squirrel, who had miraculously recovered from his earlier condition.
"You smell that, nutcracker?"
"Yeah, gasoline…"
"No, the scent of an imminent scam…"
"Look at these big sunflowers! So yellow, so long, so many of them!" said the frog, gesturing towards them with her arms.
"And the sky! It's close to our heads like it has never been before! I think you have a glimpse of what I want to do by now, buddies!"
"Uh, pick sunflowers?" said Stumpy's voice from inside the car.
"Rent a hot air balloon?" added Mr. Cat in an incredulous tone of voice.
"Not at all!"
Her passionate gaze enveloped them again, and they almost jumped at the determination that sparkled in her eyes.
"I want to stay here for a few more minutes!"
"What did I tell you?" the cat mumbled to his sidekick, who responded with one of his characteristic tics.
"Why?! It's almost 120 degrees, I fixed the car, and the road is empty!" he protested loudly. "And besides, these fields belong to someone else, and spending the next 48 hours in police custody won't be fun!"
"Yeah, prisons don't have fans or air conditioning," Stumpy agreed childishly.
"Who told you I wanted to go into the fields? I'm not stupid! I just want to stay here for a few minutes and admire the splendor in front of our eyes!"
"Onezio, exposure to the sun can cause nosebleeds, and my tissue box has been empty since that time nutcracker caught the flu. Twozio, standing in the middle of the road like scarecrows and getting turned into mincemeat by cars? No thank you. Threezio -"
"Threezio, those are silly excuses, Mr. Cat! I just asked you to stay here for a few minutes, not to hang the moon and the stars in the sky!"
"That must really hurt your hands…" Stumpy remarked quietly.
"And if you're so worried, we can stay inside the car and open the doors to quietly admire the landscape from our seats!"
The frog crossed her arms and the feline continued as if he hadn't heard a word she'd said.
"Threezio, I don't understand your weird desire to look at the fields we drive by every week! On the day of a heatwave!"
"Reflecting is very good for your mental health, Mr. Cat! And I'm sure you've been suffering from a severe lack of that lately…" she said, playfully raising an eyebrow.
"Save your Montesquieu impressions for a game of Guess Who, froggy. The only thing that could be good for me today is to sit in my lawn chair under the shade!"
"No, no, Mr. Cat! Sitting in that lawn chair in the shade all the time is why you have dark circles under your eyes! And I can't just let you sink into the depths of laziness! A little sun would be good for your fur, I'm sure of it!"
"But -"
"Mr. Cat," the frog said in a warning tone, cutting him off.
His complaints died down in his throat when he saw the frog's demeanor change. Her eyes grew bloodshot and her arms began to stretch as if to channel a force which was begging to be let out. He let out a light chuckle and rubbed his neck. Under normal circumstances, he would continue his antics and push the frog as far as he could, but the tense atmosphere and the heatwave-induced muscular fatigue didn't incline him to make her angry. Besides, he was the driver - his arms would have to be in good shape if he didn't want to get them all killed.
In reality, even Kaeloo was hiding behind her imminent rage, clearly experiencing an aversion to the idea of transforming - not that she'd ever wanted to transform.
The chirping of the insects in the fields doubled in intensity, a sign that the temperature was increasing, and the last gusts of wind died in the heat, adding to the theme.
"Pfft… I can't believe I'm going to waste half an hour here!"
"Yippee!" Kaeloo jumped in the air before covering her mouth with her hands and giggling.
"Mr. Cat, I was just going to ask for fifteen minutes, but if you insist on staying longer…"
"No, no, no! That's out of the question, tadpole! Fifteen minutes, take it or leave it!"
Kaeloo's smile showed no signs of wavering. She simply winked at Stumpy and Quack Quack, who had gone back to sitting in the back seat - she'd nearly forgotten about them. Mr. Cat demanded a lot of attention and persuasion from her, but he always ended up listening to her ideas. Not that he had much of a choice.
A few seconds later, they were all sitting inside the car with the doors wide open. Mr. Cat couldn't resist turning on the air conditioning, even if its old, dusty depths provided very little air. Kaeloo didn't even try to point out the effects on the climate or quote a documentary she vaguely understood to stop him. Her desire to sit by the sunflowers and reflect did not signify that the heat didn't affect her. Stumpy and Quack Quack didn't say much. One played on his console and the other slowly consumed his second-to-last yogurt cup. After a while, they stopped to admire the landscape offered to them, as requested by their older "sister". In reality, for the three boys, activities such as playing video games, eating yogurt, and reading the news didn't mean much unless they were done in the comfort of the family home, where everyone had their own place: Stumpy on his bed, Quack Quack in the living room, and Mr. Cat on the balcony. This rule did not apply to Kaeloo, who seemed to have the ability to find comfort anywhere - as long as it was welcoming and there was something to do.
So, waiting for the moment when they could return to their comfort zones, the three friends looked at the landscape.
Five minutes later, the sound of a little collision resonated inside the car, and Kaeloo adjusted the rearview mirror to look at Stumpy and Quack Quack. To her surprise, they had fallen asleep - the chirping of the insects had lulled them to sleep, and their heads were gently brought together until they found a fair balance, pressed against each other. Their eyes were closed with the greatest serenity.
"They fell asleep…" she murmured, with a tender giggle which captivated the cat's attention.
"Hmm…"
Then, the odor of toxic-smelling smoke invaded her nostrils. She rapidly turned her head to face her friend, hoping she wouldn't see what she thought she would.
Sprawled on the dilapidated seat - half lying down, his head loosely resting on the backrest, one arm raised in the air, a pensive expression on his face - the cat remained there, exuding nonchalance. Nothing seemed to be able to disturb his thoughts. His left arm hung out of the car's window, and in his hand, clutched between his index finger and thumb, was a cigarette, dispensing crystalline, ebony-colored smoke.
… And Kaeloo snapped out of her happy reverie.
"Mr. Cat…" she hissed in an indignant tone. "Do my words mean nothing to you?
"Well, yeah, I brought you the cleaning products you wanted."
"Don't think I'm an idiot, Mr. Cat. I'm talking about the object in your left hand!"
And as if he was playing a joke, Mr. Cat, despite being perfectly aware of what the frog was talking about, lazily turned his head to look at his cigarette.
"Oh, a cigarette. And what about this cigarette?"
Kaeloo angrily crossed her arms and shot him a dismayed look. Her eyes bored into him, and the sight of their beautiful flamboyance and ruby hues mixed in the head of the feline, who felt his heart rate increase rapidly. She dislodged herself from the comfortable back of the seat, turning her torso towards him.
"It's hurting you, Mr. Cat! I believed that you would be more thoughtful!"
"I AM thoughtful, froggy! You're the one who's being -"
He paused to put the cigarette in his mouth a second time, under the deeply enraged gaze of his friend. He inhaled, still staring off into the distance - as if he was lost in an old memory - and he uttered the last word as he exhaled.
"..Dramatic."
"Dramatic? ... Dramatic?! The only 'drama' in all of this is you jeopardizing your own health! I try to make you aware that you are stifling your well-being with your own hands, and you, you go right ahead and do it anyway! Also, you're not just harming yourself! Stumpy is still very young, and I don't want him to follow in your footsteps!"
"If your friends are so susceptible, you should keep an eye out for them! I'm a vaccinated major, so put your two-bit morals away for now and take them back out when the squirrel throws a teenaged fit!"
" 'Major'?! The least I can say is that you certainly do NOT have the maturity of a 'major'"! She said, making air quotes with her fingers.
"What do you mean, maturity?! I take care of the shopping, the electricity bill, the taxes, and everything else! I'm also the only one who has a car, and therefore the only one who can save you in case of an emergency! And plus, I -"
"That's not what I'm talking about!" she cut him off. He rapidly took a puff from his cigarette, seeming stressed.
She was about to say something else, but she stopped when she noticed an unusual detail: Mr. Cat's right hand was trembling, and it was gripping his thigh as if he was trying to calm himself down. Kaeloo could see the almost imperceptible jolts that ran through it. Once again, her eyes lifted to look at the cat, who had turned to face the landscape, and she was greeted by the orange-and-brown-striped back of his head.
Yes, she knew it was a difficult subject for him. She had a more or less partial view of the circumstances which had driven him to become a slave to bottles and cigarettes - and maybe she was the only one who knew - but she had to sensitize him. More than anything, Kaeloo hated watching people put themselves into bad situations. Preventing such incidents and counselling people were important parts of her character, and she respected them too much to ignore them just because of a little caprice her friend was having.
"Mr. Cat…" she began, more calmly. "I already know how much you do for us, and I don't question the effort you put in to help us… I'll even thank you right now for all of it: thank you, Mr. Cat. But…"
The cat glanced out of the corner of his eye to focus his attention on her, and after taking a deep breath, she continued:
"I… I can't stand to see you in this state without doing anything about it. Sooner or later, you're going to pay for the consequences with your health… I don't want to see you inflict harm on yourself…"
She stayed quiet for a moment to gather her thoughts.
"... Or Stumpy and Quack Quack, for that matter. So yes, you're a vaccinated major, but that's no excuse to do crazy things, even if it isn't illegal!"
The cat opened his mouth to defend himself, but Kaeloo beat him to the punch.
"Seeing you like this makes me feel… guilty. You're not the only one who makes me feel like this - but - when I see you smoking and drinking, Stumpy spending hours playing video games without even looking up from his console, and Quack Quack preferring the company of his girlfriend and his yogurt to our company… I feel guilty. Seeing you indulge in such unhealthy addictions makes me think that you're trying to fill a void that I haven't been able to fill for you…"
These last words were said in a sigh that bordered on a sob - and almost immediately, she felt a pair of eyes staring at her with insistence.
"I can't stop thinking it's my fault..." She raised her shoulders and stared at the gray ceiling of the car, and Mr. Cat couldn't take his eyes off of her.
"I'm the one who brought you all under the same roof, so I'm the one who should keep the family running… and when I say "keep the family running" I don't just mean taking care of bills and taxes and all that… I also mean providing happiness and a pleasant atmosphere. In fact, deep inside me, I hoped that we could become friends, confidants, people who could help each other in times of need and understand each other despite our differences. But in the end…" she sighed.
"Certain things are invariable. And unforeseeable."
"If things were foreseeable and variable like you wanted them to be, friendship wouldn't exist, froggy," he replied instantly.
She snapped out of her nostalgia to look at him, taken aback, and he settled down with a little more comfort in the back of his seat. He was no longer looking at her, and had averted his eyes to look at the sunflowers waving in the wind to his left.
"So, let me remind you of a little detail about these unhealthy addictions. Don't forget that people tend to do whatever they want with their lives. I'd been smoking and drinking for a long time before I met you, and the same applies to duckface and the nutcracker. You can't just magically get people out of their own little worlds. And we all notice the efforts you're making. That doesn't mean you can expect a Tibetan massage and a foot bath every day once you get home from work..." he smirked at her, and she was unable to stop herself from smiling back.
"But we all thank you in our own special ways. The duck forces himself to eat the soup you make for him because he knows you're tired from buying the ingredients and cooking them. Same for the rodent: when he sees you sad, he offers to watch a Z movie or play a sucky video game with you, because that's his way of cheering you up. And me… if I hadn't taken your efforts into consideration, I wouldn't have gotten a job to help you make ends meet so you could relax a little. I'm no Jean-Guillaume, but I can assure you that you already do enough for us."
"Oh… I thought you got a job because you wanted to be independent?"
And voilà. One of the strangest things about the frog was that she always, always, focused on the part of his speech that Mr. Cat assumed the least.
"That's not why - okay, maybe a little, but it was mostly… huff…"
He sighed deeply and carefully closed his eyes, and Kaeloo didn't take her eyes off him. He seemed nervous, very nervous, as if he was carefully looking for words to say. And Mr. Cat had never had trouble finding the right words, or had to weigh his words before speaking - she had always known him to be confident in regards to what he said, no matter how hastily it was spoken. He was always the first one to respond to and critique her questions - the first and the best, she had to admit. Suddenly, he began to speak again.
"Because I knew you well before that, froggy. When we were talking outside, when you were telling me about your crappy life and I was listening to you blabbering about how hellish your work life was ... I felt sorry for you. I mean, you've always been a daddy's girl, but life gave you a monumental slap. So I decided to help you, to free yourself a little from this burden, and you did the same by letting me live with you. Give and take. You give me a place to live, I take care of some financial things, and that's it. That's what a real roommate does, unlike those two slackers -"
"Never say that again!"
He jumped so suddenly that his cigarette almost fell down.
"Our cohabitation is anything but give-and-take, and Stumpy and Quack Quack aren't slackers! You have a purely materialistic view of relationships and see what other people can do for you, but unlike you, I see more than just people's pockets! Your 'give and take' won't work for me, because I…"
She breathed in deeply and Mr. Cat wisely shrunk back into his seat.
"I never asked you to help me. Yes, I occasionally complained, but I never asked you to help me with finances! Besides, I like wearing myself out for you because you're worth it! All three of you! We have shared moments, Mr. Cat. Moments of intense complicity, laughed, cried, yelled, or even stayed silent, and - and all those things that mere roommates could only dream of doing! The day I invited you to live with me, I didn't do it out of pity. I'm not Mother Teresa, and I'm not a billionaire who can gather people up and invite them to live with me! I did it because I understood you from the first time I saw you! And speaking of understanding, I consider Stumpy and Quack Quack my younger brothers! They're young and they need protection and guidance, and I am willing to provide them with everything they need at any cost! I've been trying to do that since the day they moved in. And you too. I have resolved to make you a better person, because I have never doubted for even one second - in fact, I'm growing more and more certain with each passing day - that you're a good person on the inside. You're no saint - far from it - but I'm sure you're attentive. All you need is affection, a heart that understand you, an ear that will listen - and I'm ready to give you all of that, Mr. Cat. I'm not the type of girl to - Mr. Cat? Hey, Mr. Cat?! COME BACK!"
He had spontaneously dashed out of the car like a speeding arrow. His legs had made the decision to run away long before his brain made the mistake of allowing him to stay in front of those slightly-too-sincere words, and that slightly-less-happy face. That being said, he didn't make the mistake of getting lost; his car was close enough for him not to lose sight of it - but he was also far enough to no longer be able to hear the frog. He stopped at the edge of the yellow ocean, his back straight and his arms relaxed - so relaxed that his nearly-finished cigarette fell from his hands and slowly rolled to a halt near his feet - and was content to contemplate the yellow and blue horizon with a dull expression.
"Gee, Mr. Cat, it sure is a great idea for us to be running around during a heatwave!"
As she blurted out these reproaches in a gasping voice, she slowly approached him. She accelerated her steps, lest he were to slip between her fingers again, but the feline did not make the slightest movement, even when she arrived at his side. He was as still as a statue, his body relaxed and his face pensive. Kaeloo placed her hands on her hips and let out an exhausted sigh before beginning in a gentle voice:
"Mr. Cat, why did you run away?"
He turned towards her and blinked several times before responding in a dazed tone:
"Huh? Run away from what?"
She crossed her arms.
"Your reaction wasn't as 'mature' as you were claiming to be fifteen minutes ago," she said, once again making air quotes.
"Oh, you really think so?" he asked flatly, his face morphing into a sneer dripping with cynicism.
"You're just pretending not to know anything to dodge the question! Hmph! Typical!" Kaeloo rolled her eyes. What had she been expecting? Admittedly, she hadn't wanted to teach him a moral lesson, much less to yell at him about all these things that she had promised to keep to herself. But the fact is that in the end she got carried away, and perhaps she had stupidly waited for something in return - but it was, once again, too much to ask for.
A particular silence settled between them. The tension had not subsided. Kaeloo continued to reproachfully stare at Mr. Cat with crossed arms and a raised chin, waiting in vain for an explanation. The latter completely ignored her. His eyes remained fixed on the yellow fields in front of them, ignoring her figure. After a few seconds, Kaeloo sighed and looked in the same direction. Slowly, she relaxed, dropping her "angry mother" act, and allowed herself to be swept away by the landscape like she had wanted to the whole time. The heat was hurting her head, but she would just have to deal with it. Mr. Cat was too lost in the landscape - or in thought - to feel hot. It must be allowing him to reflect, she thought to herself. And her too.
This contemplation had a certain taste, Kaeloo had to admit. It wasn't every day that she got to be alone with Mr. Cat. It wasn't exactly a privilege, seeing as he spent half his time trying to provoke her, but aside from their short discussions in front of the TV on Friday nights, Kaeloo rarely found herself alone with him with the opportunity to talk about a subject which concerned them.
Honestly, she wanted to know more about him.
It was partly due to a childish curiosity to figure out what was hidden behind the sarcastic and, for lack of a better term, cool mask that he always wore. He was the only roommate whose private life she knew almost nothing about. No matter how much she listened to his rambling when he returned from a night out drinking, she had never been able to gather any coherent information. But first and foremost, Kaeloo had already stated that she was determined to make Mr. Cat a better person, and to do that, she would have to know about his life. She was convinced that the reason for his harsh behavior lay in an element - or elements - of his past, but she was also afraid to discuss such a sensitive topic with him. She feared how he would react if she chose the wrong words or asked the wrong question at the wrong time, because she knew that his past life had not exactly been sunshine and roses, in many ways.
However, you can't create an antidote without knowing the origin of the pathogen.
Maybe this was the right time. After all, they were alone, in a place which inspired a sense of calm and serenity, and for once, he seemed relaxed. Kaeloo tried to approach him.
"Um, Mr. Cat?"
"Huh?"
He slightly turned towards her, hands crossed behind his back. Kaeloo lowered her eyes to her fidgeting hands and pursed her lips.
"Uh, Mr. Cat, can I ask you a question?"
He said nothing. Quite the contrary, he continued to stare at her with an almost annoyed expression.
"It's about your past. I would like to know -"
"Why do you want to know about my past?" he cut her off, clenching his fists.
"Well, to get to know you… I realized that you're the only person I know nothing about," she said in a small voice.
"You don't need to know who I was to know who I am, froggy. And you already know the key details, the rest isn't important."
"Exactly! I need to know the rest so I can understand why you're so withdrawn and help y-"
"Onezio, I haven't contacted 911 to claim your psychiatric services. Thank you for offering them to me, though," he rebuffed as he looked away.
"Twozio, the only reason you want to know about my past is to satisfy your own curiosity. Don't lie to me. Threezio… threezio, leave me alone, tadpole."
Kaeloo took two steps back. Okay, she certainly wouldn't have had a sofa and a chair drop from the sky to set the scene for him to tell her his life story ... but to deny it so firmly! A reaction this... paranoid, was exactly what she had feared.
Despite all this, the frog quickly raised her spirits again and a determined look crossed her face. Maybe she didn't realize it, but her desire to help the cat was secretly hiding an almost unhealthy curiosity and a will to know more, exactly like he had predicted. What could he be hiding that was so terrible?! Was his past really so… dark?! Kaeloo doubted that he was just trying to preserve his mysterious side. But it wouldn't work on her!
That's why she advanced towards him, a firm expression on her face, until her chest touched his back and he started.
"Of course not, Mr. Cat! I promised to help you, and you know very well that I always keep my promises!" she said, pointing her finger at him.
"So," she continued in a calmer tone, "What's stopping you from trusting me?!"
The cat remained silent for a few seconds, staring at the frog over his shoulder. He was finding it harder and harder to think, and his head was starting to hurt. He didn't know who was to blame for this pain: the heatwave, the subject of this conversation, or the frog and the fact that he could literally feel the curves of her frigid torso against his sizzling back. Whatever it was, he'd certainly need a second cigarette for the road.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I don't know, Kaeloo."
'Kaeloo'. He'd called her by her real name. How long had it been since the last time he'd done that?
"It's like if I asked you why you yelled at me earlier when I was trying to comfort you. It doesn't make sense!"
And there it was again.
"First off, I didn't yell at you," she gestured wildly.
"I just corrected your horribly limited view of things! And I see very well what you're trying to do, Mr. Cat! You're trying to change the subject! But that won't work on me, because I know you very well! HAH!"
"See? You said it yourself: you know me very well! You see what happens when you think about it? So, is it all good now? Can we get in the car and go home?"
"No - stop playing with words, you're annoying me! I am sincerely trying to help you, and you, you aren't even making the tiniest effort!" she yelled, having almost run out of patience.
"- Well, since I apparently have to repeat myself over and over again in this crappy life: I don't need your help," he replied in a tone contrasting to hers, rolling his eyes.
"And I insist!"
At that moment, he turned around, wanting to offer her his most persuasive negotiating look, but he ended up being awkwardly confused when he realized that their faces were within mere millimeters of each other.
"Uh… and I insist on not doing it!"
Damn it. Damn the frog and her seductive ruby eyes and her determination. If the circumstances had been better, maybe Mr. Cat would have thought of tripping and falling on top of her on purpose in order to make her fall to the ground s(he would be able to bear the heat of the tar since she was a cold-blooded animal) and let their lips -
"HEY!"
"What-"
Before he could finish his sentence or even understand what was happening, Mr. Cat felt himself being pushed backwards, a few feet away from where he was. He hastily closed his eyes during the fall, which was anything but gentle, and he vaguely heard the deafening roar of a truck. Immediately, he understood what had just happened and his eyes shot open. He began to search for the frog in the thick smoke that had emanated from the vehicle.
"KAELOO!" he screamed.
For a second, a single, horrible second during which his heart skipped a beat, he imagined seeing the shredded pieces of what had formerly been his frog scattered all over the road, some of them still stuck to the wheels of the truck which had hit her head-on without even realizing it...
He immediately got on his feet, entering the dark fog to blindly search for any silhouette he could find, but he found nothing.
"Mr… Cat…"
Kaeloo coughed violently. She had had very little time to react, and she had thrown herself onto the feline so strongly that she had fallen even further into the field of sunflowers than he had. The truck had been charging at full speed on the side of the road where they had been standing,and its driver was obviously affected by the heatwave… because otherwise, to not notice two people from where he was, Kaeloo wasn't very far from accusing him of an attempt to -
"AH!-"
She had just gotten up on one knee and a figure threw itself at her with such rapidity that she nearly fell over again. At her side was a Mr. Cat with strangely wet eyes and an expression that was both terribly worried and relieved.
"Argh, Mr. Cat… are you okay?"
"Stupid tadpole, what did you do that for?!" he cried in a strangled voice.
"Hmm? Well…"
She decided to simply lie on the ground, her head only a few inches from the first row of sunflowers. The deafening noise, the dizzying speed with which she had moved, the heat, the smoke ... it had all made her a little dizzy. Mr. Cat's head was perched on top of hers, partially blocking her view of the sky. The cat felt a stinging pain shooting vertically through his back – he had scraped against a good part of the tar as he fell, and his fur was almost certainly dusty– but he hardly paid attention to it. The images of the frog that had formed in his head were coming back, and so were the fears they inspired.
He just needed one moment, one simple minute to take into account that nothing had happened to Kaeloo. Once he noticed, he coughed, recovering from this uncharacteristic behavior, and began to complain as he stared into the horizon where the truck had disappeared.
"Argh, if only I'd thought to see his license plate number…"
"Shh, Mr. Cat…" said a feeble voice just under him.
"That bastard could have ended both of our lives! And we can't just let him get away with some stupid excuse about the heat!"
"Mr. Cat!"
"But don't worry, I remember what his truck looked like. If he ever has the misfortune of crossing paths with me again, I swear, with my own hands, I'm going to rip out his -"
"MR. CAT!"
"What?"
"Stop talking…"
The cat did exactly that, not because he wanted to obey her, but because she had just closed her eyes and he wanted to… observe her. He should also thank her. She had risked her own life to save his.
He noticed that both of their hands were on the ground, close to each other. It would only take a small, discreet, gradual gesture to take one of her hands in his ... and that's exactly what he did, albeit with a little more hesitation than he would have liked. They stayed that way, holding hands, for a few minutes. The cat swallowed his saliva several times as he savored the moment, and against all odds, the frog didn't realize anything. In any case, she must have been lost somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness.
A few minutes later, Kaeloo finally got up, her legs spread out on the ground and her feet reaching the edge of the road, Mr. Cat did likewise, making sure not to let go of her hand. He cleared his throat.
"About earlier…"
"You really do have to ruin everything, don't you?" she asked, exhausted.
"Hey, let me finish, won't you? As I was saying… one day maybe, I might tell you.
He felt the weight of her eyes on his person, and he was almost certain that the dryness of the ground under his hand was nothing compared to the dryness in his mouth.
"Really, Mr. Cat? You mean you'll trust me?!" she asked with such enthusiasm that you'd never be able to tell how lethargic she was just a few seconds ago.
"Pfft, stupid frog. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be living with you, would I?"
If they had been complete strangers, and she had looked at him the way she was looking at him now, even by accident, he would have been ready to devote both his body and soul to her like a soldier, without even thinking about it.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Cat! You can count on me to thoroughly investigate you, tee-hee!" she said in a slightly teasing tone, exuding that natural joie-de-vivre which personified her.
As for Mr. Cat, he felt like his soul was dissociating from his body, forcibly driven out by the esotericism of those two ruby-colored pearls - and his body, now free from the restrictive commands of his soul, could finally be satisfied. He slightly turned his torso towards the frog and put his free hand on her right cheek, his heart going faster than a shooting star. The amphibian recoiled slightly, more surprised than disconcerted, but she wasn't disappointed in any way. Her eyes fixated on his hand with such innocence, and then on him, her "friend".
The same friend who was beholding her with such… precaution, as if he was touching the most precious of treasures.
And somewhere, camouflaged by the height of the voluminous sunflowers, sitting in the middle of nowhere, Kaeloo felt like she finally had the thing she wanted so much from Mr. Cat. She was here, in the harmless repose of his whiskers and his ears, the curious pink of his cheeks, and the exuberant, somewhat characteristic softness of his eyes. It was so ironic. She had tried furiously to make this side of his personality, which she had always known to exist in the depths of his soul, come to the surface ever since he moved in with her. She tried softer methods, such as making him set the table, read Stumpy a bedtime story, or buy Quack Quack some yogurt, as well as harsher methods, but nothing ever had a permanent effect on him. The cat had always been… unique. It wasn't like she could treat him like the others; he was older, after all. He was also her most trusted confidant, someone who had made her see the world through different perspectives than the ones she had always had. They both had different views of things. When she saw the glass half full, he saw it half empty - but in the end, they were looking at the same glass. While she was impatiently thinking about the sunrise, he was waiting for bedtime - and in the end, they expected the same thing to happen. They were two sides of the same coin.
And she had only had to laugh to obtain him - all of him. It was still too early to claim victory. The path they had to travel was long, and it was strewn with arguments and differences, but what was certain was that each time they encountered an obstacle, each time things became a little more difficult to bear, Kaeloo would draw her courage and her will to move forward from that same face in front of her.
Her eyes opened slowly and she began to curiously contemplate her friend's figure, as if it was the first time she had seen him - and that was somewhat true. The sun's rays illuminated his orange fur, giving him a golden tint more dazzling than the hood of their car in the sun. He was shining so brightly that Kaeloo had to squint her eyes to properly see him.
He was shining, yes, he was shining like the sun. He had the colors of a sunflower - orange and yellow. His appearance summed up the landscape that surrounded them - no, he was even more good-looking than these infinite fields.
So she let herself go, blushing a little as she leaned her head to get more of this rare contact - and a gentle smile spread over her face.
And Mr. Cat believed himself to be the luckiest man in the world.
He no longer noticed the road, the car, the sunflowers, or even the sky. All he saw was her, and he would have given anything to make the world around them collapse, because everything else seemed so ostentatious when compared to that. That face, which he wanted to selfishly keep for himself, confined to his memory in the hopes that it could drive out the darkness which was nestled there. To own it and have it, quite simply.
During his reflection, he thought of going ahead and making THAT gesture which would confirm his most languid lust, and which he had already done many times in his most alluring dreams, but the contentment which drowned him and the fear of spoiling everything prevented him from doing it. They had time.
What they had now was confirmation in itself.