by A A Lee
It looked like even the cat was hesitant to drink from the river. She estimated about five meters from the river, picked a place where there was no trash and started digging. She continued digging until the hole begin to fill with water. In their village, digging wells near the river was commonplace, and the villagers often drank from them during floods. Water from the wells was normally much cleaner when compared with the river, and so she applied the same principle. She scooped some of the brownish water until the water became clear.
She waited around for three minutes to allow the water to settle and become completely clear before she scooped it with her hands and drank. It was nowhere near as fresh as the water from the village, but she was ecstatic to be able to relieve her thirst. She turned to the wary cat and saw, from the way its eyes moved from her to the well, that it was thirsty. Perhaps it did not trust humans. Kenda moved a little farther away from the well, and the cat slowly walked to the well and drank.
Her stomach growled. She looked at the ball of rice in her hand, and deciding that she couldn’t stand to eat it in its filthy form, she washed it slowly in the well, carefully compacting the grains to prevent any from washing away. Then she found a large stone and placed the rice atop it to dry.
She hoped that there was more food to be found than just the spoiled rice. She walked closer to the river and started stone skipping to let her mind work. Stone skipping was one of Kenda’s favorite pastimes, and she had spent much of her childhood perfecting her technique, either alone or while playing with other village kids. After a few minutes, she saw tiny fishes swimming in the deeper part of the water. As she watched, one seemed to break away from the shoal, and, entering the water, she waded slowly toward it. The fish swam away with the slightest movement of the water.
Ever so slowly, Kenda moved slowly toward where the fish had fled. She stretched her shirt, bent her knees, and used her shirt to catch the fish. Almost as though it was mocking her, the fish waited for her to come with touching distance before fleeing again.
Frustrated, Kenda kicked the water where the fish had been only a moment ago, and the water turned dark. She was about to return to the riverbank when her uncle’s voice rang in her mind. “You made the water follow your commands, and the spirits have accepted you.” Her face lit up with excitement. An idea began to form. She didn’t know if it would work, but she was suddenly eager to try it.
“Water,” her voice croaked. “I don’t know if you remember me, but you helped me last time at the waterfall. You stopped my uncle and I from falling, and I am really grateful. I have one more favor to ask.” She touched the water, which was now up to her knees. “Will you be kind enough to give me fish to eat?”
Silence. Nothing happened.
Kenda decided to raise her voice. “My uncle told me that I would be able to command you. So, here I am. I command you to give me fish!”
The meow of the cat sounded like laughter in her ears. She thought that she might have been going crazy, and the cat’s mocking eyes as it slowly walked away added to her hallucination. She finally gave up and walked back to the riverbank. She was incredibly tired and starving as she slumped on a nearby stone. She dreaded the thought of successfully escaping marriage only to die of hunger.
Children’s laughter and hurried footsteps made her straighten her back. She began to wonder if she had gone completely crazy by imagining happiness, of all things, but when she turned, she saw kids of around eight or nine years old running toward her. They were carrying sacks full of holes and running as if they were taking part in a race. When they reached the riverbank, they looked at her briefly before they started to pick up trash and put it into their sacks.
“Are you cleaning the river?” she asked, but the children only looked at her and frowned in response. Despite her hunger, a big part of her adored children, and so she looked for a string. Finding a length of discarded twine against a nearby rock, she began picking up trash and tied it with the string.
A boy in a tattered green shirt walked closer and shook his head. He pointed to the shoe that she had picked up and shook his head one more time. He then pointed to a tin can and nodded his head. When she removed the shoe from what she collected, the boy gave her a thumbs up. She did not really understand why, but she followed his wishes, hoping that she would learn how to survive by following what the kids did.
She could barely walk, but will alone kept her going, each new can tinkling as she tied them to her string. She thought she was seeing a vision when a can appeared from the river. She moved closer, and sure enough, the can had indeed moved. Her hand moved on autopilot and fished out the can, moving forward and picking those that were also submerged in the river until the boy wearing the green shirt whistled and gestured for her to come.
Without question, she followed them, even though her head was spinning. She struggled to keep up with the energetic kids, who looked like they were in for a treat. When the kids stopped in front of a building, a chair caught her body as her legs gave way beneath her. She shook her head and tried to focus as her vision dimmed.
The kids began to deposit their trash into a device with hands that looked like a clock. Bright smiles lit each child’s face as they received coins in return for the trash. Kenda held her string tighter, hope bringing strength back to her body. When it was finally her turn, she couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear, just as the kids before her had done.
Closing her palm around three coins, she quickly looked around in search of food. Her eyes widened upon seeing the kids a few meters away, all silent while eating bread. She ran, completely forgetting how wobbly her legs were, and held her palm open in front of the seller, pointing to the bread. The old woman covered her nose, picked a coin from her palm, and gave her bread. With a look of disgust, she shooed Kenda away.
Kenda walked away from the stall with a smile painted on her face. She looked at her palm again, thinking about how cheap the bread was. The bread in their village was priced at three times the value of that she had just purchased. She began hurriedly putting the bread into her mouth when a hand suddenly stopped her. As her vision moved from the dirty, small hand to the face of the person who had stopped her, she realized that it belonged to the boy from the river.
The boy looked at the bread, shook his head and held his stomach, wincing in pretend pain. Cutting the bread into smaller pieces, he put a piece into her mouth. Kenda nodded in understanding, thinking that the boy must have been no stranger to hunger if he knew to tell her to eat slowly.
A lump formed in her throat when the boy walked away. She waved in gratitude, hoping that she would see him again.
* * *
Kenda pressed her hand to her side, making sure that the two coins were still there. She had gone back to the riverbank after regaining her strength. She didn’t want to be hungry again. A part of her was thankful that there was trash for her to sell, but she ultimately wished that the river was cleaner. Seeing the filth strewn around her, Kenda’s heart grew heavy as she thought of the lasting damage the townspeople would cause to the environment.
She straightened her back as two women approached the riverbank. Careful not to step on trash, the two women hopped from stone to stone, carrying plastic trash cans. Kenda sighed as they poured the trash onto the riverbank, spilling some into the river. They are part of the reason why the river is awful, she thought. An unexplainable anger overtook her, and she ran, picked up the trash, and began forcing it back into their trash cans. The women looked at her as though she was crazy and started throwing the trash at her. Kenda shouted in anger as she fought to gather the trash, only to be knocked over when the two women kicked the trash cans. Kenda’s blood boiled with rage.
“River! Why do you allow these people to pollute you? Wake up!”
Trembling, the two women looked at her and began to pick up the spilled trash. Kenda didn’t understand why they were suddenly afraid of her, but when Kenda looked back, her jaw hung open as she saw the water rising to he
ad height. She heard the hurried footsteps fading away and the two women screaming. She breathed slowly to calm herself and gestured with her hand for the water to subside. The water slowly went back to its original course like nothing had happened.
“Now, will you please give me fish to eat?” she asked. To Kenda’s astonishment, a fish the size of her arm leapt out of the water and landed on the riverbank. The cat suddenly reappeared and ran hungrily toward it. “Stop!” Kenda shouted. “Don’t eat it yet! We have to cook it. You might be able to eat it raw, but I can’t.”
The cat stopped in its tracks, despite its apparent hunger. Kenda’s brow furrowed; it looked like the cat had somehow understood her. She bowed deeply and said, “Thank you, river. I will not forget your kindness.”
She walked back to the riverbank and looked for stones that she could use to start a fire. After the chase, she couldn’t go back and ask for a lighter in the market. She was afraid that someone might recognize her.
Kenda cleared a space in the sand for cooking and started gathering materials. She found a quartz rock, broke it into pieces, and set it on the ground. She looked for paper that could be used as tinder, and, bending down, she picked up a dry newspaper. She also picked up small pieces of firewood which would be used to cook the fish. After carefully putting the newspaper on the ground, she located the sharp edges on two of the pieces of quartz and started rubbing them together, creating friction. After a few strikes, the rocks began to spark and the dried newspaper caught fire. Kenda quickly put the newspaper under the firewood. Due to the dry weather, the firewood lit quickly, but she waited a little more until the flames were substantial enough before putting the fish on the fire.
“Here, have some. It’s warm and delicious.” Kenda threw the fish’s head to the cat.
“What?” Such was her shock that Kenda almost thought that she had imagined the interaction.
“You can talk?” Kenda’s own piece of fish was forgotten. Her eyes were wide open.
“Yes, I can. You can talk! What kind of cat are you?”
“It’s weird, though. Your mouth is not moving the way I hear you.”
Kenda started eating. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you can talk?”
“Here, have some more.” Kenda threw another piece of fish to the cat, which it caught in mid-air.
“What are beggars?”
“Not where I’m from.”
“Not at all. So, tell me about these beggars. This place is new to me, and I’m getting lost.”
“That’s sad. I can see why you mistook me for one of them.”
“That’s because I don’t know their language.” Kenda threw the last piece of fish to the cat, and the cat happily ate it. “My village is very far from here, and we speak a different language.”
“You do?” Kenda’s eyes widened again with renewed excitement.
“Well, I don’t think you’re talking directly to me. It looks like we’re communicating through our minds, and not using the sounds of our mouths.” Kenda tried to explain what she had observed.
“Wow! That sounds amazing. So how did you end up on the streets?”
The glow of excitement that had previously filled the cat’s green eyes was replaced with sadness.
“I can’t believe they did that! They should’ve kept you because their kid loved you.”
“Poor you. Come here.” Kenda picked the cat up and put it on her lap.
“Have you ever thought of… maybe… taking a bath? Other humans might want you if you are cleaner.”
“Well, there are special circumstances behind why I haven’t been able to wash. Besides, I will need new clothes. Cats don’t have to worry about that; they just need to be clean.”
“I have an irresistible proposal for us both not to be hungry, but I think it will only work if you take a bath first.”
Chapter 11
Lucy
The cat sat on Kenda’s lap. Its white fur was now dry and looked thicker after its bath.
“What about a name? Everyone should have a name.”
“Can I call you Lucy, then? It sounds pretty.”
“Hey! Don’t go to sleep yet. We have a deal, remember? I have to go and hunt for a job, and I need you to translate for me.” Kenda nudged the cat.
Kenda sighed, stood, and started walking, holding the cat in her arms. It was already afternoon, and if she didn’t find a job, they would have to go back to the river and ask for fish again. She dreaded the thought of having to sleep outside in the cold once again, after a few days of not sleeping inside a house.
She veered away from where she had been chased by the seller that morning and walked toward the end of the market. Her feet felt like they were burning after walking on hot sand and stones all day, so she was eager to go back into the shade. While walking, she looked for people who needed help so that she could offer her services.
was slowly becoming accustomed to talking to the cat without opening her mouth.
Kenda hurried close to the short-haired woman as she began to stack the fruit in her store. She picked up several apples which had fallen to the ground and put them on the table where the woman was putting them on display. The woman looked at her and smiled.
“Saeamat.”
Kenda returned the smile. “Do you need help in your store?” Kenda used her hand to indicate picking up the fruit and sweeping the floor.
Kenda pointed to her chest. “Me, help you.” She pointed to the woman before pretending to carry fruit from inside the store to the table outside to display them.
The lady nodded her head in understanding.
The cat started translating after the lady opened her mouth.
“Please?” Kenda begged, holding her hands together. “Just for food.” She pretended to eat.
The lady shook her head several times, gave her an apple, and shooed her away.
Kenda’s heart sank. She’d had no idea that it would be this difficult because she didn’t know the language.
They passed by a restaurant with a lot of customers. She saw the server busily taking orders and putting customers’ food on the table.
Before she could go inside, a worker in front of the restaurant stared at her. “Alin imo?”
Once again, Kenda tried to offer her assistance by gesturing with her hands, mimicking serving food and taking orders.