Chapter 2 Hawaii (2) Familiar Humans.
The sound of betrayal echoed like thunder throughout the courtyard.
The kitten's honey-colored pupils suddenly dilated, and the fish it was carrying in its mouth fell to its feet in fright, leaving it in a dilemma.
"Rich, come out. Rich, come out."
The budgies were relentless, like a restless green flame, eager to stir up trouble.
After a series of loud shouts, the tightly closed front door was suddenly pulled open from the inside, making the door frame creak, and the old man was swept out like a hurricane.
"Shut up."
The roar drowned out the parrot's chatter, and spittle almost sprayed onto its flight feathers.
The budgie was briefly intimidated by its owner's imposing manner, shrank its neck, and then turned to chirp loudly at Chichi again.
"Catch the thief."
The hot-tempered old man's eyes swept over the kitten on the wall like searchlights, his voice filled with undisguised ferocity: "Stray cat, get out of my yard!"
The kitten quickly jumped down and escaped to a safe distance out of sight.
1221 also shrank into an even smaller ball of light, closely following Chichi's tail, completely unlike its previous carefree and instigating manner.
I finally managed to escape to a higher wall, but luckily the wall was covered with bougainvillea and other vines. I just needed to lower my body slightly to escape those eyes filled with rage.
The atmosphere froze for a few seconds; the kitten could even hear the faint sound of the parrot moving its claws on the shelf.
The next second, something tore through the air and flew toward her. A fish, carrying the smell of the sea, drew an ungraceful arc, flew over the wall, and landed precisely outside the yard.
"Go eat somewhere else, don't leave your trash here."
The old man in the yard continued cursing and swearing, as if he had thrown out something dirty, not a whole fish. After doing this, he didn't look at it again and went back into the house, still angry.
1221 watched the human slam the door and leave, then floated out from behind the kitten with lingering fear: "He seems to have irritability."
She stared longingly at the fish lying on the ground, its silver scales reflecting a sliver of the setting sun, twice the size of the half-tail she had tried to steal.
"It's all that annoying parrot's fault. I actually saw it just now, but I didn't expect it to be able to talk. Budgerigars are definitely smarter than other parrots, and they're also more annoying, just like their owner..."
1221 was chattering away beside the kitten, while the kitten had already carried the fish to a farther place and was eating with its head down.
Chichi used one claw to hold down the fish's body and tore off pieces of tender fish meat.
The fresh sea fish was even more delicious than I had imagined. It slid easily down my throat and into my stomach, soothing my rumbling belly.
"Its owner just has a bad temper."
Chichi used his tongue to carefully remove the fish meat, leaving only the snow-white fish bones in the middle. He found a tree, dug a hole, and buried the fish bones to serve as fertilizer.
"If we can't afford to mess with them, we'll just have to avoid them." 1221 helped the kitten smooth out the dirt on the pit. "We'll take a detour from now on."
Chichi: "No need to take a detour, I quite like it here."
She didn't quite understand why humans liked to say one thing and mean another, but that didn't stop her from being curious about this behavior and trying to understand it.
"There are plenty of fun places on the island, there's no need to stick to just one small street."
1221 has a grand ambition: "We will strive to leave your paw prints on every piece of Hawaiian soil!"
Chichi certainly wanted to visit more places, but it was getting dark and the sun had already sunk below the horizon.
The most urgent thing is to find a safe place to sleep.
The beach was too flat and exposed, and cats naturally prefer secluded high places. 1221 took the kitten out of the street for several blocks but couldn't find a satisfactory temporary shelter, so they had to return to the street they had just been on and stay on the wall covered with vines.
The dense green leaves of the bougainvillea acted like a natural blanket, completely sheltering the kitten. The wall was high and wide, creating a quiet and safe atmosphere.
Originally, 1221 was quite worried about the cat living next door to the grumpy old man, but the cat insisted and took the initiative to take on the responsibility of patrolling at night, focusing on keeping an eye on the noise from next door.
The branches and leaves wove a secure net, and the surrounding houses had already turned off their lights; the afternoon's interlude was swallowed up by the night.
The morning dewdrops fell on the cat, and the usually grumpy kitten stood up, shook off the dampness from its fur, and leaped down from the high wall.
1221: "Depart?"
Chichi: "Let's go!"
The town gradually awakens in the morning, and the busier streets paint the shop walls in various colors, making them look like colorful seashells on a beach at first glance.
I slowly walked from the neighborhood to the coast, and then followed the human hiking trails all the way to the top of the observation deck, where the view suddenly opened up.
“That’s Diamond Hill over there.” 1221 floated beside the kitten. “The remnants of a dormant volcano.”
The kitten asked skeptically, "Is the whole mountain made of diamonds?"
"You were fooled by the name."
Whenever it's time to answer questions for the kitten, the system becomes exceptionally enthusiastic, and its massive database finally finds its purpose.
"Humans mistakenly believed they had found diamonds there, but in fact there were none, so it was named Diamond Hill."
Chichi: "I wish we could really find diamonds."
Just looking at the flat-topped mountain, even a cat without material desires feels a little longing.
"Even if a kitten has diamonds, it can't spend them." 1221 circled around her head. "They're just useless stones."
Chichi: "I will give it to humans who need it."
The ball of light bounced on the stone steps, showering the kitten with compliments without restraint: "You are truly the most generous, kind, and magnanimous kitten I have ever met."
The tail, standing upright like an antenna, betrayed its mood; it humbly and belatedly accepted the praise.
Finding food in tourist hotspots is not difficult, and Chi Chi quickly found food not far away.
There was still some dry cat food in a stainless steel bowl placed in the corner, with traces of other cats having been there. She noted the location and ate the rest of the cat food in the bowl.
As she slowly finished her meal and began to lick her paws and wash her face, 1221 floated up and down above her head, never still for a moment.
"Are you full? Would you like some snacks after your meal?"
Chichi: "Okay."
There's an open-air restaurant on the right corner of the street, where the aromas of squid, shellfish, and shrimp mingle and mingle, smelling even more tempting than the food bowl we had just eaten.
After circling around several tables of guests for a while, she finally chose the person in the middle who exuded the most friendliness.
Her intuition was always accurate, and sure enough, she soon got a squid ring and a mussel.
The seafood is freshly caught, so there's no need to add too many seasonings or sauces to preserve its original flavor.
The squid was chewy, and the clam meat was tender and juicy. After finishing her meal, she gave the man with the zongzi-shaped hair who had fed her earlier a thank-you gift of a cat head on his leg.
With the main meal and after-dinner snacks already in my stomach, my empty belly is now full of food, which feels quite comforting. I slow down my pace, taking it as a way to digest, and stroll leisurely along the unfamiliar streets.
"Doesn't that person look familiar?"
Reminded by 1221, he hesitated and looked at the middle-aged woman who was walking hurriedly out of the apartment building not far away.
The other person had curly hair and wheat-colored skin that clearly showed he had been exposed to a lot of sunlight; he was the same person who had helped the old lady bring the fish and meat into the house yesterday.
"Doesn't she live with that old lady?" Chi Chi asked.
1221: "Let's go take a look."
The woman with curly hair was walking the same path they had taken that morning. The kitten, driven by a system with curiosity even stronger than that of a cat, followed her all the way. The trees and flowers along the way became increasingly familiar. After turning a corner, they found themselves on the residential street from the previous night.
The woman opened the old lady's gate with practiced ease and went inside, greeting the old lady, who was sitting on the porch as usual, "Good morning, Mrs. Mailer."
It slowly emerged from under the vines on the wall, its movements touching a few swaying branches and leaves, the rustling sound attracting human attention.
The old woman rummaged through the woven fabric on her legs, as if looking for something. Before she could find her reading glasses, a robust woman with zongzi-like hair came out of the kitchen.
"Mrs. Mailer, you should get up and move around if you've been sitting for too long."
"Geona, do you see the leaves on the wall moving?"
“Mrs. Mailer,” the other person said, “I am not your daughter Keona, I am Carla, the caregiver she hired to look after you.”
"Carla?" The old woman squinted, trying to make out who she was, but her memory was too hazy, and her face was blank. "Why didn't Geona come?"
The caregiver's wheat-colored face revealed a look of helplessness that had appeared countless times before.
“Your daughter Keona and her family live in New York, not in Hawaii. They can only come to see you during their holidays.”
"Then call Geona to come and see what's on the wall."
"...I already said, Keona isn't in Hawaii."
Seeing that the explanation was about to go on and on, Kara quickly changed the subject: "I brought some pudding, would you like some?"
"Taro pudding? Save some for Hope, he loves pudding."
“Your husband Hope passed away nine years ago, and now you live alone in this house.”
Kara sighed deeply and muttered softly, "My memory is getting worse and worse..."
1221 whispered in Chichi's ear, "Yesterday, the old lady seemed to be talking normally with the old man next door. I never expected her to have this kind of disease."
The kitten didn't understand: "What illness?"
“For conditions like Alzheimer’s, organic brain lesions can cause memory to gradually decline until dementia develops.”
"Kiona—"
Kara resignedly replied, "It's me, it's Geona. What's the matter?"
“Isn’t there a big bird tangled in the vines over the wall at our gate?” Meller kept looking at the wall. “I see animals scurrying around there.”
Kara turned her gaze to the top of the wall; she had never liked dirty animals. "It looks like a cat. Should I get a long pole to shoo it away for you?"
Mailer shook his head: "It didn't do anything, don't scare it."
While the other person went to get the pudding, Meller put away the half-finished fabric on his leg and slowly approached the courtyard wall with his cane.
Chichi had been listening intently to 1221's science explanation, but now that humans were trying to approach her, she instinctively became alert, her small body shrinking back slightly as she hid herself again under the thick vines.
Its snow-white downy fur was still exposed between the dense green leaves.
The old woman looked up from under the wall.
His gentle yet weathered eyes held the marks of time, like a sea that had weathered countless storms, now only twilight remained.
"Did Geona send you to see me?"
The footsteps that had been slowly slipping out of the other person's sight paused for a moment.
Keona is the daughter who lives far inland. Judging from what she just said, she probably hasn't been back to Hawaii for a long time.
The claw, which was supposed to leap onto another section of the wall, hesitated for a moment and then landed back where it was.
After hesitating for a while, she turned around and finally stepped out from her hiding place, exposing herself to the other person. Facing the gentle blue eyes under the wall, she softly and tentatively meowed.
She saw those silent eyes light up like a small lamp whose dust had been wiped away.
A note from the author:
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