The Collector | 18+

【35】Reginald

An old woman came to open, looking down at me with inquisitive eyes.

"Hei, beklager at jeg plager deg, men er dette katten din?" I asked her, bringing the wet cat forward. Hi, I'm sorry to bother you, but is this your cat?

"No, it's just a stray that lives in the trash over there. I have called several animal protection charities, but they never came. The neighbors and I throw it some food now and then." she answered in Norwegian.

"Is there a shelter near here? So I could drop him off?"

"The closest one is in Trondheim. We wanted to take it there, but it never lets us get close, so we never caught it. Now that you have it, though, I suppose you could get it there?"

Oh, that didn't work with my plans at all. Coming here to help out Yuko was already taking a lot of the little time I had. I couldn't possibly drive four hours there and back to drop off a cat to a shelter in Trondheim. But I also couldn't let this poor animal out there to fend for himself. With the temperatures and the bad weather, it was a miracle that he'd survived this long.

"Thank you," I told the woman with a small smile. "And sorry again for the interruption."

She nodded before closing the door, leaving me and my furry companion out in the cold. "What are we going to do with you, little one?"

He looked up with his amber eyes, still purring, and my chest tightened. With a worried glance, I looked around. If anyone in the village had been okay to take him in, they would have by now. It was cold and wet all the time, so they would have found it in their heart to capture and protect this sweet cat.

With a sigh, I returned to the nurse practice I'd left Yuko at, thinking she'd be done soon. The timing of my return was perfect, as she came out of the building just as I reached it.

"Was everything okay?" I asked her, still holding the cat.

"Who is that?" she asked, her eyes fixed on the ball of white fur.

"Uhh... I found him by the dumpsters. Someone told me he was a stray. No one's willing to take him in, and the shelters are in Trondheim. I—I don't know what to do with him."

Her eyes were still squinted at the cat, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Honestly, I'd kept the cat with me, but I had no idea what my intentions were. Had I been on my own, I would have kept it and found a way to get it to Trondheim safely. But I was staying with people as a guest, so expecting to keep the cat was a lot to ask.

To my surprise, she came closer to the cat with her hand up. "I used to have a cat just like this in Japan," she explained, petting him. A little wary, he recoiled at first. Then, once she'd allowed him to smell her hand, he accepted her attentions.

"Is it a girl?"

"No, it's a boy."

"Ah, mine used to be a girl."

I watched as she grazed its wet fur for a little longer, wondering how this unexpected finding would pan out.

"We need to go back to the shop," she declared, heading toward the car. I followed her, not knowing what to do with the cat.

"Did you forget something?"

"No, but we don't have cat food. We need to buy him some."

My eyes went wide with surprise. "Wait, really?"

"Yes, we can't leave him out. You can take him to shelter another day."

"I don't want to impose, Yuko. Whenever there are plans to go to Trondheim, I can come by and see if I find him again."