2005年11月5日、可愛がっていた猫が死にました。私たち夫婦はとても悲しみました。猫が死ぬのはとても悲しいです。当時嫁はバス通勤していて、それは猫が死んで5日後の11月10日の事でした。仕事帰りのバスで嫁はすっかり寝てしまい、途中の停留所で降りられずに終点の駅まで行ってしまったので仕方なく駅から歩いて家に帰る事にしました。初冬の冷たい雨が降っていました。歩いているとシャッターの閉まった店の軒下に小さい白黒の猫がいて、ニャーニャー鳴いていました。それは「助けて、助けて」と言うような必死な鳴き声で。嫁は傘を放り出して仔猫の側に寄ると仔猫は初対面なのに擦り寄ってきて膝の上に乗り安心したように嫁の腕をもにもにと揉みました。嫁は思いました。これは運命の出会いだと。そこに私も呼び出されたのですが、冷静に考えるとかなり人に慣れた仔猫。飼われていたのが逃げたのかもしれない。そこでその周辺の家を訪ねて、猫の情報を聞いて回りましたが該当する情報は無し。新聞にも情報を載せましたが、結局飼い主らしき情報はありませんでした。拾ってから数日後、嫁の腕をもにもにと揉んだ猫は「もにた」と名付けられ今も一緒に住んでいます。今となっては私も運命の出会いだったと思っています。

On November 5, 2005, my beloved cat died. My wife and I were very sad. It's always so sad when cats die. At the time my wife took the bus to work every day. Five days later, on November 10th, she fell fast asleep on the bus home, so she didn't get off at her usual stop but ended up going all the way to the station at the last stop, so she had to walk all the way back from there. It was nearly winter, cold and rainy. She found a black and white kitten under the canopy of a shuttered up store, mewling desperately, as if to say, "Please, help me!" She cast aside her umbrella and approached it, and even though they'd never met before, the kitten crawled up on her lap and began kneading her arm, as if it felt as safe as could be. So, my wife thought: our meeting must be fate. I went out to meet her there, and I couldn't help but think this kitten seemed awfully used to beng around people. It may have run away. We went around to houses in the area asking if anyone knew anything about that kitten, but nobody did. We put an ad in the newspaper, but were never contacted by anyone who seemed they might be the kitten's owner. A few days after we found it, we named it "Monita" [n.b. after the moni-moni sound effect for cats kneading], and it still lives with us. Now, I can't help but think their meeting was fate as well.