post 26. The Cat Meets More Friends.

The Cat was traveling east on the way to the Beach of Silvery Surf to collect some sand for a friend.

The sun was high in the sky and merrily blazing away. It was very hot, and the Cat dearly wished that hanging the tongue out like some Dogs do helped. But it was to no avail. Maybe, Dogs just have bigger tongues or thinner coats. The sun happily continued blazing away, heedless of the Cat's fist being angrily shaken at it.

The Cat was therefore very surprised to see a small raincloud hanging by the side of the road. There were no other clouds in the otherwise clear sky. What was even more surprising was that the raincloud seemed to be floating above one spot only and not moving, and a miniature storm seemed to be pouring from it. The Cat could see torrents of rain lashing down and even occasionally, tiny bolts of lightning.

Unable to resist the mystery, the Cat walked closer to the raincloud. Cats, as we all know, are curious creatures; sometimes, too curious for their own good. Many Cats have gotten into unpleasant situations from being too inquisitive, and that is where the saying, "Curiousity killed the Cat" came from.

When the Cat got closer, the Cat could see that there was a figure sitting under the thundercloud. Curiousier and curiousier, the Cat thought and proceeded to sneak up very, very carefully to the figure.

It was a Panda.

And the Panda was crying very badly.

Feeling somewhat sorry for the Panda, the Cat decided to find out what was wrong.

"Hello." The Cat waved at the Panda.

The Panda turned a bleary face to the Cat. Tears were pouring down in continuous streams and huge goblets of snot were dribbling down and hitting the sodden ground like ponderous cannon balls. It was a horrific sight.

The Panda tried to reply, choked, tried again, and finally settled for a forlorn little wave. Rain was turning the patch of ground the Panda was sitting on into a little mud pool.

"Hello. I'm Cat. Is there anything I can do to help?"

No reply. Just a sad little shake of the round head. A tiny bolt of lightning arced down, struck the Panda's ears, and proceeded to dance madly between them before fizzling out.

"I'm traveling east to the Beach of Silvery Surf. Would you like to hear why?"

No reply again. Just a little shrug of the shoulders, as if the Panda could not really care if the Cat stayed or went.

So the Cat sat down and proceeded to tell the Panda the reason for traveling to the Beach of Silvery Surf. It was a somewhat sad story, which was the reason the Cat choose it, for sometimes hearing about others in similar situations can make one feel slightly better.

At the end of the story, the Panda was not crying as hard as before, although there were still occasional bouts of sniffles and tearing. The Cat also observed that the rain cloud was not storming as hard as before, and the lightning seemed to have stopped.

Seeing that the Panda seemed to be feeling somewhat better, the Cat decided to find out why the Panda was feeling so sad. "Would you like to tell me why you are crying?"

After some hem-ing and haw-ing on the part of the Panda, and considerable persuasion on the part of the Cat, the Panda finally told the reason why it was feeling so sad.

The Panda was in love with a boy. But the Panda was not sure if the boy felt the same way. And the Panda was afraid to tell the boy because the Panda had been hurt before by other boys. Sometimes, the Panda thinks the boy feels the same way, and sometimes the boy seemed indifferent. Unsure of the outcome, and afraid of being hurt again, the Panda decided to give up all hope on being with the boy. But not being with the boy was very painful, and that was why the Panda was sitting there crying under a raincloud, which at this point had stopped storming and was just raining steadily.

"You're being very silly," the Cat said when the Panda finished its story. "You're scared of being hurt so you decide not to tell the boy how you feel. But not being with the boy is so painful now, you're sitting here letting rain pour on your head. If I were you, I would tell the boy how I feel. Who knows? The boy may like you too, but is just as scared of being hurt as you. And if you tell him, you two may end up very happy together. If the boy doesn't like you, at least you wouldn't be feeling worse than you are now. But even if you do end up feeling worse than now, you would have a better reason for that than being too afraid to tell. At least you gave it a chance. And you know what, that is the most important thing of all: that you gave it a chance and didn't let it slip away."

The Panda was silent but finally gave a little nod to indicate acknowledgment.

Seeing that there was nothing more to be done, the Cat said goodbye to the Panda and left. When the Cat turned to wave goodbye, the mini raincloud seemed to be breaking up and dispersing, and most surprising of all, a tiny sun seemed to be coming out from behind the receding storm heads.

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After the conversation with the Panda, the Cat was feeling a little tired and decided to find a place to nap awhile.

The Cat was quite annoyed therefore, when a stunningly handsome Peacock suddenly flew out of the sky and landed on the road in front.

"Hello," said the Peacock, preening hurriedly some ruffled feathers. "Are you the Cat who talked to the Handkerchief under the tree?"

"Yes, I am Cat."

"Handkerchief said you could give me some advise." The Peacock continued preening, even though it seemed to the Cat that all the feathers were in place already and shining brightly with gloss.

The Cat sighed quietly. If I were indeed that clever, the Cat thought, I wouldn't be feeling the way I do now. Still, a request for help cannot be ignored. "Let's take a seat under that tree," the Cat pointed at a sprawling oak.

When they were both comfortably seated, the Cat turned towards the Peacock, who was now practicing furling and unfurling the beautiful fan of tail feathers. "What can I do for you?" the Cat asked.

"Handkerchief said you give good advise." The Cat was secretly amused by how intent the Peacock was on furling the fan of tail feathers.

"Sometimes hearing another person's point of view can help. I wouldn't say I give good advise. What may work for me may not work for you. Everyone is different. All I can do is show you another point of view."

"Hmmmph." The Peacock was now lifting one claw at a time, intently examining for any scratches or defects. "Well, anyway, I need some help."

"I'm all ears."

"I need the same advise you gave Handkerchief. You know, relationships stuff."

"What do you mean? A handsome fellow should have no problems with the ladies." The Cat couldn't resist poking a little jibe at the Peacock.

"I can't keep a serious relationship. Oh, I get lots of girls and all that, but it's all just very casual and fun, you know? But after a while, it gets tiring. And I would like to try for something more meaningful, rather than just having someone nice to go out and look good with. Someone to talk to and actually get something back, and not feel they are with you just because we look good together."

"Like I said, I don't see the problem here."

"Hmmmpf," the Peacock made a little noise in the back of the throat. "The nice girls, well, the ones who I want to go out with anyway, don't seem to be interested in me." The Peacock said that with a vague air of embarrassment, as if surprised that there are people who can resist the Peacock's stunning good looks.

"Peacock, you are a handsome fellow. No, I'm not saying that to make you feel better. A fact is a fact. However, when I look at you, I see someone who is screaming, 'Look at me! Look at me! Look how handsome I am!' And the nice girls can sense that, and they don't want to be with someone who pays more attention to himself than to them. I don't think anybody really wants that."

"But I can't help the way I look!"

"No, no, of course not. But rather than trying to show off your natural good looks, how about trying to find your beauty in their eyes. Rather than thinking, 'Look at me! I'm handsome, be with me!, try thinking this: 'I'm handsome only because of the way you look at me.' "

"What? That doesn't make much sense!"

"No? I'm sorry I can't be more clear."

With an affronted snort, the handsome Peacock flew off in a thundering of beating wings.

The Cat felt weary but knowing that sleep would not help, continued eastwards.

Small round hills started appearing, gently folding the landscape, and the trees, which had been constant companions throughout the journey, slowly faded away to be replaced by fields of green grass. The grass was lush and waved slowly in the breeze like sleepy, bobbing little heads, and as the Cat journeyed on, the fields grew and grew until it seemed the Cat was walking amongst a giant green sea of strange sea plants.

And a few days later, there was a sound that made the Cat's ears prick up, and cause the Cat to pause a while, one paw lifted off the ground. And then, the Cat was suddenly running, running like a madman through the sea of grass.

Over the hills, there was the gentle roar of the sea.