Into those autumn leaves

I raced to her window.

She was there.

That young little girl.

Now all grown up.

I sat on the railing.

The cold iron biting into my paws.

It’s surprising!

I thought she would never come back.

It had been so long now.

I banged the window.

Tap. Tap.

She froze.

Her eyes were full of daze.

But she approached.

And glared.

Hey Kid!

Well, where are those little hugs?!

She didn’t move.

Her face laid next to mine.

What’s she doing?

Is she going to prank me now?

Oh, bring it on!

“Hello there, little fellow!”

WHAT?!

Didn’t she name me?

Hello?!

You named me Aki!

Kid! Did you forget?

“Do you want a treat?”

I nodded.

At least she never forgot to give me food.

Her hands came forward.

And it was a carrot!

Wow!

Did he forget those small pieces of pancake!

Where are those pancakes, kid?!

She sighed.

“So, what are you doing here, little ermine?”

EXCUSE ME!

I’M HERE TO SEE YOU!

Her hand came to my head.

Her fingers kindled gently.

Thank goodness, she didn’t forget the massage!

“Do you want to come inside? It’s freezing out there!”

I lunged at her.

She smiled.

Of course!

Duh!

I needed some warmth!

She gave me a small keychain.

A small bear was on it.

Pink and chubby.

And a small bell.

She rang the bell in front of me.

Clink. Clink.

Nah!

I crossed my arms.

I’m not falling for any of your other pranks now!

But wait a second!

I jumped to her closet.

And dug deep.

Where was that?!

Ah yes!

I held it up proudly in my jaws.

A small, messy, violently uneven scarf.

Knitted by me, using loose threads I had stolen from her sewing basket over the course of a whole winter.

Aren’t I a genius? It was a masterpiece of tangled knots and pure affection.

I placed it in her hands.

Come on!

Wear it!

I wagged my tail earnestly.

But she just put it around me.

Wait what!

I snarled at her.

She stepped back.

I snatched the scarf.

And lunged to her.

But she kept on backing away.

What’s going on?

Is this one of your other tricks now?

She reached for something.

Something hard.

A stick.

She warded me off.

And I went.

But still looked at her.

Through the window.

Did she forget me?

Did she forget how we met?

Those little legs lunged at me.

And I ran hard.

Her little beige coat.

That small cute yellow hat.

She never stopped choking me!

But my pal was there.

Kai.

That dark fox scared her.

But then it danced.

Of course! Flexing.

Seriously? In front of a kid?

Just wonderful.

But then he ran for his life.

The kid has got some stamina!

What did she eat?!

Give me some of that!

I need it!

It had been few weeks then.

And she never failed to give us those tight hugs.

I think I’m going to be dead soon.

But the best part was the food!

Those pancakes!

Yes! Heaven!

I always clashed with Kai.

He always took the bigger bite!

You greedy little fox!

But Kai always kept her company.

While I chilled on a tree.

Sleeping.

But my brother had got some skills!

No wonder the kid started break-dancing out of nowhere!

But she was such a diva!

Her mom hanged out with us.

Well, from a distance.

The camera snapped us.

And that kid worked effortlessly!

She got some style, I tell you!

Those sunglasses and poses!

Work it!

If she got famous one day!

I would be her biggest fan!

And one day, she named me Aki!

Cause she found me in the autumn.

And Kai was Kai.

She would gossip.

About many things.

How the teacher gave her a bit too much homework.

But I think the real reason is that she never sits in one place.

She never forgot to bring that hot cocoa.

Damm! It tasted delicious with those marshmallows.

Her mom always greeted us, as we popped up at the glass door.

And never stopped shouting at Kai.

I meant Kai always pretended to eat the kid.

But he would never.

He would only do that, just to steal those pancakes.

So heartless!

And me.

Well, she considered us her best-friends.

Sometimes, we would watch TV.

Sometimes clash at Kai for stealing the kid’s lunch box after school.

Sometimes, saw how her mother knit beautiful scarfs.

And believe me I tried it.

And the girl loved it.

But Kai.

He just played fetch with those two wooden sticks.

I mean he was older than me.

He was supposed to have more brain cells than me!

The memory burned bright against the frost of the glass pane.

I sat on the freezing railing, looking back inside.

The girl stood there, holding her defensive stick, breathing heavily.

She looked down at the messy, violently uneven scarf huddled on the floorboards where she had dropped it.

Look closer, kid!

My claws tapping against the glass.

Look at the stitches!

You watched your mom make them, and I copied her just for you!

Remember?

I watched her trace the irregular loops.

My teeth had pulled those threads.

My claws had knotted them together with sticky tree sap and stubborn affection while she was away at school.

No human machine could replicate that masterpiece.

No ordinary, wild ermine would ever bring it to her.

But she just stopped.

And threw that towards me.

“You can have it.”

EXCUSE ME?!

And with that the window was closed.

I picked up the little scarf in my mouth.

I leaped down from the railing, landing softly in the deep snow beside Kai.

We were just wild animals to her.

Not the ones who fought over a piece of her mom’s pancakes!

The autumn breeze made me shiver.

But that kid leaving had been the worst part.

How that kid left to the United States.

Just because her mom found another person.

Her long last pats on our heads.

Before finally we strolled away.

In the autumn leaves.