You can’t get time back. So life was like a road that ran only one way, perhaps. However, Granny shook her head.
“No, life isn’t a road. There are no traffic signals in life, after all.”
I giggled at her little joke and offered one of my own. “So, life is like a freeway?”
“Maybe.”
It was the first time I had heard such a blunt response from her. I laughed.
“My life really was a happy one. Nacchan, are you happy right now?”
I didn’t even have to think. “Yes, I have a lot of happiness right now.”
I thought about my mother and father, and myself. I got to eat things I liked for dinner. I had a friend I could play Othello with. When I went to school, I had a teacher who was my ally. I had kind and wonderful Granny. I had a little friend who could sing with me. I knew I would see Minami-san and Skank-san again someday. There were bad things, too, but as far as I was concerned, there were far more happy things.
“You’re clever, Nacchan, so I’m sure you understand exactly how you obtained that happiness.”
“…”
“I did the same. And, I’m sure that the ones you call Skank-san and Minami-san will be able to do so from now on, all thanks to you.”
“…”
“Everyone has chosen…” she said.
I felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“To be happy.”
As I finally stepped out of that hopelessly long, dark tunnel, a blindingly brilliant light exploded before me and with it, a beautiful and sprawling scene. There was the wind and uncountable greenery. There was bliss and kismet unbounded. I took a single step into that world ahead, and I felt my heart overflow with sweetness. Granny’s words sent my heart soaring into flights of fancy. It was a fantasy, but it wasn’t a lie. It was what I had realized, deep down.
“Thank you, Granny,” I said, from the bottom of my heart. “I’m glad I came to see you today.”
“Did you find your answer?”
“Yes.”
It was a mystery. There were ever so many mysteries, and now I stood on the threshold of another. I was in Granny’s room, sitting on her bed, Miss Bobtail and Granny beside me. Nothing about the world had changed, and yet it seemed to shine with a different light.
Granny stroked my hair with her slender fingers, as though she knew everything. Knew that my world had just shifted.
“My life overflowed with happiness, just like yours. In fact, I couldn’t think of one happy thing I have not had. And yet, even at the very end, God smiled upon me. I could not have lived a happier life.”
“What did God give you?”
“The gift of meeting you.”
An immense happiness welled up inside of me. I had gotten to be part of Granny’s happiness. I had made her happy. And I knew that nothing she had said was a lie.
“I need nothing else,” she said. “The final piece in my Othello match is the happiness called Nacchan.”
“So life isn’t a road, it’s an Othello game?”
She shook her head again.
“No, that’s not it,” she said sleepily, as though the pleasant, gentle light had cast a spell on her.
I picked my friend up from her lap, and Granny lay down on her side. Her eyes were only just open.
“Thank you, Nacchan,” she said. “Could you open the window?”
I reached out to the other side of the bed and slid open one of the panes. A sweetly scented breeze wafted through.
“Is there anything else you’d like me to do?” I asked.
“No, that’ll do…thank you.”
“I’ll head home then, so you can take your nap. Thank you for everything, Granny.”
“Of course. I hope your presentation goes well.”
She closed her eyes peacefully and I moved to leave the bedroom, my little furry friend in my arms. But just as I opened the glass door, I heard her call my name again.
“One last thing,” she said. “I have something to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“Listen now. Life is like…”
There was no question whether copying my catchphrase was meant to be amusing. Still, hearing her words filled my heart with more joy than the most clever joke.
I left her room, walked down the quiet hallway, donned my shoes, and stepped outside. There, I saw the grassy clearing we always came through. And yet, it seemed to sparkle with a light I had never seen before. It was all thanks to Granny. I knew that I would not be coming back tomorrow.
“Well, better get home and write everything down for the presentation.”
I descended the wooden steps outside and stepped down into the grass. Then, as always, I began my song.
“Happiness won’t cooome, wandering my way, sooo!”
“Meow.”
The little voice that came from behind me was not one of song. I turned around at her peculiar tone. She had something important to say.
“What’s up?”
As I looked back, I saw that Miss Bobtail was still sitting before the great door of Granny’s great wooden house, staring at me with golden eyes.
“Meow…”
She would stay at Granny’s house, she said. This was the first time that we had parted anywhere but in front of my home.
“I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Try not to bother Granny.”
“Meow.”
Her voice sounded strange. It sounded like Thank you, and Goodbye. I was sure that this was only possible in her voice, that it could not come from human lips. It worried me, but then again, a wicked girl like her always sounded like she was suggesting something, so I waved and headed down the hill.
It was the wind that made me turn around.
A strong blast of wind blew against my body. As if I was being pulled by the wind’s own hands, I turned around to face Granny’s home. Or rather, where Granny’s home had been.
I knew that when people were taken by shock, they never made a sound.
Before me was an empty field. There was grass, there were flowers, and there were trees. And there was nothing else.
There was no trace of the wooden house that had just been there, nor the friend I had just been speaking to.
That strong wind did not blow again.