Night never came back, and it was a mystery where he’d got to. But even when Lukas had grown up, he would always stop every time he saw a cat, and entice it to come and be stroked. He knew that it wasn’t Night. But it was as if every cat he came across had a little bit of Night in it. It was as if all the cats knew that Night was doing fine, that they had met him, and that he was sending greetings to Lukas through them.
‘Say hello to Night,’ Lukas used to say as he bent down to stroke the unknown cat. ‘Tell him everything’s fine here as well.’
Everybody who knew Lukas knew that he loved cats. No matter how ugly or vicious a cat might be, Lucas always bent down to stroke it. There were some people who thought Lukas could talk to cats.
He couldn’t really, of course.
It was just that he could never forget Night.
As long as he lived, Lukas kept on thinking about Night, and kept seeing him wandering along the road, on the way to the mysterious yet wonderful Rainy-Weather Land.