Page 13 of Kitten

Silver meowed before I could think of a clever response.

“Look, Katie,” James said, pointing. “She really wants to go. Are you going to say no to that face?”

Silver turned, flashing me her wonderful face.

—

The beach was just atwo-minute walk away, the ocean rocking slowly like a wooden horse. James led us past the patches of dune grass to a craggy area near the water. “This is where I was sitting when I found Silver,” he said. At her name, Silver poked her head out the bag. “I’m sorry.” James leaned down. “Whenyoufoundme.”

Before I could say anything, Silver sprang out of her backpack and began to run, her body accordioning across the shore. Startled, I leapt to my feet. James said my name, but I was already sprinting. As soon as she noticed, Silver ran faster, emitting little high-pitched trills as if laughing. Sand jumped from her feet. I’d started a game that I’d obviously lose. James called at me to stop, but I couldn’t. She was getting away, my legs couldn’t move fast enough, and then I was on the ground, my face in the sand and my mouth hot and wet. I looked behind me and saw I’d tripped over nothing. When I stood, Silver was already in the ocean, wading gracefully.

“You okay?” James caught up to me, a little breathless. Blood trickled down my chin. He pinched my bottom lip. “You tore your mouth.” A few yards away, children dropped their buckets and stared. My hand flew to cover my eye, probably even redder now.

“You really don’t need to worry about Silver,” James said. “She’s from here.”

I was unconvinced. Silver’s head looked tiny in the water. Wasn’t she afraid? I tucked my lip between my teeth and sucked at the blood until it slowed, then undressed and approached the sea.

Small stones pressed into the soles of my feet. The waterpulled at my legs, drawing me deeper until no ground remained to stand on. For a moment I forgot about Silver, marveling at the feeling. Without thinking, I began to swim, like the knowledge was already in my bones but needed the right setting to come alive. My whole body numbed except my face, which burned like it had been cut all over.

James splashed beside me, grinning. “You lied,” he said. “You’re great at swimming.” Our limbs knocked beneath the surface. I felt proud of myself. For a moment I considered telling him about Lou. I could ask to move in with him after our trip. Stay for a while, maybe forever. The sun hit James’s face, making it glow with the cartoonish brilliance of a treasure chest with the lid off. Looking at him felt dangerous, as if my current happiness would be paid for by a future misery. I let the moment pass.

Silver swam to me. Her nose looked darker and smaller when wet, a piece of dissolving candy. Every few strokes, she turned her head back, as if to confirm that I still followed. We swam until the water grew still and black. From a distance, close to shore, James called for us. Silver didn’t seem to hear him, or if she did, she didn’t care. I let myself forget about him and followed the movement of Silver’s tail, swirling like a rope being pulled into the dark.

At last, satisfied with our progress, Silver stopped swimming and began to tread water instead. I felt a momentary panic—losing its previous momentum, my body began to flail—but I mimicked her movements, the hook of her wrist and occasional gentle kick of the hind leg. To my amazement, it worked. There we hovered, going nowhere. A great peace washed over me. Silver drifted close, ears flat, eyesnarrowed in rapture. “You really did come from the sea, didn’t you,” I said. I thought I heard her purring, but it might have been the waves.

—

We returned to the housefor a shower. The tranquil bliss that had overtaken Silver in the ocean transformed at once into mania, and she galloped thunderously through the halls. James said she was experiencing endorphins. I was reluctant to leave her, but in this state she was completely indifferent to our presence.

“It was cute, you two in the ocean,” said James. “Even made me a little jealous.”

“Don’t take it personally,” I said, feeling a little smug. “Cats are just like that. Fickle.”

“Touché,” James said. “By the end of this trip, she’ll have forgotten me entirely.”

We headed to the restaurant in the late afternoon. The morning’s rain had given way to a brilliant white sun. American flags waved from half-shut windows. Some houses had already put up Halloween decorations. The unlit jack-o’-lanterns and hanging ghosts looked out of place so close to the sea, like they were tourists who’d accidentally boarded the wrong flight.

The host led us next to a window with a sea view. Wooden beams arched overhead, big enough to hang from. On the tables, unlit candlesticks rose from empty wine bottles, sprouts of dried wax like enoki mushrooms crawling down the lips. The place carried the same blithe attitude asJames’s house, decorated by people who seemed to believe that nothing was more elegant than the slightly unfinished.

I was disturbed to see that a salad went for twenty-three dollars. While I scanned the rest of the menu, James ordered a bottle of white wine for the table.

The waiter asked if we’d like anything to start with.

“What do you think?” James asked me. “You can’t go wrong here.”

The waiter, who had been exclusively addressing James until now, turned to face me. His mouth twitched; I knew it was because of my eye. Feeling awkward, I chose the cheapest thing: fresh oysters.

“How many?” asked the waiter.

“What?”

“How many oysters?”

I looked at the menu and noticed the smalleanext to the price. “One?”

“Half a dozen,” James said. Then, after the waiter left: “I didn’t know you liked oysters.”

I admitted I hadn’t tried them before. I only knew that Lou loved them because they were supposed to make you horny.