Little House on the Prairie (Part 1)

First published in the summer 2011 issue of Bungei magazine.

When Mugiko woke up that morning, she found herself in an unfamiliar place.

She was lying in a futon in a large room, surrounded by piles of boxes. Her big brother and her mother were sleeping next to her. Opening her eyes wide, Mugiko looked around. Through a great bay window with a lace curtain she could see an indigo sky.

Mugiko got out of her futon.

A strand of drool trailing from her brother’s wide open mouth. Mugiko poked his cheek, but he didn’t stir. He was in grade school now, but compared to her he was still a big sleepyhead.

Beyond the big glass-paned front door lay the outside.

Mugiko saw Pa standing outside. She opened the door and was surprised by a blast of chilly morning air.

“Awake already, Mugiko?” said Pa, turning and smiling at her. A puff of smoke rose from his pipe.

“Where are we?” asked Mugiko.

“We moved here yesterday. You haven’t forgotten already, have you?”

“No.” Mugiko shook her head, though truthfully until that moment she had.

Putting on sandals she went outside. She shivered, feeling the cold damp sandals beneath her bare feet. But she went out anyways. She felt pleased with herself, getting up early just like Pa.

There was a porch at the front of their house, but no plants or a lawn or trees yet in the small yard. There wasn’t even a fence around the house. Beyond the yard, small empty lots of land were marked off, stretching out into the distance. Grass grew in patches in some of the lots, making it all look like a prairie.

There was a cluster of houses not far from Mugiko’s house. Beyond it was a green hill, at the top of which stood a strangely shaped tower. Pa said that it was a water tower.

“It feels so empty,” said Mugiko.

“The houses haven’t been built yet. But they’ll build them soon, and then lots of people will come and move in.”

The sky was still dark as night, and Mugiko could pick out a handful of faint stars. But a glimmer of light was growing over the hill, indigo night giving way to watery blue. It’s not night anymore, Mugiko thought to herself. I’m watching the night end.

Pa indicated with his pipe towards where the sky was darkest. “We came from the other side of the mountains, over the prefecture border.”

“Is it a long way from there?”

“I suppose so.”

Mugiko thought about how all her friends at kindergarten had given her a going-away present; one of her closest friends had cried. She could hardly believe that they were all so far away now.

She also thought about how Jack had gone missing. Jack was the little mutt that they owned. While they were out on a walk yesterday the leash had snapped, and Jack had bolted and not come back. Since they’d only just arrived in town, he must have lost his way.

“Is Jack back?”

Pa shook his head. “Not yet. But he’ll be alright. He’s a clever boy.”

Mugiko thought about Jack for a while, staring off into the distance. How excited she would be when Jack finally came bounding home over those empty lots!

“It’s still early, now. You should go on back to bed,” Pa said to her. “Your Pa’s got to go out.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to look for Jack.”

Mugiko wanted to go with him, but Pa refused to let her go out so early in the morning.

If there was anyone who could find Jack, though, it was Pa. So she crawled back underneath the futon covers, and soon fell fast asleep.

　　　　　　　◯

Mugiko woke to the sounds of Ma making breakfast.

The room smelled like a Sunday morning. Some bread that Pa had bought at a bakery was sitting on the table, and the burbling sound of the coffeemaker filled the air. Her brother was carefully carrying a plate piled high with piping hot bacon and fried eggs to the table. It smelled delicious. Ma poured two glasses of cold milk for Mugiko and her brother.

Everyone sat down to eat.

Pa had walked through town that morning, though Jack was nowhere to be found. But he had stumbled upon the bakery.

“They’ve just opened up. A stroke of luck for us,” said Pa.

“I hope Jack’s alright,” said her brother. “I think I’ll go look for him too.”

“Only around the house,” Pa said. “Don’t go across the road.”

“Do you think Jack’s at someone else’s house?” Ma wondered.

“I ran into the chairman of the neighbourhood association while I was out today. Jack’s got a collar with his name on it, so he said if anyone round these parts sees him they’ll let us know.”

Mugiko drank her milk quietly. She was worried about Jack.

They spent the rest of the day unpacking and tidying up from the move. It had been cool in the morning, but it got hotter as the sun rose higher in the sky. White cumulonimbus clouds gathered on the other side of the water tower. The sky was so blue it almost hurt to look at, so blue it felt as though it would suck you in. In the afternoon a hot breeze stirred up, rustling the grass in the empty lots.

Pa lugged great big boxes around, wiping his face with a towel hanging around his neck. His shirt soaked through with sweat, and his hair was slicked back on his forehead.

“Just look at you,” Ma chided him.

“Sweating makes my head itch,” Pa grinned.

For the first time in her life, Mugiko had a room of her own. In spite of that she still slept in her brother’s room, scared of sleeping alone. In spite of that she felt very proud of herself.

Ma made supper that night as she always did.

“Tomorrow I’ll go look for Jack again,” said Pa. “Mr. Edogawa said that dogs frighten the fuzzy-wuzzles.”

“There are fuzzy-wuzzles around here?” Mugiko asked, leaning forward.

“The chairman said that they’ve been showing up more and more often. They don’t attack people, but they’re always howling and making a fuss, and they can climb up and damage the roofs.”

“That sounds awful,” Ma grimaced.

“Can you keep fuzzy-wuzzles?” asked Mugiko.

“It’d be much harder than keeping a dog.”

“But what about baby fuzzy-wuzzles? Couldn’t we keep a baby—”

“Absolutely not.” Ma put her foot down. “We’ve already got Jack, and he’d probably end up killing the fuzzy-wuzzles.”

　　　　　　　◯

After supper, Pa went out into the yard to smoke a pipe.

Mugiko went with him. It was pitch black, and not a sound could be heard. The breeze was cool. Stars twinkled in the vast night sky. In the darkness the hill with the water tower loomed up like an enormous beast. On its slopes could be seen the lights of houses lined up in a row.

“Do people live there, too?”

“Sure. Maybe there are other little girls just like you. Why don’t we go out to the woods over that way tomorrow and look for Jack?”

Mugiko nodded happily.

All of a sudden she spotted a small, glittering green light in the darkness across the empty lots. It was bobbing up and down, hovering just over the ground. Startled, she grabbed onto the side of Pa’s trousers.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, scanning the darkness. “Is it Jack?”

But it wasn’t Jack.

A strange cry that sounded like a baby wailing rose up in the distance. It became shriller and shriller like a whistle, until abruptly petering out. Then it started up again, and again and again.

The hair on Mugiko’s neck stood on end. Pa gathered her into his arms, and she clung onto him tightly. The air smelled like pipe smoke.

The screen door opened, and Ma poked her head out. “What’s all that caterwauling?”

Pa squinted into the darkness. “It’s the fuzzy-wuzzles. There must be a few of them prowling around.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Ain’t nothing to be afraid of. Long as we leave them alone, they’ll leave us alone.”

His arms around Mugiko, Pa stared out at the gleaming fuzzy-wuzzle eyes. Seeing how calm he looked, Mugiko gradually became less afraid. No matter how she strained her eyes, the fuzzy-wuzzles wouldn’t come into the light; all that could be seen of them were their glinting green eyes.

In a soft voice, Pa began to sing the fuzzy-wuzzle song.

“Are there any baby fuzzy-wuzzles?” asked Mugiko. “I want to see a baby fuzzy-wuzzle.”

“The baby fuzzy-wuzzles must be sleeping in the forest,” said Pa, guiding her back inside the house.

That night Mugiko slept in her brother’s room on the second floor. Occasionally she would hear the fuzzy-wuzzles howling outside. She wasn’t afraid, but the sound made her miss Jack terribly.

Quietly she drew open the curtain. It was pitch black outside, and she could see countless stars in the sky.

“I bet Pa could go up and fetch those stars down,” she whispered, imagining over and over Pa climbing up a ladder and reaching out to pluck out the stars.

She could hear her brother softly breathing in his sleep, but she didn’t feel sleepy at all. All she wanted was to stay up looking at the stars.

Suddenly one of the stars grew big and round, and she could have sworn it seemed to wink at her.

Mugiko gasped.

Then she was waking up, next morning.

　　　　　　　◯

Pa took Mugiko and her brother out the next morning looking for Jack.

They walked through the quiet neighborhoods, and each time they came across someone walking their dog Mugiko would feel butterflies in her stomach, thinking that it might be Jack.

Eventually they arrived at the hill with the water tower. It was covered in trees. Behind the water tower was a concrete stairway that led to a little path through the woods. Sunlight sparkled through the leaves.

“This forest goes on for a ways,” said Pa, confidently leading the way. “They’re breaking for another neighborhood on the other side.”

“Where could Jack be?” Mugiko’s brother whispered to her.

At that very moment, something round and yellow came flying out of the trees to their right. Mugiko picked it up. It was a grubby tennis ball.

Mugiko glanced into the trees and was so startled by what she saw that for a moment she forgot to breathe.

A number of grey-furred creatures clung to the boughs of the trees. Some were the size of a fist, while others were the size of a dodgeball. Their little ears twitched and their black eyes blinked as they stared at Mugiko and her brother.

“What’s the matter?” called Pa, coming back towards them. The moment he saw the creatures he scooped up Mugiko in one arm and grabbed her brother’s hand. The creatures kept their eyes on the two children the whole time.

“Give the fuzzy-wuzzles back the tennis ball,” he directed Mugiko.

Mugiko threw the ball into the trees, and Pa took them back the way they had come. The branches rustled as the fuzzy-wuzzles swung from tree to tree behind them, their black eyes fixed on Mugiko.

“Keep walking slowly. Don’t startle them,” Pa murmured. Mugiko’s brother nodded.

As the strange pursuit continued through the forest, a dog howled.

Mugiko immediately understood. “Jack! It’s Jack!”

When she looked back at the trees the fuzzy-wuzzles had all disappeared. The dog must have scared them off. They had vanished as quickly as they had showed up.

A man who resembled Pa came down the path, followed by a boy leading a dog. There was no doubt that the dog was Jack, because the moment he saw Mugiko he pulled the leash right out of the boy’s hand and came hurtling towards them. “Hey!” the boy hollered.

Pa set Mugiko down on the ground. Jack leapt on her, and leapt on her brother, and rubbed himself all around Pa’s legs, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

“Jack!” Mugiko cried.

“That’s not his name,” said the boy.

“Yes it is!” Mugiko replied, taken aback. She hugged Jack tightly.

“No, he’s our dog,” the boy insisted.

The man came up and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Now, you ought to be glad we’ve found his rightful owners.”

“Thank you,” said Pa. “We’ve been looking all over for him, ever since he got himself lost.”

“Not at all,” the man said, waving his hand. “I’m just glad he’s back where he belongs.”

Pa wiped away sweat.

“Something happen?” asked the man. “That’s quite a sweat you’ve worked up.”

“We ran into a swarm of fuzzy-wuzzles just now. Took us for quite a turn.”

“You new around here? Can’t blame you for being surprised. There’s a whole troop of them living in these trees.”

The man introduced himself as Mr. Andō; the boy’s name was Yūta. They lived in a big house on the hill. Mr. Andō and Pa chatted warmly as they walked along the path.

They stopped at the Andō residence, where they thanked Mr. Andō once again for taking care of Jack. Yūta had a big brother and sister, both of whom were unwilling to give Jack up. But Mr. Andō gave them a big scolding, so they didn’t have a choice. The older brother, Daichi, gave in quickly, but the sister, Kyōko, was more hesitant. It was only after Mugiko’s brother suggested that they come visit Jack anytime they wanted that she finally agreed reluctantly.

How selfish of them! Jack’s our dog! Mugiko thought indignantly.

At any rate, Jack was finally back home.

As they ate supper that night, Pa told Ma about everything that had happened. When she heard about the swarm of fuzzy-wuzzles in the forest, she clapped both hands to her face and gasped, “How horrible!”

“Well, Jack’s back home, so let’s just count our blessings,” Pa said.

“They ought to catch all of those creatures. Awful little things!”

“That wouldn’t be right.”

Mugiko asked, “Why did the fuzzy-wuzzles come so close?”

“This neighborhood used to be a forest,” Pa explained. “And that means that this all once belonged to the fuzzy-wuzzles. Once people started building houses, the fuzzy-wuzzles couldn’t live here anymore. But the fuzzy-wuzzles still think it belongs to them.”

“Are the fuzzy-wuzzles angry?”

“They’ve still got their own forest to live in, and as long as they stay there there won’t be any trouble. But if one of them comes to town and starts making mischief, it’ll have to be caught.”

“What happens when a fuzzy-wuzzle gets caught?”

“I think that’s quite enough about fuzzy-wuzzles,” interrupted Ma, bringing the conversation to an end.

　　　　　　　◯

Once the short summer break was over Pa went to work. He would get up early in the morning and put on a suit before setting out for the office. Each morning when she heard the front door shut, Mugiko would get out of bed and look out the window, watching Pa’s lone figure getting smaller and smaller among the empty lots before he disappeared from sight.

Since they didn’t have any friends here, Mugiko and her brother played with each other every day. They’d go out exploring in the morning while it was still cool. Her brother put on a baseball cap, and Mugiko put on a straw hat with a yellow ribbon. Sometimes Ma would hang out laundry to dry in the yard.

They discovered a narrow path through the lots where someone had repeatedly tread over the summer grass. As Mugiko investigated it, she crossed paths with a rotund old man who very much resembled Santa Claus. It was the chairman, Mr. Edogawa.

“Hello there! You must be Suma Mugiko.”

“Hello,” Mugiko replied.

Mr. Edogawa pointed at the path through the grass with his walking stick. “That’s an animal trail.”

“An animal trail?”

“It was made by the fuzzy-wuzzles.”

Startled by the revelation, Mugiko looked down at her feet. “You mean fuzzy-wuzzles walk through here?”

“That’s right. But they only show themselves when they want to.” And with that Mr. Edogawa walked off.

Mugiko followed the path, feeling that she had made a very important discovery. Maybe it led straight to where the fuzzy-wuzzles lived. And maybe that was where she’d find the fuzzy-wuzzles babies. She longed to have a fuzzy-wuzzle baby.

As she walked she suddenly became uneasy. It felt as though if she kept following the path she would turn into a baby fuzzy-wuzzle herself.

“Mugi! Mugiii!” she heard her brother shouting from behind her. Startled, she hurried back the way she came towards him.

The next few days, they kept watch on the animal trail together. When Mugiko told him about what Mr. Edogawa had said, he exclaimed, “Let’s see if fuzzy-wuzzles really do use this trail!”

It was very hot, and keeping watch was grueling work. The fuzzy-wuzzles didn’t show up, and soon enough Mugiko and her brother got tired of watching the trail.

“Maybe they only show up at night,” her brother guessed.

Just then a boy came up the path through the empty lots. It was Yūta. Mugiko was surprised to see him all the way over here.

“Whatcha doing?” asked Yūta.

“Fuzzy-wuzzles use this trail,” said Mugiko’s brother.

“Everyone knows that,” said Yūta. That seemed to annoy Mugiko’s brother. Yūta’s a jerk, Mugiko thought to herself.

“I’m gonna catch me a fuzzy-wuzzle,” Yūta announced.

“How?” asked Mugiko’s brother.

“Can’t tell,” Yūta answered, going quiet. Mugiko’s brother did the same.

Mugiko was impressed by Yūta’s idea. She’d never thought of catching a fuzzy-wuzzle herself. “If you catch a bunch of them, can I have one?” she asked.

Yūta waved a stalk of grass through the air and thought for a little while. “Nope,” he finally said.

“Why not?”

“‘Cuz you guys have Jack.”

Mugiko glared at him and thought, What a jerk.