Man-Eating-Cats

    by haruki Murakami

    ttranslated by Philip Gabriel

    I boug ticle about an old s. Sy years old and lived alone in a small suburb of At sort of life, just s in a small one-room apartment. One day, s attack, most likely. Nobody kneer s ives or friends rapped. t any food in tment. Granted, t cats  evolved to t arvation, to devour their owners flesh.

    I read ticle to Izumi, o t t door to tax office, and Id summarize in Japanese anyteresting I mig ent of our daily scicular caugerest,  around opinions for a , and sicles  I never once saw her pick up a paper.

    quot;I like to o read to me,quot; s;Its been my dream ever since.

    I  in a sunny place, gave at to me. I dont care extbook, a novel. It doesnt matter. But no ones ever read to me before. So I suppose t means youre making up for all t opportunities. Besides, I love your voice.quot;

    e . And I enjoyed reading aloud. o read picture books aloud to my son. Reading aloud is different from just sentences e unexpected  I find impossible to resist.

    taking tter coffee, I sloic1e to Izumi. Id read a feo myself, mull over o put to Japanese, translate aloud. A fe a previous customer spilled on table. t a moment lapping it up, to table a couple of times, and ttled once more on tabletop. After I icle, Izumi sat ting on table. S tips of t  t to form a tent. I rested t  me tween her fingers.

    quot;t ; she asked.

    quot;ts itquot; I replied, and folded up took a  of