Page 10 of We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat

“So, you see, the neighborhood association’s president’s son-in-law’s company’s president’s acquaintance went to the same place when his spouse passed away. It’s not unusual at all. It’s best to tell someone about these things sooner rather than later,”

said Ayumi, who had a loud voice and a frank personality, and was always full of energy.

Ever since her father-in-law, Tatsuya, had retired and handed over the household to his son, Ayumi had been managing the family’s affairs.

“Be that as it may, I’m not sure these modern mental health clinics, or whatever you call them, are for me.”

Tatsuya Satonaka heaved a big sigh.

Until a few years ago, the Satonaka living room had been a lively place. There had been his son and daughter-in-law, and his own wife, Meiko, too, with their grandson, Hayato, at the heart of the family. But Meiko had passed away six months ago, his son was always busy at work, while Ayumi had a part-time job. Even teenage Hayato was rarely around.

Tatsuya’s daily routine was to laze about upstairs in the traditional Japanese-style room, come downstairs for meals, and then retreat back up. His only health issues were high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Other than some surgery for a hernia, undergone in his fifties, he’d been relatively healthy. It wasn’t ill health that made him a recluse.

“But you haven’t been out at all since your wife died,”

said Ayumi.

“Not true! I attended the neighborhood association meeting just the other day.”

“That was four weeks ago. At the very least, you should go for walks. If you stay home all the time, your leg and back muscles will weaken. You don’t need to worry, though. That acquaintance was healed at that whatchamacallit clinic in Nakagyō Ward. It’s called…something therapy, where they listen to you talk for a little bit. Anyway, if you, too, become a shut-in, it’s going to be a real problem. We already have one person who won’t come out of his room.”

Ayumi gestured toward the second floor with her eyes.

If that’s the case, shouldn’t Hayato, who barely leaves his room, go to that whatchamacallit clinic and get that something therapy?

But Tatsuya was helpless about how to handle his seventeen-year-old grandson. He was once an attentive, bright young boy. Before Tatsuya knew it, Hayato began to shut himself in his room. Even Ayumi, with all her positivity, was fretting about him.

“Try one visit. Just to pass the time.”

Tatsuya paused for thought.

“Where did you say it was?”

“Hold on, I had the neighborhood association president write it down for me.”

Ayumi took out a small slip of paper.

“It’s apparently east of Takoyakushi Street, south of Tominokoji Street, west of Rokkaku Street, north of Fuyacho Street, Nakagyō Ward, Kyoto.”

“What kind of address is that?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but it’s somewhere around those streets. You can take the bus. You’ve got a reduced-fare senior transit pass. It’d be a waste not to use it.”

It was true—two shut-ins in a single family were too much. To put his son’s and his daughter-in-law’s minds at ease, Tatsuya reluctantly agreed to go to the Whatchamacallit Clinic in Nakagyō Ward.