The cats required a curtain raiser before coming onstage—they would never so much as make an appearance without a bit of fanfare. Ahead of the rain came a little wind, only a smidge, like the sudden lurch of missing your footing on the stairs. Not too much force, no strong gusts, everything just a little askew. The kitties needed to hold back some of their energy for play.

The wind rose, and the kitties took advantage of the occasion to burrow into the shadowy clouds, concealing themselves behind the curtain. Amped up and full of excitement, ears dancing like beams of light, they darted here and there, countless glowing specks, riding the clouds toward the stage.

The stage in question was directly overhead, a patch of sky, neither near nor far. Look up and it would seem to be right there, but try to touch it and you’d soon realize it was out of reach. Such a gigantic swath of sky, I could have walked anywhere and still remained within its ambit. Dark clouds wafted closer, the curtain rustled open, and an unmissable performance began.

The kitties had set the stage for a grand presentation of cat rain, ten thousand drops in all.

From a distance, I watched the cats soaring ahead atop their clouds, fast as galloping horses. People saw this and hastened indoors, heads lifted to the sky. I happened to meet a cat’s eyes with a flash of recognition but couldn’t recall where we’d met before.

All this was back before I had a cat, before I had any idea where cats came from. The sky grew darker, the clouds lowered, and an urgent wind filled the building, foretelling a bout of cat rain. An abrupt pitter patter pitter patter. The show began in a flurry, no warning, no prologue. In the blink of an eye, every cat plummeted in raindrop form. Splish splosh splash. All done in a few seconds. No one had time to react. It felt as if the storm had ended before it began.

The shortest downpour of this rainy season, so brief I barely got wet. I wished I’d been closer to center stage so I could have gotten a closer look at the cat rain.

Ten thousand drops of cat rain mean ten thousand kitties. Rain from the cats, cats in the rain. Cats and rain, one and the same. The cat rain vanished as it plopped onto the ground, leaving behind countless paw prints.