About ten years ago, when I was arranging the lease on our apartment here in Hamura City, the real estate agent made one point quite clear: there were no pets allowed in the building. She pointed out the particular clause in the contract, "Do you understand? No pets!" I nodded assent, and as I had no intention whatsoever of keeping a pet, I didn't give it much thought.

A few years after this though, my two little daughters came home one afternoon gently carrying a tiny little bundle, and I'm sure you can guess what it was ... a newborn kitten that someone had abandoned in the park. I tried to make them understand about leases and signatures, but such things are meaningless to a couple of little girls cradling a tiny hungry kitten in their arms. I had to bow to the inevitable, and for five years now, this cat has been living with us.

Luckily for me, our neighbours have been quite understanding about this, for there certainly have been problems. Over the years, Mii-chan has made frequent forays into nearby apartments to steal fish, she has an annoying habit of jumping up onto their window screens in the middle of summer nights, and worst of all, she sometimes strolls along the balcony rail from apartment to apartment, walking right across everybody's clean futons as they hang out to air!

Each time this sort of thing happens, I make the necessary apologies, and have given out plenty of 'peacemaking' gifts, but I am always waiting ... what will she do next to make trouble for me? And I think about my signature on that lease ... Do you know the expression 'Caught between a rock and a hard place'?