Early in the morning, Charo and Dread were sound asleep.
When suddenly, there came a loud clattering noise.
Charo jumped up and went to see what happened.
Right around the corner, there was a strang-looking bird sitting on a mountain of empty cans.
"Whoops! Did I wake you up? Sorry about that. I was just trying to get some food out of this ... can.
Dread came out too.
"Noisy bird. Do that somewhere else. Get out of here."
"Hooey! Scary! Scary!"
"Huh..."
Dread looked annoyed as he headed back to his nest.
Charo stayed. He was ... curious.
"Is he your grandpa?"
"Grandpa? えーと, no."
"Well, you two sure look alike."
"Alike... How?"
"You both look like dogs to me."
"That's true. I'm Charo."
"Me, Sally. Howdy. How dee doo dee?"
"へ？ How do you do?"
"I'm very fine, thank you. And... well, aren't you going to ask me where I'm
from?"
"Oh! O-okay. Where are you from?"
"Good question. I'm from everywhere. Especially the southern part of everywhere. You know how I go everywhere? I fly. I fly around the world. Where are you from?"
"Oh, I'm from Japan."
"Oh, Japan?"
Sally was a little surprised at Charo's answer but he went on anyway.
"Wow, that's far away, isn't it? That's really something. It's a great place, though."
"You know Japan?"
"Of course I do. Who do you think I am?"
"すごいや。 Where in Japan?"
"Where? W,w,where in Japan are you from?"
"Tokyo."
"Well, too bad. That's not where I went to. I went to ... more or less... the south."
"South? I don't know the south of Japan."
"You don't? There are lots of penguins there."
"Penguin? Really?"
"Sure. And what else did I see... Oh, yes, I saw a very big mountain."
"Mount Fuji?"
"That's it. Mount Fiji! It was such a sight, with lots of lions and zebras and..."
"I want to be like you. I want to fly to Japan."
"Then, why don't you?"
"How?"
"That's easy. Just flap your wings. That's all you need to do to get to Japan, or anywhere."
"But, I don't have any wings. I'm a dog."
"Hmm... Now that's a problem. That means you can't go back."
"I can't?"
"Just as you said, you don't have wings. There's no way you can get back to Japan."
"No way."
Charo looked sad.
Sally felt sorry for him.
"Oh, come on, don't be so depressed. There must be some way for dogs to get to Japan."
"You think so?"
"Of course! Where there is a way, there is a way."
"Thank you."
And then, Sally looked Charo straight in the eye.
"I'll tell you what. Go west."
"West?"
"Yeah. Japan is to the west of America."
"West."
"Okay. I'll go west. Thank you, Sally."
"You're welcome! And if you have any questions about anything, just ask Sally."
♪
I beat my wings zip through the air
Reaching there never getting anywhere
That's cool, man
The earth is round
It's boundless, I fly endless
Been to Cuba, did the scuba
Met a panda in Uganda
Day in day out I do my own thing
Seeing things never learning anything
That's cool, man, as long as I swing
So clap your paws if you haven't got wings
Been to Asia, Micronesia
Met a panda in Uganda
Konnichiwa, alligator
See you later, equator
Finally, Sally bowed with a very proud look at his face.
"You're fun."
"Yes. That's the point. You see, you can spend the rest of your life feeling miserable, or you can spend it laughing. Which would you like?"
"Laughing!"
Dread came out again.
"Hey, didn't I tell you? Get out."
"Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo!"
"What time does he think it is?"
Dread went back to his nest and Sally seemed to ready to go.
"Are you leaving?"
"I'm not good around that type."
"Ooh, well... Take care, then.
"Thanks, Charo. You, too. And remember, Japan is to the west."
"Yes. West."
"You got it! See ya!"
"Good bye, Sally!"
Sally flew away having said everything he wanted to say.
The place suddenly became quiet, but one word was ringing in Charo's ears, west.
Japan is to that direction and that was definitely where he was heading for.
