One Hundred Fifty

12 - Eel with Soysauce

"If ambition doesn't hurt you, you don't have it."
— K. Norris

A

thin, ginger cat roaming around the city, the street from street, bumped into a bird with an odd color of black. The bird looks horrifying but the cat is hungry, he glared at the bird and calculated his distance but as he stared at the bird longer, he finds out he was just as hungry as him. He blink and stop his demeanor, and slowly and calmly approached the bird.

The bird looked at him, eyes widened, and was about to fly when the cat warned him. "Don't fly little bird. I won't hurt you. If you fly, my instinct will hurt instead and will itch to pounce you."

Bird closed her wings, "Promise you won't eat me then?"

The cat felt his tummy growl and looked at the bird, chubby, but he can sense her as miserable as he. "Promise."

"Instead, do you know a place that will let me eat delicious feeds?" The cat said.

Bird batted her eyelashes at him, and slowly hop closer. "You're not yet tired of those feeds? Don't you want more yummy dishes? Like a turkey, or a steak that human eats? Meanwhile me, I'm trying to find a different flavor of eel. I want to try it with soy sauce."

"A little ambitious, aren't we, birdie?"

The birdie shook its peak. "Come. I'll show you around! And I will introduce to you people with confusing, bizarre, and bigger ambitions."

They walked around the city until they arrived at a school packed with students. The cat followed the birds flying and got inside an empty room through a window. The cat jump and followed. They looked around the four corners of the classroom.

"Who is that?" The cat asked and looked at the woman seating in front of a desk while holding her temple.

"The principal of the school."

"What is her ambition?"

"Her ambition is to make the teacher of the school his husband."

"Did the teacher love the principal?"

"Yes..."

"Then... What is bothering her?"

"Because she is a principal."

"Now, that is confusing. If it's because of a protocol, then the teacher can transfer, can't he?"

"He can. But the problem is... the woman is higher than the man, so she can't be with him."

The cat saw the woman weep, and a man in his uniform passed by. "It is indeed confusing."

"The man's ambition is to be higher than her spouse. Confusing, why would you pick a wife, and throw them in a duel when you are supposed to be one?" Said the bird with an odd color.

The cat nodded. "Very confusing."

They moved to the next destination. They walk while the cars that passed by them honk and honk, loud, and louder!

"It hurts my ear. Bird, what do you think is their ambition?"

The bird looked at the roadway full of static cars stuck in traffic. "They want their paychecks."

"Does honking make their paycheck theirs then?"

"No, it's just an angry action moved by a strong passion. Be careful to not be like that, flames that you blow with your mouth can come back at you with a destructible smoke..."

"What'll happen when I inhale it?"

The bird looked at him intently and flies a little at his height. "You'll cough."

They stopped at a park full of wonderful trees. The cat is amazed at those branches, that he imagined he can rest on!

"Beautiful place!"

"Yes! But look at that man whose both hands are stuck in his waist."

"What about him?"

"His ambition is to make this a better place!" The bird seems mad!

"Oh... So he'll plant more trees?"

"No. He'll cut all of the trees."

The cat gasped. "How is that a better place?"

"It is his ambition." The bird looked away from the trees silently begging to be saved.

"Bizarre ambition indeed."

The bird flies away from the park as it is too painful for her to see. The cat ran away while the bird above him flies. Oh, how he wishes he can fly too. But it's okay, he's fine by moving and reaching his destination.

They stopped at a junction with an unusual pond at the center. They stood behind it as the whole sidewalk is full of walking people.

"Now, guess what's the ambition of that girl who's about to prank someone while capturing it in some mirror." Challenged the bird.

"Hmm, scaring the one she wants to prank?"

The bird laughs freely with its wings spread like it's welcoming you with a hug. "No, silly cat.  Always remember that a man's intentions are always more than his actions. That girl wants more compliments and attention from that mirror."

"Really? What did that attention do to her?"

"Oh, it's some sort of an ego fulfillment."

"What does an ego fulfillment does to her?"

"It makes her feel good."

"How?"

"By making her feel she's love, she's significant, she's secured. Because she gained attention."

"How is pranking good though for attention?"

"That is why I consider it a big ambition." Said the bird. "It's a big ambition for someone who loves tricking people, not in a very clever way."

The cat turned to the bird and climb the fountains feet to be able to reach the bird's height. "Thank you bird. I learned that's how people work. Most of their ambition is to be at the top and outshine everyone instead of shining with everyone. To trick and make someone into a fool to make themselves feel they're smarter. They have the wrong ambitions... Maybe it's not even ambition. It's greed because it's people they hurt, not themselves."

The bird nodded. "That's why there's nothing wrong with our ambition, cause it only hurt us from not reaching it enough, not the animals that surround us."

The cat nodded too.

"You have a warm heart, kitty. Therefore you have big ambitions."

"What is my ambition birdie?"

"To make your place better. The road towards your ambition starts with enough selflessness and selfishness. Enough selflessness to share your dreams, and enough selfishness to claim them. It was a selfless move to not eat me, and it was a selfish move to prove to me that it was true. Now cat, do you still think I have a big ambition?"

The cat wagged its tail carefully and rubbed his head at the bird's beak. "For a human, it's not a big ambition, but for us poor animals, with no power, it might be. But what is ambition if it's not big?"

The bird flaps her wings at him and drops into his tummy covered with fur. How happy she is she's not inside of it.