by Eiko Kadono
As she thought about this, Kiki started to perk up. So when Osono came to check on her, she asked for advice on her new idea.
“Deliver things? You mean like a transportation service?” Osono asked, not quite understanding.
“Yes, but the things I transport wouldn’t be big enough to call cargo exactly—just lots of little things, sort of casual. Like, you know, people could ask me for favors the same way they might ask their neighbor.”
“Hmm, that could be something. Come to think of it, that would help me out. Once the baby is born, it’ll be hard for me to run even a quick errand. Yeah, I think this’ll be good!” Osono leaned closer. “But for such small things, it’ll be difficult to set prices. What’s your plan?”
“Oh, just a little of whatever people have is fine.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sharing whatever you have. That’s how we get by as witches. We make ourselves useful to people with whatever skills we have, and in return, people share what they have with us. It’s what you call give-and-take.” Without even realizing it, Kiki was starting to sound like Kokiri.
“Oh, now that you mention it,” Osono said, “I’ve heard of that before. But that won’t be enough, will it?”
“It will—witches don’t need much. You can see how simple my clothes are, and I don’t eat a lot. My plan is to just accept that if I don’t have something, I probably don’t need it.”
“So that’s how you’ll make this work?” Osono nodded, impressed. “Then you’ll need a storefront, huh?”
“Yes, something small, even just a sign that says ‘Courier’ or something.”
“How about here? The first floor of the flour house,” Osono offered. “I can organize our things into one corner.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Well, it might be too small. But it’s smart to start small. Then you’ll have the fun of watching your business grow.” Osono seemed so excited, it was almost as if she were the one opening the shop. “Once you’ve decided, it’s best to get going right away. But ‘courier’ might not be the best name. Sounds too much like ‘worrier.’ I think you can just call it a delivery service—I’ve heard that before. Or something like ‘Speedy Home Deliveries’ because you deliver right to people’s homes in a timely fashion. Also, since you’re the one doing the deliveries, you should add your name. ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ sounds good, right?”
“Do you think including my name is a smart idea?”
“Don’t be so modest. Having a unique name is best. Take a look at ours—Rock, Paper, Pastries. Sticks in your head! That’s one trick to doing business.” Osono eyed Kiki and nodded confidently.
* * *
The next day, Osono happily gave birth to a baby girl. Kiki was very busy helping with the bakery and looking after Osono, so prepping her shop was pushed off. Still, ten days later, she was ready to open.
She washed the floury front wall and hung up a sign. KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE—I DELIVER ANYTHING DOOR TO DOOR FASTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE! CALL 1-800-KIKI-CAN! The cute phone number was Osono’s idea. Kiki and Jiji kept going outside to look up at the sign. “We’re already open, so I guess there’s no point in worrying now,” Kiki murmured to herself.
“That’s right.” Jiji did his best to be encouraging. “Now, where’s that girl who was so excited about coming of age?”
Inside, Kiki had everything she needed to run her shop, thanks to Osono’s husband. He had moved all the bags of flour into a corner and built her a desk out of bricks and boards near the entrance. He put a brand-new red telephone on top and hung a big map of Koriko on the wall facing it. They polished the pillar people would see when they first walked into the shop till it shone, and then she hung her mother’s broom there. Looking at it, she thought, I’m glad I didn’t bring that new slender broom. I have enough worries without flying on a stranger.
A whole week went by without a single customer.
When Kiki went to visit the baby, Osono apologized. “Maybe using your name wasn’t a good idea. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. Word travels fast here, and apparently some people heard you’re a witch. Unfortunately, they worry you’ll put a spell on their packages and they’ll transform or disappear. I’m sure if they hired you once, they’d be hooked. If I could be out and about, I would help you.”
“It’s all right. I’m sure people will come around soon.” Kiki forced a smile.
But when she sat at her desk, she was so upset she forgot to eat lunch. “It makes me so sad,” she told Jiji. “Why do they assume witches will do something wicked?”
“Because they don’t know better,” he replied with a mature air. “It’s nothing you can fix.”
“It’s true—they really have no idea. Witches have never done anything wrong. They might be different, but humans are so quick to decide that anything they don’t understand is evil. I thought that was an old-fashioned idea, but—”
“So you have to show them. In other words, you need to advertise.”
“Advertise? How?”
“Maybe write lots of letters.”
“What kind of letters?”
“Explaining how you’re a cute, helpful little witch.”
“Hmm, that might work.” Kiki finally brightened up a bit. “I guess I’ll try it.”
She stood and opened the window, and a gentle spring breeze blew in as if it had been waiting for the chance. When it brushed her face, all the tense feelings inside her melted away. She took a slow look around, like a mole that had just come out of its burrow, blinking in the sunlight. All the houses across the street had their windows wide open, too. Their curtains were tied back, allowing the sun to stream in. She heard the sound of a radio on the breeze, and then someone’s voice calling out.
Suddenly her eyes landed on the window of a building a short way down the street. A young lady was waving her hands: Here, over here, come over! She motioned insistently, and no matter how Kiki looked at it, the gesture was directed at her.
Me? she asked, pointing at herself.
Yes! The lady nodded. Kiki quickly took in the view and counted—the lady was in a room on the second floor, four buildings over.
When Kiki went inside and up the stairs, a door was already open, so she assumed she had the right place. In the apartment, the waving lady stood in front of a mirror and was putting on a red hat with one hand and holding a sky-blue suitcase in the other.
“Oh, come in, come in!” She spoke rapidly when she noticed Kiki in the reflection. “I heard about you from the baker. You deliver things?”
“Yes, I do.”
“She said you fly?”
“Yes.” Kiki lowered her eyes, worried the lady was going to complain.
“She said all you need in return is a little something?”
Kiki nodded.
“You sure are adorable, though. I always thought witches had fangs and horns.” She sounded surprised, but her expression was bored.
Kiki nearly shouted That’s not a nice thing to say! but managed to catch herself. The woman must have noticed her reaction.
“Sorry. It’s just that we’ve never had a witch in this town, you know? At least, I haven’t seen one before. And they’re always so scary in stories! By the way, how much counts as ‘a little something’? If you fly, it must be expensive.”
“No, just a little of whatever you have is enough.”
“Whatever I ‘halve’? Half of what? I mean, I’m a seamstress, so I could halve the length of your skirt. I’m taking up and letting down hems all the time.”
The lady turned around for the first time and looked Kiki up and down, wrinkling her nose. Then she shook her head, clucking her tongue in disapproval. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. That dress is cute, but it’s a bit long, isn’t it? The style these days is to show your knees. Ah, yes, that’s t
he perfect trade! I’ll be back in three days, and then I’ll take your hem up. Why don’t we have that be your fee?”
I don’t even know what I’m delivering yet and you’re already deciding the fee?
Kiki stood there frowning a little. The lady looked in the mirror and pinned on her hat, then spoke even faster than before.
“I got called by a client far away and have to race over there. Once she decides she wants a dress, she needs me to come right away—so impatient.”
The lady pointed at a birdcage covered in white lace sitting on a table. “This is a present for my nephew’s fifth birthday, and I’d like you to deliver it for me. He said he wanted a new birdcage and a stuffed toy. He made me promise I’d deliver it today by four o’clock. If it’s even a little late, he said he’ll make me do ninety-four headstands. Just try doing that many! You’ll forget which end is your head and which is your feet. There’s only an hour left. Don’t be late! I’m begging you. The address is Ten Apricot Street. If you go up the river, it’s the road behind the big flower shop on the outskirts of town. The name—they’ll understand if you say ‘Buzzcut Buster.’ Okay, thanks in advance.”
When she’d finished her mile-a-minute explanation, she rushed Kiki out of the apartment, handing her the covered birdcage with the stuffed toy, and then left herself.
Kiki flipped up the lace and looked inside the cage. “Oh, Jiji, he looks just like you. How adorable.”
Sitting on a silver cushion inside the cage was a stuffed black cat with a mint-green ribbon tied in a big bow around its neck.
Kiki put her broomstick through the handle of the birdcage so it was positioned right behind her and her radio. “Keep a close eye on it,” she told Jiji as she sat him on the broom’s bristles. Then she zoomed off.
“Been a while since I’ve flown!” Kiki exclaimed. “It feels so good.”
The sun was already shining brightly in the western part of the sky. Now and then, the wind flipped up the lace covering the cage and Jiji stared in.
“Look at him, wearing a ribbon, all fancy like,” he grumbled. Then, a moment later, he muttered to himself, “Perched on that thing.”
“Oh, do you want a cat cushion, too?” Kiki turned around and smiled at him. “How are you jealous of a stuffed animal that can’t even move around?”
Jiji ignored her and slowly crept closer to the cage. Then he extended a paw and pulled it closer with his claws. The broom jolted with a wobble.
“No! Hold still!” Kiki yelled.
Jiji pricked his ears up and pulled his paw back to his mouth.
“Jiji, do you want to go in the cage? Seriously?”
“I mean, it’s so pretty.”
“Ugh, Jiji, sometimes I can’t believe we’re the same age.”
She smiled at how ridiculous he was being. The broom began to fly smoothly again. But as if he had been waiting for that moment, Jiji swiftly clawed the door open and tried to climb into the cage. The broom wobbled horribly.
“Eek!” Kiki rushed to grab the broom, but before she had the chance, the stuffed cat spilled out of the open cage. “Oh no!” It didn’t matter if she screamed or reached out her hand—it was too late. The stuffed toy spun like a black pinwheel as it fell from the sky.
Kiki immediately swooped after it. The leafy green forest below grew closer and closer, until Kiki plunged in, tree branches whipping her body. Eventually she found a little clearing and touched down. Then she got straight to searching, waving her broom to look through the bushes and tall grasses as she walked along.
But she couldn’t find the cat. The forest was huge, and the trees were covered in soft leaves. If the toy had gotten caught in the canopy of tangled branches above, she would never be able to find it. On top of that, the stuffed animal was light, so the wind could have blown it in an entirely different direction.
Kiki wanted to cry.
That lady had believed in her, though it was the first time they’d met, and trusted her with this important delivery. This was Kiki’s first customer since the shop opened, and the job was going to end in failure.
It was almost four o’clock. Kiki glared at Jiji, who was hunched over with guilt.
“What am I gonna do with you?” Almost immediately, she gasped. “Oh, I thought of a great idea! Jiji, you get in the cage instead.”
Jiji gazed up and backed away, shaking his head.
“You were the one who wanted to go inside. Just get in there. We’re out of time.” Kiki raised her voice and pointed at the cage. Her eyebrows angled in a way that meant business.
Jiji raced into the cage and sat on the silver cushion, which was still inside. Kiki closed the door and spoke gently. “It’s just for a little while. As soon as I find the toy, I’ll come back and swap you out.”
He looked up at her with regret in his eyes. “So I’m a stuffed animal now?”
“That’s right.”
“I can’t meow?”
“Nope. Just go to sleep. That’ll be the easiest.”
“Can I breathe?”
“As little as possible.”
“But this is horrible. I’m up against Buzzcut Buster. That lady said he would make her do ninety-four headstands!”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll come back for you as soon as I can.”
Jiji sighed, curled up into a sad little ball, and turned away from Kiki. This time she carefully hung the birdcage in front of her before taking off in a hurry.
Kiki flew along the river, checking the names of the streets at each intersection, and she had no trouble finding 10 Apricot Street behind the flower shop. When she rang the doorbell, she heard thudding footsteps. Then the door swung open.
“Auntie?”
Standing in front of Kiki was a boy with one bandage on his cheek, one on his nose, two on his forehead, and three on his knees.
“I’m sorry. Your aunt couldn’t come. But I came in her place. Here are the presents she promised you. Happy birthday!”
When the boy took the cage, he peered inside right away and then started jumping up and down, holding it tight. Through a gap in the lace, Kiki could see Jiji bouncing around inside with a grimace on his face.
“Oh, hey, hey,” Kiki quickly said. “Be nice to the kitty, okay?”
“I will! I’ll take good care of him. I’ll fold him up properly and put him in my pocket.” The boy stuck his tongue out.
“Eep!” A pitiful noise sounded from inside the cage.
“Well, see you later!” Kiki waved to the boy.
“Oh! Will you have something else for me?”
“Um, well, perhaps!” And with that, she mounted her broom and raced off.
When Kiki returned to the clearing, she realized the forest was actually part of a park. She took another careful walk around the area where the stuffed toy had fallen, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. At this rate, she worried Jiji would remain with that “Buzzcut Buster” forever. He would never come home, even though they had just started life on their own as a pair.
Dusk approached, and Kiki leaned against a tree, at wit’s end. She looked down and clutched the skirt of her dress. “The best option I have is to cut off the hem of my dress and make a stuffed black cat myself. I always wanted a shorter skirt, so I guess it’s worth a try.”
Just then, she faintly heard someone singing.
The bad black is a smoky black.
The good black is a black-cat black.
But the best of all is a witch’s black.
Blacks come in all different various hues,
So come on now, you have to choose.
Startled, Kiki whirled around and spotted a cottage beyond the tree she had been leaning against, behind a section of a hedge that had grown wild. The cottage window was open, and a woman with her hair tightly pulled back faced a
way from Kiki, painting a picture.
Maybe she saw something. I’ll go ask.
Kiki made her way through a gap in the hedge and crossed the flowering lawn to approach the house.
When she peeked through the window to call out to the woman, she realized that the woman’s picture was cat-shaped. With a start, she looked beyond the painting and gasped—it was the stuffed animal she had lost!
The woman heard her and turned around.
Face to face, they both shrieked.
“Ah, um, th-that—”
“Ah, that, y-you—”
“Oh, phew.”
“Oh, good.”
They both sighed in unison.
“I’m so glad I found it.”
“I’m so glad I found it.”
“What?”
“What?”
The two eyed each other, puzzled.
“For me, it’s that black cat toy.”
“For me, it’s you—a girl in such a wonderful black dress.”
Their voices overlapped and their sentences meshed into nonsense: For me, it’s that black girl wonder-cat dress toy.
Kiki finally composed herself and asked the woman clearly, “Did that stuffed cat fall out of the sky, by any chance?”
The woman looked at Kiki curiously. “I don’t know if it rained out of the sky or welled up out of the ground, but I found it in the forest a little while ago. I’ve been searching for a good black to paint for my exhibition. The real blackest black, you know? If possible, a witch’s black. I’m just making do with the stuffed animal for right now.” The woman stopped talking, but when she ran her eyes over the broom Kiki was holding, she yelped, “C-could it be that you’re a—”
“Yes, I’m a witch.”
The moment Kiki responded, the woman practically jumped out the window to grab her hand. “If you like,” the woman said, “I’ll give you this cat back. But would you come inside and sit for me? I was even thinking about moving because I heard there hadn’t been a witch in this town for ages. And now a witch has come to me! Come and sit, sit down.”
