Fishing in the Sea of Japan

Three Black Cats and a Greyhound in...

Fishing on the Sea of Japan

Written by Jimmy Guerrero

Illustrated by Heather Guerrero

Mr. Yakamura, Yoko and Koof are three black cats.

Mr. Yakamura is large and cranky.

Yoko is medium and industrious.

Koof is small and lazy.

Mr. Yakamura is the captain of a fishing boat called The Stinky Samurai.

Yoko is the first mate. She puts the fishing nets out and hauls the fish onto the boat.

Koof is small, so they try to keep her out of the way whenever possible.

Mr. Yakamura likes to get an early start.

"The fishing is always better at sunrise," he meows.

In order to get ready for a long day of fishing, everyone has many tasks they need to perform.

Everyone but Koof that is. Koof only has one task, because she is small.

Mr. Yakamura must plot his course upon the Sea of Japan with the aid of a compass and map.

Yoko must repair the nets and prepare the bait.

Koof's only task is to make sure the boat has enough gas for a long day of fishing.

So, with all the preparations made, Mr. Yakamura piloted the Stinky Samurai out of the harbor at sunrise.

Later that day, Mr. Yakamura noticed that his engine was beginning to stall and sputter.

It did not take long for Yoko to shout, "The Stinky Samurai is out of gas!"

"We are stranded at sea!" growled Mr. Yakamura. "Koof, did you fill the tank with gas before we left the harbor?"

Koof sheepishly replied, "I don't remember. It is so hard to get up so early, I was very sleepy. I suppose I might have gone back to bed and forgot the gas."

"KOOOOOOOF!!!!!!!!" Mr. Yakamura roared chasing her around the boat.

Koof ran up the mast and hid in the crow's nest until Mr. Yakamura calmed down.

"The wind is blowing us way off course and we haven't caught a single fish! This is terrible!" Yoko moaned, holding her belly.

Several hours later all the cats were tired, hungry and hot.

Mr. Yakamura consulted his maps, but he did not know where they were.

The Stinky Samurai had drifted way off course.

Then suddenly a fish leaped out of the water and onto the boat.

And then another.

And then another.

Soon the boat was filled with fish and Yoko did her best to keep them from jumping back into the sea.

"This is the best fishing we have ever encountered!" shouted Yoko.

"We might have lots of fish, but we are still lost, with no idea how to get back to the harbor." reminded Mr. Yakamura.

Suddenly, on the horizon, Yoko spotted a puff of smoke through her telescope.

Soon they saw it was The Brindled Tomago heading towards them.

The Brindled Tomago was a tug boat piloted by a greyhound named Dub-san.

"Mr. Yakamura, what is The Stinky Samurai doing so far from the harbor?" Dub-san barked over the whirring of the tub boat's big motor.

"We ran out of gas and drifted off course!" Mr. Yakamura shouted back.

"It could have been worse, just look at all those fish! Do you need The Brindled Tomago to tug you back to the harbor?”, asked Dub.

"Yes, that would be great!" shouted Mr. Yakamura.

So, Dub maneuvered The Brindled Tomago alongside The Stinky Samurai.

Yoko carefully secured the ropes to both boats.

The Brindled Tomago began to slowly tow The Stinky Samurai back to the harbor.

As the boats began to approach the dock.

A crowd of meerkats began to assemble along the pier.

When the meerkats saw the impressive size of the catch they let out a big cheer, "Hooray!"

Now, that The Stinky Samurai was safely anchored at the harbor, one more difficult task remained.

The three black cats had to carry all the fish they had caught to the cat food factory at the end of the dock.

So many fish had jumped in the boat that ran out of buckets to carry the fish.

"What a schlep!" remarked Yoko.

Meanwhile, Koof couldn't be bothered with buckets of fish, cheering meerkats or cranky Mr. Yakamura, she was busy taking a nap!

THE END