Respect the elders 年上を敬う

俺の名前は，タビ。お腹が白い茶色の猫だ。両親の愛を満心に受けすくすくと大きくなった、３人兄弟 (長男は人間で，次男は猫）の末っ子だ。俺がまだ赤ちゃんだった頃に動物病院の先生が、”この子は、大型の種類で，大きくなるわよ。”　と検診でおっしゃったそうだ。俺は，太っている訳ではない。”ワー、大っきい猫ちゃんね”，は，そのとおりとしても，”ワー，この猫ちゃん太ってるわねー”，は、間違い！
俺とは反対に，俺より４つ上で、まん中の兄，モカは，ひょろっこい。耳の感染のせいで，バランスを失い、子供の頃は、ベッドにも飛び乗れなかったそうだ（笑）。今ではその陰もないが、そのせいか、雷や，大きい音などに敏感な様で，クロゼットの隅によく隠れている。うちに来るお客は，”まあ，恥ずかしがり屋さんなのね”　なんて言っているが，本当は，恐がり屋なんだけだ。一目見たら黒猫なのだが、日向で見ると焦げ茶の縞縞が見えるそうで、両親がモカと名付けた。一番上の兄貴は，”モッカ〜”　と優しく呼ぶ。俺は畏敬を表して　”中兄い”（ちゅうにい）と，呼んでいる。家へ来る人は皆、”モカ”　だけど，お母さんは，”モッキー”、”モッキベキ”、”モカブー”、”モカチャン”　とか、色々と気分に合わせて呼んでいるようだ。
昨日、俺も”モカ”って呼んでみようかなって思って，そっと小さな声で呼んでみた。聞こえなかったみたいで，耳さえビクとも動かなかった。今度は、もうちょっと大きな声で、”モカ”って呼んでみた。耳が遠くなってるのか，聞こえないようだった。いつもは，”中兄い”　って呼ぶと黙って首を回して俺の方を見てくれるのに、、、これじゃあしょうがない，って訳で　”モカー”　って怒鳴ってみた。”スクッ”　て立って俺の所に来てくれた！と思うのもつかの間で，いきなりピンタを食わされた。それはないだろ，ってパンチしたつもりが，パンチされていた，，，”ごめん，ごめん，中兄い，ごめん！”　やっぱりうちはお母さんと同じの日本式で、年下は、年上を敬う。ちゃんと格をわかってないとだめなんだなあ、、、

I am Tabby. I'm a gold-colored cat (brown color in Japan) with a white tummy. I am the baby of our family (with 2 brothers, 1 human brother and one cat brother). I grow up with tons of love from our parents. When I was a baby kitten, I was told by the vet: "You will grow big, because You're a big kind of cat." Don't make a mistake and think that I'm "fat." It's OK to say, "Oh, he is a big cat!," but absolutely not, "Oh, he is a fat cat!"

To the contrary, my older brother (4 years older than me), Mocha is skinny. When he was little, he had a severe ear infection. That caused him to be unbalanced - he couldn't even jump up on the bed. He doesn't have any trace of that now. But, he is very sensitive to a big noises, like thunder. They often cause him to hide in the corner of the closet. Our house guests say, "He is very shy", but I would say, "He is a chicken"!

At first glance, he is a black cat, but if you see him under the strong sun, you'll see that he has dark brown stripes on his body. That's why our parents named him Mocha. Our eldest brother calls him gently,  "Moccha~." I call him, "middle brother" with respect. Our house guest call him, "Mocha". Mom calls him in variety ways, "Mochie, Mochie Beckie, Mocha Boo, Mocha chan," depending on her mood. 

Yesterday, the idea came to me to call him, "Mocha". So, I whispered , "Mocha". I didn't think he heard me. His ears didn't move at all. I used a little stronger voice, but his hearing must be "old," as he didn't seem to hear me. When I call him, "middle brother", he always moves his head towards me.....So, I yelled at him, "Mocha-!" He suddenly stood up and walked up to me....then he slapped me on my face unexpectedly.  I was shocked, and thought: "What's going on?" I thought I was going to punch him, but in reality, I was the one who got punched. I guess I have to be more careful....

"Oh, sorry, sorry, middle brother, sorry....."

Just like our Mom, we honor Japanese style things here in the house - like respecting our elders.