Excerpt from The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Then they had dinner in the park of the housing complex. Satoru had grabbed some bread and sweets from his house, and the two of them made do with that. They opened the can of cat food for the kitten.

'So, by "middle of the night", I'm guessing we need to hang out here until about twelvemidnight.'

Satoru had prudently packed an alarm clock in his bag.

'But won't my father have a total fit if I stay out that late?'

Kosuke's father seemed friendly enough outside the house, but with his family he was an obstinate man with a short fuse.

'What are you talking about? We're doing it for the cat, aren't we? And besides, he'll forgive you in the end, so it'll all work out.'

In the book, the father had forgiven his son, but caught up in Satoru's blind enthusiasm, Kosuke didn't feel able to say what was on his mind, namely that his father was a very different personality, and he doubted that the plan would succeed.

As they whiled away the time playing with the cat in the park, a few people, out for a stroll, called out to them, among them a woman walking her dogs.

'What are you doing out this late? Your family will be worried,' she said.

They were too well known in the neighbourhood . Kosuke started to wonder if they'd chosen the wrong spot, though Satoru didn't seem at all concerned.

'Don't worry about us,' he told the woman. 'We're running away!'

'Is that so? Well, you'd better go home right now!'

After a fifth woman had come up to them, Kosuke finally raised an objection.

'Satoru, I don't think this is how you run away from home.'

'I know, but in the book the father came looking for them in a park.'

'Yeah, but this doesn't make any sense.'

At that moment, they heard a voice calling through the cool air: 'Satoru!' It was his mother. 'It's late, and enough is enough. Come home now! You've got Kosuke's family worried, too!'

Satoru flinched. 'There's no way they could have found us so quickly!'

'You didn't think they'd find us?'

Had Satoru seriously believed they could hide from their parents when there were all these strangers around who seemed to know them?

'I'm sorry, Mum!' Satoru shouted. 'But we can't be found yet!'

'Come on, Kosuke!' He grabbed the cardboard box and ran with it to the gate leading out of the park. Kosuke could do nothing but follow. It felt like they were straying from the storyline Satoru had outlined, but there should still be time to put that right. Surely there would be. Well, maybe.

They managed to shake off Satoru's mother and were sprinting down the slope away from the housing complex when all of a sudden there was a roar.

'Come back here!'

The roar came from Kosuke's father. It was probably too late now to put anything right. Maybe we should just apologize, Kosuke was thinking, but Satoru shouted: 'It's the enemy!'

The story had taken a different turn now.

'Run for it!'

By now, they'd completely lost sight of the narrative they were supposed to be sticking to. For the time being, all Kosuke could do was chase after Satoru, who was determined to keep running.

His portly and generally sedentary father couldn't keep up and they lost him after they'd rounded the first corner, but now the street was totally straight. There was nowhere to hide.

'Kosuke, this way!'

Satoru had raced inside the small supermarket where they'd bought the can of cat food. A smattering of customers were flipping through magazines while the red-haired clerk listlessly restocked a shelf.

Excerpted from The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.