Scene 1.
Christmas Eve. Early morning. Light frost.
A wasteland on the outskirts of the city. The house of Greta and Yumi is in the foreground, it is a small dugout blanketed in snow. A metal mesh fence is on the left, and an apartment block yard is behind it. On the right there are thickets of bushes followed by a deep gully.
Yumi and the field mice play tag.
Yin. Yumi!
Yumi. Grr…
Yang. Yumi!
Yumi. Woof!
Yin. Yumi, we are here!
Yumi. Won’t I just catch you!
Yang. Uh-huh.
Yumi. Tadpoles!
Yang. Ha-ha. What a clumsy puppy!
Yin. It’s not a puppy, but a snail!
Yumi. So that’s what you’re saying! Woof! (He comes for the little mouse, who stands on a small heap of snow and pulls it all down).
Yang. It’s not a snail, but a jumbo.
Yin. Fat clumsy jumbo Yumi.
Yumi. Woof! I will catch you and I will eat you!
The little mice laugh and scatter in all directions.
Yin. Yumi, eat me!
Yang. Yumi, you’d better eat me!
Yumi. Woof!
Yin. Yumi, I taste better.
Yumi. Grr…
A crow flies up to them, pounces at one of the mice and tries to carry it away. Yumi bites the crow’s tail. The crow sets the little mouse free, wriggles out of Yumi and flies away.
Crow (on the wing). Caw!!! Caw!!! Just hold on, you pup! We’ll be quits yet! You won’t forget me. Caw!!! Caw…
Yang. Yumi, thank you!
Yin. Thank you, Yumi. You are my hero.
The mice run away.
Yumi. A hero. Are there even such heroes? (He looks at his reflection in a lump of ice).
Pause.
Yumi. No. I don’t look like a hero. I’m just a little puppy. Now, when will my mom be back? I am hungry.
A window sash opens on the first floor, and Toy peeps out from the opening with a Сracow sausage between his teeth. Yumi catches a sight of Toy. He scrapes through a hole in the fence to the yard of the apartment block and runs up to the kitten.
Yumi. Hold on!
Toy. I’m holding on.
Yumi. Got you, petty burglar!
Toy. Who are you?
Yumi. I guard this yard! Woof!
Toy. Shoo, tadpole.
Yumi. You are another.
Toy. Let me go.
Yumi. Put back what you’ve stolen!
Toy. Yeah, right.
Yumi. I mean it!
Toy. Oh, I’m so scared.
Yumi. Put the sausage back!
Toy. What’s next! What are you going to do?
Yumi. Grrr…
Toy. Fffhhh!!!
Toy jumps down, still keeping hold of his trophy. Yumi takes after him. They both run across the yard. Toy makes his way to the wasteland through the hole in the fence. Yumi stays on his tail. Toy rushes to the thickets of bushes and falls into a trap: he finds himself enmeshed in an old trammel.
Yumi. I’ve got you there.
Toy. Fffhhh!!!
Yumi. Serves you right!
Toy. Oh.
The kitten tries to free himself but only gets more enmeshed.
Yumi. I’ll show you how to steal sausages.
Toy. Go teach a fish to swim.
The dog named Pirate emerges from the bushes.
Pirate. Grrr!!! Hey, tadpoles! Who’s shouting here?
Yumi (to Toy). It is Pirate, run! (He runs away towards his dugout house).
Pirate. Freeze!
Toy. Fffhhh…
Pirate. Ah! It’s you, petty burglar. Got you in the end.
Toy. Fffhhh!!!
Pirate. This is the end for you.
Yumi comes back and stands behind Pirate’s back. A titmouse flies to the wasteland.
Yumi. Don’t move, you coward!
Pirate. Eh?!!
Yumi. You are a coward if you hurt the weak.
Pirate. What have you just said?
Yumi. You are a coward if you hurt the weak.
Pirate. You are barking up the wrong tree, you pup.
Yumi. Don’t you touch the kitten!
Pirate. Grrr!!! You just say it…
Pirate takes a couple of steps towards Yumi. The puppy stands still. Greta enters into the picture, starts forward and steps between Pirate and Yumi.
Greta. Grrr!!! Don’t you dare touch him, Pirate!
Pirate. Grrr!!!
Greta. Grrr!!!
Pirate. And you are the same old brass neck, Greta.
Pirate moves back, comes to Toy and takes the sausage from him.
Pirate. I’d finish you off but I’ve got no time for this.
Pirate goes back to the bushes. Yumi approaches Toy and helps him get free. Toy runs off. Yumi steps up to Greta, and she hugs her son.
Greta. Yumi, my boy. You scared me so much.
Yumi. Mommy, I’m sorry.
Greta. You left our housing and ran into danger.
Yumi. But Pirate could have killed the kitten!
Greta. These wrangles have nothing to do with you. Let’s go home. (She heads for the dugout).
Yumi. One should not leave the weak to their fate!
Greta. Oh, Yumi. You are just like your father when he was young.
Yumi. My father? When he was young?
Greta. Time spares no one… Yumi, keep up.
Yumi. My father, what was he like?
Greta. Don’t ask me about it.
Yumi. Mom, please do tell!
Titmouse. Your father was the strongest and the bravest dog in the whole neighborhood.
Yumi. Oh really?
Titmouse. He was a police dog and fought with the cat burglar gang.
Yumi. Fought with the cat burglar gang?
Titmouse. Yes. And then somebody shot your father with a gun.
Yumi. With a gun?
Titmouse. Exactly, I saw it with my own eyes when they were taking him to the hospital.
Yumi. Aunt Titmouse, and where is my father now?
Titmouse. Half a year ago he was pensioned off on health grounds…
Greta. Off you go! Don’t mess with the boy’s head. (She shoos the titmouse away).
Titmouse. You are one to talk. You are one to talk… (She flies away). Thunder! Your father’s name was Thunder!
Yumi. Thunder. Mom! My father’s name was Thunder.
Greta. Don’t listen to this old twister, son. Your father disappeared.
Yumi. Disappeared?
Greta. Vanished into thin air.
Yumi. Vanished?
Greta. Had abandoned his family a month before you were born.
Yumi. Abandoned? My father? No, he couldn’t do that.
Greta. Titmouse. Old scandalmonger. If I ever get a hold of you.
Yumi. My father is a real hero! I wish I could meet him.
Yumi and Greta get into their dugout house.
Scene 2.
Morning. The same wasteland. Light snow is falling.
