Sibel was trying to catch the island ferry by speeding up her steps when a crystallized water droplet fell in front of her, like the harbinger of the onset of winter. The mouth of the red cage, like a small suitcase in her hand, was tightly wrapped. With a grimace as if avoiding the cage that had hit her leg, she got on the ferry and sat in the farthest corner of the open space. She secured her cage by her side and placed her hand on it. The sun had reached its peak behind the clouds when the ferry decided to leave the Beşiktaş pier, confident that it would make the same voyage forever.
The Island ferry would be secluded at that time of year; but this time, which was the first Saturday of December, people had formed small clusters on the ferry. Sibel thought of drinking tea after being careful to stay away from groups of people, but she didn't want to go inside with the cage next to her. With her pensive eyes, she watched the foam that the ferry made now of departure. She counted herself lucky to be sitting on the eddy side. She always loved going to the family home on the island; especially at the beginning of her favorite season… However, on that Saturday, she couldn't feel the joy that filled her like every other trip. I wish she said, I wish I had taken a longer trip now. She thought of all her travels; those roads that never seem to end… She hadn't carried a pack of cigarettes with her for as long as she could remember, but at that moment she needed one. She wanted to get up and ask people, but then she gave up and thought it would pass like any feeling. Everything that seemed impossible to pass had already passed. At that moment, she remembered the book she always carried with her. I bought this book when I was a young girl, she said to herself; I never left my side, not because I open and read it all the time, so that there would be a trace of something to be erased.
When the show of affection of a middle-aged couple, who was interested in the gulls of the Bosporus was over, the ferry had stopped dividing the sea in two. When Sibel stepped onto the island, she was greeted by her mother. Her mother wanted to take her cage from Sibel's hand, but she did not allow it. They walked silently through the island gentry, who were peeking around with the secretiveness brought on by the cold. They were close to reaching home when one of the island's famous slopes was finished. She was secretly pleased with the seasonal scarcity of neighbors. When she entered the garden gate, she greeted the dog, who had not seen her in a long time. Not knowing what to do, she dropped her cage on the ground and ran to her and hugged her tightly. Time hadn't just felt like years to her dog. Something inside her seemed to break, but now wasn't the time to show her mother that. She got up quickly and walked in without giving her mother a chance, her dog following him. At that moment when everything remained the same, but nothing felt the same, she was in no mood to stay at home. With her mother, her dog, and the cage in her hand, she began to climb one of the other slopes of the island.
When the scythe roads of the island were finished, the mainland city began to be seen from the hills. She tried to remember what she liked about the city in herself. It was a soothing feeling to see the snapshots of so many people passing by. Nobody gets old as if time has stopped, it's like it just flows. When they came to the woods of the hill, now was the time, she thought, giving her dog's leash to her mother. She slowly put the red cage in her hand next to a piece of soil that had obviously been dug before. She pulled out the non-breathing body of her fifteen-year-old cat, ‘Milky’. One morning, Milky had decided not to be on this earth any longer, perhaps because of old age. With trembling hands, he placed it in the ground and began to cover it without looking around with the small shovel they had brought with them. Now that the cat's body was too closed to be disturbed by the others, Sibel straightened up and let her dog sniff the ground. It was like a goodbye between the two of them. As time began to cover the memories faster than the earth, her mother said something, but she was not in the mood to hear him. One way or another, she said to herself; The milk was no more. It had become a memory. The land, the sea and all living things always existed to mix with each other. After saying goodbye to her old friend, he tried to control her feeling as she made her way down the slope with the family members accompanying him. "How strange it is that there is nothing but now," she continued quietly; All that we had belonged to the present, everything else and everyone else was just being turned into a memory.