He Lay Fearfully in His Litter Box

So last we left the story of Kamikaze Kamakiri Kitty, he was lying in a strange new house in his litter box, and I was very very close to weeping. I did cry, actually, just about the whole 30 minute drive back to my friend Miyuki's house. Ah well, hopefully my brave little cat would manage the transition, and would be happy to see me when I came back from Canada in a month.

As to the question whether or not Jelly had a rockin' good time in Canada, I did!! For almost the first 2 weeks of my visit I had 2 Japanese friends with me. They were scheduled on a flight a few hours earlier than I, on Korean Air. We weren't able to get 3 seats on the same flight, so I was due to fly United later that day. They were flying Fukuoka->Tokyo->Seoul->Toronto, while I was going Fukuoka->Tokyo->Chicago->Toronto. For those of you who've flown from Korea or Japan to the East Coast of North America, you know it's a long bloody haul.

I managed to miss my flight the day after dropping Kamikaze off. I'm actually quite good at this. (I'm an idiot.) So I had to call over to my brother and assure him I wasn't playing an April Fools joke, and that he would have to pick up my friends at the airport and deal with them until I arrived almost a day and a half later. He wasn't happy. He had met my friend Toshi, though, when he came to Japan the year before. Whatever. All bitterness was forgotten when I finally dragged my tired ass up to the arrivals lounge and hugged my bro. I always miss him crazily; he is, and always has been, my best friend.

It was good to have my Japanese friends with me. I had thought it might be awkward for them, as I was going to be reuniting with friends and family I hadn't seen in over 2 years, but it was all gooooood. My need to see people in various locations went along beautifully with my desire to show my Japanese pals around. We visited Barrie, London, Toronto, Niagara Falls, and a little day-trip over the border to America. In Toronto we stayed with my friends who lived in a big beautiful house. All four of them are gay, and my Japanese friends were SO NERVOUS about it all. They had never met a gay person before. It ended up being their favourite part of the vacation, and once they went back to Japan I got e-mails from them: "I miss the big gay house!" That is a story for another time though. Here, I'm talking bout my cat, Willis.

So yes, I had a great time. The month flew by so quickly and I was sad to leave. I almost stayed a couple extra weeks. I was very very tempted. But I didn't.

I went back to Japan on a Friday and was picked up by my friend Mamoru and brought to Miyuki's place. Hugs and joy and present-giving commenced. I asked about my cat and was told he was well. I was excited to be back there. Over the weekend we were busy, and everytime Miyuki or her husband Yuji would call over to the brother-in-law's place, where Kamikaze was, they weren't home. By the following Wednesday I had grown very impatient to be re-united with my pussy, so kind of insisted they call the house and we head over to pick him up.

They made the call, and finally confessed that Kamikaze was "hiding" and the brother-in-law and mother-in-law were looking for him, but couldn't find him. I thought, "ok, that's cool, it's a big house, probably lots of hiding places." Then they told me he'd been hiding since about a week after I left! He was gone. And nobody knew where he was. They were worried about telling me, and so kept it from me as long as they could. They knew how I was going to react.

I was so very sad. I felt like I had taken responsibility for this cat's happiness and safety and I had totally failed him. Plus, I really loved the cat, and didn't even realize how much until the thought of never seeing him again occurred to me. I spent the day feeling so shitty and in tears. He'd been missing for almost a whole month by now and I thought he was gone for good.

On Thursday morning, I asked Miyuki if we could go over to Nakama and have a look around the neighbourhood and see if maybe he was still lurking there. I realized chances were slight, and even imagined Kamikaze pulling some "Incredible Journey" stunt and try to head back to his old hometown.

We got to Nakama and parked down the street from the brother-in-law's house. I walked up the hill, past the house, took the first left, walked down the street, stopped, and looked up the hill leading to a house where, on a wall, lay a black cat looking down at me.

"Kamikaze?"

He meowed and my heart leapt, that was his meow! But it didn't look like him! I approached up the stairs calmly and ran my hand down his back and finally felt the familiar kink at the very end of his tail. "It's YOU!!" I was so happy, but before I could collect him, the Japanese guy who owned the house came walking over and startled Kamikaze who took off like a black fur-rocket. We searched and searched and I called his name over and over, but no luck. We had to head back home, as Miyuki had to start work, but I was so relieved that at least he was alive and I knew where he was.

How would Jelly find Kamikaze again? Was he really ok? What adventures had Kamikaze had while he was outside? Who was the mysterious lady with the long white hair?

These are questions that shall be answered shortly. Not so much that I want to leave you on the edge of your seat, but more so because I want to make dinner. Yes, I know it's late,...but I was busy napping all evening. Zzzzzzz.