He Sits Regally in His Carrot.

I'm talkin 'bout my cat, Willis. Behind me on my left, my cat is sitting royally in his cat (actually dog) bed, which is orange with a green leafy carrot top. He looks like a prince. I told a story before of how my cat, Kamikaze Kamakiri Kitty came to stay with me. Briefly, I found him meowing his tiny face off on a busy street in Japan as I walked home very late one night from the internet cafe. I took him home, thinking that I would take him to the animal shelter on the weekend, forgetting I was in Japan. What animal shelter? Then I tried half heartedly to find him a home, but no one was interested in having a cat. Two days after he came home with me, I discovered he was riddled with fleas. I took care of it, but it left me itchy for weeks. Then he had a nasty disgusting case of tapeworm because of the fleas. ONLY visit that link if you have a strong stomach. I'll tell you it was a wonder I ended up becoming so attached to this cat after watching little worms wriggle out of his ass. Gross, yes, I know. I'll stop. I've posted this picture before, but just in case you've forgotten,

how could I not have fallen in love?

So Kamikaze stayed. We played mouse. He was happy. When the girl-cats in heat came calling for him and he meowed without stopping, I took him to the vet and got him fixed. He became much more complacent and lazy, but easier to manage. I worried, though, about what was going to happen when the time came to move on.

In April 2004 I planned a trip back to Canada when my contract ended at my school in Japan. I was going to be gone for a month, and then return to Japan and pick up my stuff and move on to another job, and perhaps another country. I didn't know where I was going, but I can tell you now, I ended up in Korea again. I arranged through a local foreigner magazine for a nice cat-loving couple to take care of Kamikaze through the month of April. I knew it was probably going to be traumatic for him, because he wasn't the most social cat. Once, when friends dropped their little baby off for me to look after for about an hour while they went shopping, I showed the baby to Kamikaze, who hissed at it so ferociously it was like I'd showed him the devil. He then jumped up into my closet and peed all over my clothes. That'll show me.

Unfortunately, the couple who had agreed to look after him backed out the day before I was set to fly. They weren't convinced I was coming back (even though I offered to show them my return ticket) and they didn't want to get saddled with the responsibility of a permanent pet. Can't say I blame them, they didn't know me, after all.

I was frantic. What was I going to do with Kamikaze?

Luckily, my super friend Miyuki made a few phone calls, and got her brother-in-law and mother-in-law to agree to take care of him for the month. They lived about an hour's drive from my place. So, the night before I left, I gathered up Kamikaze's toys and dishes and litter box and a lot of food and supplies and I bundled him up in a blanket. I had tried to put him in his carrier, but he totally shredded my arms. I think he knew something was up, as I'd completely packed up everything in the apartment. We drove over to Nakama City and unloaded all his stuff. He would have his own room at their fairly large house. There was a bed in there and a TV with a playstation. I think the strange brother-in-law chilled out there. I put all Kamikaze's things down, filled his water dish and put out some dry food and went to get him from the car. He was shaking so hard, and when I put him down on the floor he belly-crawled over to his litter box, climbed in, and lay down. It broke my heart. I picked him up again, tried to comfort him and then placed him in his cat-bed (not a carrot, but actually made for cats) but he crawled out again and went back to lie in his toilet.

I had to get out of there quick, because I was going to bawl. We left directions with the bro-in-law. He would be responsible for Kamikaze's care, as the mother-in-law had had a stroke a few years back and wasn't very mobile. She stuck to the bottom floor of the house.

How did Kamikaze cope? Did the bro-in-law with very questionable social skills bond with my little furry baby? Did Jelly have a rockin good time back in Canada?

These are questions that shall be answered shortly. It's not that I want to leave you hanging on the edge of your seat, but more so that I want a nap. Zzzzzzzz.