Regardless, it was a strange day, in that it wasn't cloudy or rainy - it was warm and sunny.
As such, I decided to leave the comforts of my third floor apartment in Ohtawara-shi, Tochigi-ken and venture out onto the streets of a bustling city. Don;t be alarmed - Ohtawara is busy, but I've never seen a traffic jam or more than 10 cars on the road on a major two-way street. It's nice, in other words.
As I opened my front door and was about o take a step out, I was startled from my dreams of having a women find me and want to "date" me, as everyone in the city seemed to know when I was lacking a girlfriend - and unlike Canada where I live now, the Japanese woman didn't seem to mind trying to get my attention.
Anyhow, back to my rude awakening.
MEOW!
There rubbing itself against my 30 centimetre shoes was an orange and white tabby cat.Not exactly what I was looking for... or was it?
My year in Japan was the longest I had ever gone without a four-legged pet. Yes, I had depressed gold fish (That story is here: KILLME), but I had always had dogs: three Cocker Spaniels and four Rottweilers. I also had a cat named Sam - a large tabby white who was in the 24 pound range and who took no guff from my Rottweilers.
Anyhow, much to my chagrin, this nakko (cat) purred some more and walked right into my apartment. Shocked, but not just a little stunned, I looked around to see if there were any Japanese folk on my floor (seven apartments per floor), who were looking about for a cat. As usual, I saw no one, but I'm pretty sure they saw me.
Still, I felt confident enough to step back inside with my new found purr pal and close the door.
I took my shoes off before entering the carpeted area - the cat came and sniffed my shoes. Because she didn't keep over. This was going to be a real friend.
She followed me into the living room and stopped in front of my tiny fridge and meowed loudly. Okay... so it knows what a fridge holds. I got a bowl out of a cabinet and some milk from the fridge and poured it for Scratchy. That's what I called her because she had a small scratch on her nose, as though she had been fighting.
She lapped it up quickly and began to nose around my apartment. I ignored her and sat on the couch watching TV. She came over and jumped up beside me and lay on a pillow as she purred and cleaned herself.
Okay... if she's staying, I need to run out and get some cat food and a litter box.
When she fell asleep - the poor thing - I snuck out on my bike and rode to the local pet shop about 7 minutes away, and loaded up on some cat gear: food, a litter box, a flea collar and some toys. I also bought what I thought was catnip, but may have just been a bag of marijuana.
I raced home and set things up - raced back to the pet shop and bought some cat litter. Just in time, I might add, as the little pisser raced in and did her business as soon as I filled up the box.
When I looked up, it was 6PM, and the one day a year when it's perfect in Japan was darn near over.
But that's okay. We watched TV, had some supper and amused each other with scratches and that funy green bag of dried weeds.
I looked up and it was 11PM, and I was exhausted, so I decided to go to bed. All of that playing sure tuckered me out!
Scratchy came and slept beside me.
When I awoke the next morning, I fed her and played with her - but I had to go out and get some food. Scratchy wanted to come too, so I opened the door. And, with nary a backwards glance, that was the last I ever saw of her.
I felt used.
Somewhere throwing away cat toys,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by The Stray Cats, of course: CATSTYLE
PS: You can't return the cat toys to the store because they have cat spit all over them.
PPS: I am allergic to cats - but only the long-haired ones. Still, my wife's cat seems to like me best knowing that I can tolerate her the least. aaaaa-CHOOO!
