"You shouldn’t let that cat out of your apartment,…
“You shouldn’t let that cat out of your apartment,” the lady who lives upstairs told me. “I don’t like cats; they’re vermin.” She was concerned about Mrs. Underfoot using the stairwell for a bathroom. I told her if she ever found evidence of such behavior to tell me about it, as I knew Mrs. Underfoot spent most of her time outside and not in the stairwell.
I suppose I should have taken my neighbor’s advice, though. The other day, after I hadn’t seen my cat in a few days’ time, I went looking for her. Eventually I climbed over the wall into the yard of the empty house in front of my building, where I often saw her lounging around. There I found her, dead, apparently for some time.
I didn’t know quite what to do, so I called up Sandy’s wife Jojo, who had a friend with a ladder. Together we got the body out of the yard and put it in a garbage bag. We called the vet, who told us to call the animal disposal service, run by Buddhists. They said they’d be there soon. Jojo’s friend, refusing a red envelope with money to thank him, said he had to go, as did Jojo.
I didn’t want to leave the body in the alleyway, so I sat there waiting for almost an hour next to the garbage bag. Mrs. Underfoot was such a sweet, polite cat; it was hard to see her like that. Eventually the guy arrived, and I had to answer some questions as he filled out a form. “Cat?” he asked, followed by age, color, sex, etc. Then he said “Name?” and I nearly lost it. “Jiaoxia Taitai,” I said. “Are you done yet?” He said he was. I told him to remember to take off her pink flea collar before they cremated her, and he said ok. Then he was gone.
The apartment feels a lot bigger without her around somewhere. I gathered up all her stuff and gave it to Sandy, who has several cats roaming around the Sandcastle. I was thinking of moving rather than pay the increased rent, and Mrs. Underfoot’s passing has only convinced me more that I should move…we’ll see what I can come up with by the time my lease is up. I’d like to stay in Hsintien, but I would consider other areas if they’re relatively nice and cheap.
In other news, yet another typhoon came and went, veering off at the last moment. I used to refer to this phenomenon as our typhoon shield, but it’s getting uncanny how often this has happened over the past several years. Has anyone examined the typhoon paths for every storm since Nari? It might reveal an interesting pattern.
In still other news, The Hawaii International Film Festival has solicited Clay Soldiers for consideration. They waived the entry fee and gave me free Fedex shipping, which was nice of them. Dean may also submit his Bunun film, now that it is nearing completion. Since I enjoyed cutting a trailer for Clay Soldiers, I went ahead and made trailers for The End and Coolishness, though they’re still a bit rough.
My site counter, Counted, has ditched its free service, so I need a new one. If I’m going to pay for a site counter, I want it to involve Matrix-style immersion into a virtual world with real-time portrayals of all visitors, including present location, motives, eating habits and a comprehensive report of their various psychoses.
