and a YOUNG WOMAN is MISSING
In case you aren't on this list of people I left hysterical voicemails, don't follow my twitter and/or aren't friends with me on Facebook, Kingsley is missing.
It was a freak accident.
I had the windows open because, for a misty day, it was relatively nice. So, the cats were playing with each other and sitting in the windows and playing on me while I read and sitting in the windows. At one point King was in one window and Coop was in the other and the window King was in decided it had had enough "open" and wanted to close. So, it did. On King. Who ended up smooshed between the window and the screen. Of course, she FREAKED OUT (wouldn't you?) and before I could get to her she busted through the back of the screen and fell out of the window and is now frightened and most likely sitting up on the engine in one of my neighbor's cars.
We saw her a couple of times yesterday, once up under the hood of the car. We tried to grab her but she was too quick. Bugger. So, she's still out there. I left some food out for her and she did eat some (Ya, I measured it and checked.) So, I put the food out at 7 ish, and watched the bowl until I went to school at 8:15. The owner of the car that she had been under sent me a text at 9 saying she popped her hood and King wasn't there. So, sometime between when I left at 8:15 and when my neighbor left at 9, King crawled out from under the car, helped herself to some food (which is good, because she only had breakfast yesterday) and then hid someplace else, that from what I can tell isn't inside my apartment, although the screened window was still open so she could have let herself back in. So,to recap, I'm not at all sure as to where she is now. Maybe I'll go check and see if she's gone back to under the gazebo where she was born, but I just don't see her going that far because she was so scared when we saw her.
Many people have been very supportive and helpful in this process of finding, calming her down and bringing her home. In particular, Carise, who hung out with me after it got too dark to look, brought me a snack because she knew I'd skipped lunch in the search for Kingsley and who helped put up posters. I guess this is the last time I name an anything after Action star and all around Action Hero Steve McQueen. (In case you didn't know, King is actually Kingsley McQueen. Although, after this, I may just start calling her McQueen.) Adding a little strangeness to this (or perhaps, in an effort to keep my sanity), I keep making these little connections that are like, "Oh, this is going to be funny...when I have my cat back."
I have three examples. The first is the title of this post, which is a line from Michael Frayn's Noises Off (That link is to a DVD copy of the film they made of it a while back. Hilarious. It comes highly recommended.) This might be wishful thinking, because in the scene Roger Tramplemain says, "and a YOUNG WOMAN is MISSING" and Vicki comes busting in through a door and is no longer missing. (So, I guess I'm secretly hoping my cat will come swanning out of the closet and say, "Look! I'm here! Did you miss me?")
For example number two, we turn to the heavens. Venus is in retrograde and today is the day that it is, I think its called, in inferior conjunction with the sun and it will drop from the evening sky and reappear as the morning star (and actually cross the face of the sun.) Because it drops from the sky it has this "eclipse-like" energy (if you're into astrology) which means that it can trigger breakdowns or breakthroughs. Get it? Break through? As in King literally broke through the screen and now is out in the world. The universe is great, right?
The last example I have occurred while I was making my "MISSING CAT" posters. I felt a little like Henry Rollins from Shock and Awe when he talks about the burglar that tried to break into his house and his friend started chasing the guy and he called the cops and was like, "Okay, the guy in black. First name: Mike. Answers to: Mike." I felt like putting that on the poster. First name: Kingsley. Answers to: Kingsley. She's not a stray! She's belongs somewhere!
I keep telling myself, this will all be hilarious someday. Hopefully this day, just at a later hour. So, there's a little insight into my brain and how it works. I apparently deal with the inevitable tragedy brought about by simply existing by finding the absurd and hilarious stuff about it. I suppose this isn't really new information, especially if you've known me awhile, but there you go. Right now Cooper and I are holding vigil, keeping are eyes and are noses peeled and I've occasionally gone on little walks of the area shaping Octopodi, King's favorite toy. I'm trying not to have a breakdown myself and keep positive about things. I think I'm keeping it together pretty well. I might make myself lunch and then go on another little walk looking for my fur baby.
So, please wish me luck/keep us in your thoughts/pray for us. We're a new little family, but I think all three entities would agree that we are a little family regardless of our newness and so this is very distressing for all of us.
