Spring has come to Kyoto, with roughly 20 degrees during the daytime, and it’s finally time to keep the windows open. Pumpkin enjoys sitting at the windows and looking outside, especially at my office window. Somehow, he seems to know that half of the road is ours, and he growls at everybody who steps into his territory. If they come any closer, though, he runs away. My hero…
Anyway, the other day I was working away in my office when suddenly, I heard a crash from the living room. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that my dear Pumpkin had broken the screen door and was already well on his way into the neighbor’s garden.
I was horrified. Don’t get me wrong, the neighborhood is safe and quiet, so I wasn’t worried that he might get run over. But I was afraid that he might venture too far – curious kitty that he is – and that he wouldn’t make it home any more.
So I went after him. “Pumpkin, Pumpkin, come here…” which, of course, he ignored completely. After all, the neighbor’s garden was so much more interesting… I watched him check out the flowers and bushes, inspect the air condition units and make sure the space under the house was clean. And I was standing there and could do nothing to entice him back home. Thankfully, he soon got tired of his adventure and when he was close enough, I pulled him back inside.
I have no idea what prompted this escape. He had been perfectly content just looking outside for weeks. Maybe there was too tempting a bird or a bug. In any case, I now have to repair the screen door somehow. And I have been carefully gauging how wide to open the other windows – if they are opened at all at the moment…