Cat Apparition

In Japanese folklore, cats occupy a special place. While often depicted as beloved pets and protector of “their” humans, they are also thought to have an affinity for ghosts and the other side. And I’ve just had an eerie encounter of the feline persuasion myself.

Since it’s quite cold in the house at night, Pumpkin sleeps in my bedroom. The other day I had been in bed reading when I needed to go to the toilet. I didn’t want Pumpkin to follow me – it takes him ages to settle down again – so when I closed the fusuma, I made sure the gap was small enough so he couldn’t slip through.

However, just a couple of minutes later, I found him behind me in the bathroom after all, and when I asked “Hey, how did you get out,” he disappeared in the direction of the entrance. So far, so good.

Imagine my surprise when I got back upstairs and Pumpkin sat in the bedroom peering through the narrow gap of the fusuma with a peeved look on his face because I left him behind. But I had seen him downstairs just a minute earlier.

What happened? I have no idea.

Maybe he did get out after all, but as I said, he disappeared in the direction of the genkan and certainly didn’t pass me on the stairs. Maybe it had got too late and my tired mind played tricks on me.

Or maybe, just maybe, my dear Pumpkin knows how to create astral projections. That could come handy, actually. Sadly, I doubt h would tell or even teach me how to do it.

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