that's awasum

About Zigs
04.26.07 + 1:06 a.m.

I guess, since folks have continued to ask, I'll just tell you whatâ€™s up with Ziggy. As I told you, after moving in with my uncle, Ziggy became an outdoor cat. Shortening long stories, he eventually ran away. Well, he didn't "run away" like an abused street urchin or anything ... his sojourns just took him further and further into the mountains of Nevada an he eventually didnâ€™t come home. At this point it can safely be assumed that Ziggy became coyote food.

That's mighty cynical. It's entirely possible that Ziggy was adopted by one of the many nice families that lived near my uncle. He was so damned personable, after all.

I don't feel like going into it, because I found out in July and will always be sad about it, and I still feel like a horrible pet-owner for leaving him with someone else, but dammit, I really did think it was a good match, Ziggy and Uncle Chris. They were good company for each other, and there was no way for me to have known how bad things were for Chris.

When Chris finally told me that Ziggy had gone AWOL, Chris was too sick to take care of himself, let alone a small creature, and had been living, unbeknownst to me, with a friend for a few months. At that point, Chris couldn't be left alone.

He would go to his house regularly to check on his garden and my cat, and made sure to leave food in the bowl outside the back door. He noticed after a month that the bowl had gone untouched. A month or more after that, he worked up the nerve to call and tell me that Ziggy was gone.

In January, I stayed with his aforementioned friend so I could attend Chris's memorial. She told me that, for weeks, Chris had been feeling so scared and guilty that he couldn't tell me about Ziggy.

When he finally called, Chris was working in the yard of the friend who'd taken him in. After telling me the news, he said, "I think I let you down, kid," I said I loved him, and we both changed the subject to the giant goldfish he was feeding in his friendâ€™s backyard pond. It's not that we were avoiding the subject of my cat, who he and I both loved. That's just how we in my family deal with difficult things ... we disclose them bluntly but sensitively, then we put on our sunglasses and pull our blankets over our heads, with the tacit understanding that we know why whatever crappy thing we're skirting around happened and that we'll love each other anyway.

Well, Zigs, I'm so sorry. It seemed like such a great idea, and you were happy playing outside. You even lost your gut.

What a great cat.

Let's move on, eh? I'd like to write more often, you know. I'm not sure why I don't. Despite what my most recent entries might indicate, my life generally rules. So there.

~ Last Five Entries ~

Days and Nights - 10.01.07

Eye-Boners - 07.20.07

Something About My Big Frickin' Bed - 07.11.07

Summertime Fix in Hawaii - 06.12.07

About Zigs - 04.26.07

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BUY DEAN'S BOOK, TOO! YOU KNOW YOU WANNA! SERIOUSLY.
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