In remembrance of my long-time buddy Neko,
who never will be forgotten.
May we meet at the Bridge when the time has come for me.

Neko came to me around 20 years ago, she was begging for food
in an outdoor cafe where a friend and I had a little
refresment on that hot June day. When she came to us, my
friend wondered whether this would be a cat for me; and to proof
it she jumped on my lap and started purring. My friend
asked the people of the outdoor cafe, a Chinese
restaurant and another place to find out if the cat belonged to
someone; the answer was "no, she's always begging for food
here". So I decided to take her with me, under my jacket the
skinny little (and as I later found out, flea infested) female feline
went to my home. I had think of a name for her, and
since I was trying to learn Japanese, I thought it would
be nice to give her a Japanese name, and so it
became "Neko", which means "cat" (male & female) in Japanese.
Later I found out that it also is the name of a little
mouse game for the PC...

Over the next months she was de-flea'd; toys were bought, and
we were getting along quite well. On Sundays she was
groomed, which she liked very much, she was literally
asking to be brushed and combed. Then on a
Sunday, after being brushed, she took her chance and escaped
through an open bedroom window. As you may
imagine, I was terrified; and I went to all places (even
on neighbor's territory) to find her; one of the
neighbors came out and asked what I was looking for, I told her
and she helped me to find her, and of all places... she
was hiding on the nearby cemetery.
Years later, we were having a great life together, I went to the
USA; to get married and make a living there,
Neko would come to the USA later and for the time being she
would be living at a neighbor's place (the neighbor was very
fond of Neko); however living in the USA was not what
fate had in mind for me at that time, and so I returned
while being in a pending divorce back to this
country. Now, I had heard from my neighbor by eMail that Neko
was a nice, quiet cat that caused no problems, but this
changed when I showed up to visit her... from that day
on she sharpened her nails on the furniture, was
climbing the curtains, and did all kinds of things to harass
her host. The neighbor begged me to take Neko
back, and so Neko came back to me; showing me the first three
days only her back, as if she wanted to say "I am very
angry at you because you left me here... never ever
do that again!", but after that she once again became the friendly,
lovable cat she had been before I left. Now don't tell
me that cats don't get atached to humans, Neko proofed
that they do, but I guess most humans don't notice...

Neko and I went through a lot of ups and downs together, and she
always was the sensing friend who tried to comfort me
when I was not getting along very well. And so we lived on and on.

In the last week of December of 2006 she suddenly stopped
eating, and the neighbor who took care of her when I left for the
USA and I were forced to start forced-feeding. It looked
like this helped, but on the third day of the force-feeding,
after I had moved her to the bedroom so she could
lay down on the bed (she was allowed to be there) and
rest a bit, even sleep perhaps, I heard after 1.5 - 2
hours a very loud "meoooow", I went to the bedroom immediately
and I saw that she was throwing up water, and I
rushed to the kitchen to get some tissue paper, when I
returned and started to clean her mouth she gave a last grasp of
breath and died in my hands. It was December 30th,
23:40 (11:40 pm) when she died.

Out of respect I groomed her, took the last photos ever to be
made of her, and put her in a box, all this while crying over the
loss of my long-time buddy (even while I write this, I am
crying; I still feel the pain of this loss!). She was burried
the next day in a friend's garden, where her remains
can rest undisturbed.

I gaze at your rainbow resting place and wish you peaceful dreams
I keep you near for in our dreams we touch, again floating on the stars
You are the face that is in my dreams as I call your name
Come to me my boy ease my heart and mind that you are near
To see you amongst the loves of my heart family, never alone
Dream glances of peaceful angels of the Rainbow.

I awaken from joyful dreams of seeing you standing strong
To gaze at your Rainbow resting place, Till we meet in our dreams
When the stars come out and guide me to you. I wish you good morning
My gentle girl. God holds you safe in the palm of his hand
Till my arms can hold you , never to let go.
Held in my heart, in dreams we will always touch.
A Rainbow dance of reunion.

Till we cross together my girl.

J.C. Stewart

Music~*~Melissa Manchester Through The Eyes Of Love

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