Pretty Pouty Precious Princess Mimi, Kirigirisu the Kamikaze Kitty

On a trip to Petsmart after we lost Daisy, Ray found a timid little tortoise shell kitty, which she named Mimi. This new kitten could not be any more different from Daisy. She was a shy little creature who spent most of her time sequestered away in Ryann’s bedroom. It was so bad that one day, before the other cat’s arrival and before we moved, I stood at the bottom of the stairs and could not remember this cat’s name! It was as though Mimi wanted to become invisible and succeeded! Looking back, though, you can see the bond between Ryann and Mimi. Over the years Mimi’s nickname has evolved so that now she is known as Pretty Pouty Precious Princess Mimi, Kirigirisu the Kamikaze Kitty.

How in the world did this meek creature get the nickname “Kirigirisu the Kamikaze Kitty”? In the first couple of months, before she went into seclusion, Mimi would sometimes wander into Clark’s and my bedroom in the early morning hours. She’d jump on the bed and I would wake up to her pouncing on my toes. The way Mimi attacked—all four paws held together and hopping from spot to spot—reminded me of a grasshopper. Ryann had just entered her fascination of all things Japanese so we researched the word “grasshopper” so we called Mimi “Kirigirisu.” Around this same time Mimi performed an act of daredevilry so phenomenal we are still amazed. Clark firmly believes this was Mimi’s one and only act of rash behavior and we just happened to be present when it occurred. We had one of those tall cat condos, looming over my own 5’6”, sitting next to the low-back couch, a 40+year old pullout couch that Clark slept on as a child when he visited his grandparents. One day this tiny timid feline climbed up to the very top of this structure and launched herself down onto the back of the neighboring couch. With her tortie fur and all four paws spread out, she really resembled a flying squirrel and I swear she meowed, “Banzai!” as she fell.

Gone are these carefree reckless days. Now Mimi is a mature regal creature. Over the last few years, since the arrival of our other cat, she has changed very much. On retrospect, I wonder if she was depressed as an only kitty in a two-dog house. Before Kage’s arrival, Mimi was, as I mentioned, a recluse, but she was also extremely fat, so fat you could hear her moving around in Ryann’s room and on those rare occasions she ventured down the stairs. I do not remember exactly when she lost the weight, but today she is a slender shadow of her previous rotund self, with quite the skin flap that wobbles then she trots!

When Kage arrived, Mimi started emerging from Ray’s room more and more often. She even started nosing at the back door if we left it cracked. Over the last year in our previous house, Mimi got braver and braver. She’d sniff the open door for several minutes then put a single paw out for a heartbeat before running away and back upstairs. Eventually she got all the way out the door only to rush back inside. By the time we moved, she was spending several minutes hunched just outside the back door, as long as the door remained open and none of us inside moved.

Once we moved, Mimi started immediately spending more time outside. She was and still is a very timid kitty. Loud noises and sometimes even no noise startle her and she darts into hiding. Thunderstorms scare her and, even though we have a tiny house, she has hidey holes where we can’t find her. One time, shortly after our move, Mimi was outside when a thunderstorm hit and we weren’t home. The following morning we realized we hadn’t seen the Kirigirisu for a long time. Ryann and Clark went outside to call and call for her while I searched the inside. After quite a while they heard a weak little mew and finally located Mimi cowering in the crawl space under the house. She was in the farthest corner and refused to budge. Finally I opened a can of tuna fish and Ryann, who HATES this cramped bug-ridden crawlspace, went in a little ways. It took almost an hour, but Mimi finally was coaxed out. Hooray for tuna!

This summer, with the kids gone, Mimi has been spending more time with me than ever before. I spend time every day in the bedroom writing at my desk (a beautiful built-in made by my wonderful hubby when I went back to school). Within 2-3 minutes of sitting down and turning on the desk lamp, Mimi jumps up and demands a few minutes of petting before she settles down under the lamplight. If I remain in bed too long, she will also jump up and walk across my body with her tiny little painful paws (think about a woman’s stiletto heels!). Then she’ll get right up in my face with her whiskers tickling my nose. It works better than the alarm!


¡Hasta pronto, mis amigos!

~N