Maybe the cat.

Well, with reluctant certainty, we have come to the conclusion that the stray cat we rescued Sept. 26 is not Belikin. Despite the coincidence of so many similar factors, the preponderance of evidence leans toward "No."

So, Belikin remains missing, and we are actively looking for him. However, the cat we snapped up several days ago, according to the woman who contacted us, has been hanging around her place for nearly a month with no tag and no one claiming him. We can't imagine turning such a friendly cat back out on the streets, so barring an owner come calling, we'd like to introduce our new cat, Maybe.

Jason

Mr. Mark Twain.

The rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

Last night at about 6:30 p.m. we received an e-mail from someone who saw one of the fliers we'd put up at a market. The woman said our cat had been hanging around her place for a few days, stopping by around 5 p.m. for the food she would leave. I casually clicked open the series of photos the woman had attached and found Belikin.

We'd had few leads at this point, and after Mapquesting the address I had my doubts that he had gotten that far: The woman lived off of El Cajon Boulevard, where 67th Street ends and becomes a little known road. To get there Belikin would have had to cross the 8 Freeway, navigate the college area around SDSU, and pass Montezuma and El Cajon Boulevard.

But the pictures were pictures of him.

No one was home when I reached the house around 7 p.m. Sarah was in class, so I went alone. I knocked, and when I turned to go calling for him, he was already coming up the porch steps. In the fading light it was difficult to know for sure if it was him. I twisted and turned him under the light of a streetlamp, but still couldn't be sure. I sat with him for a while, considering. The distance had planted a formidable seed of doubt. I stuffed him in a cage and brought him home.

Kitty seemed to know him. His markings looked right. But he seemed a little blonder, and his facial structure looked off from certain angles. His behavior was similar and different at the same time, but he was highly stressed. He sounds different, but he also has a cold. It's hard to know how life on the outside might change him. The vet said he's healthy except for some fleas and a slight respiratory infection.

He's such a unique personality, we were expecting certainty upon finding him — "Belikin, I presume." Now we're searching for things that make him an impostor. But would a cat that didn't know us show so much affection for us? Would it be comfortable in a strange house? Would two cats that didn't know one another tolerate the other's presence with just a few half-hearted hisses?

It's where he was found. That's the seed. In time we'll know — but by then, by the time we know one way or another, this doppelganger will be Belikin. Time will have eroded the dissimilarities and accentuated the sameness.

Or, perhaps it's just him. Belikin's back.

Jason

PS: The errant bastard's improbable route.


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West to Mexico.

Yesterday evening we got our first lead on Belikin. The owner of Emiliano's Mexican Restaurant on Mission Gorge Road called to say that a waiter had seen a cat matching Belikin's description underneath the restaurant's deck, which overhangs a slight slope down to a golf course. The space is tight and fenced in, and full of junk — tiles, toilettes, cooktops — presumably from the restaurant. The waiter, who was very helpful, showed me where he had seen a cat out a window as he was bussing tables. When he went down to leave some food, he saw the cat again sitting amid the trash. We had left a flier with this restaraunt, and the waiter seemed sure it was the same cat.

We checked the area last night and this morning with no luck so far, and will return again this evening. Something had eaten the shredded beef left by the waiter during the night.

He's been missing about eight days now. I suppose I can sympathize with the desire to run away and live under a Mexican food restaurant.

Jason

Belikin Watch 2008.

Early in the morning hours of Sept. 16 our cat, Belikin, pushed his way out of or simply fell out of our front kitchen window where the screen is old and bent. This has happened before on two occasions, and in the past we have found him on the porch the next morning, whining about his predicament. This time, however, the morning came and he was nowhere to be found.

Yesterday we spent the morning scouring the house and yard, as well as our immediate neighbors' yards, refusing to believe that a cat so disinterested in anything but napping and eating could have brought himself to wander that far — let alone farther. We were surprised to find that his plaintive whines didn't come in answer to our calls, and we had to leave off for work with no luck locating him. That evening we canvassed the neighborhood, dropping fliers in every mailbox in a two block radius and decorating telephone poles with an adorably lazy picture of the errant bastard (see above). Again, we came up short with the exception of discovering that we have moved into an extremely friendly neighborhood (We moved in Sept. 14). Most people were home when we dropped off our flier, and they welcomed us to the neighborhood and promised to keep an eye out, wished us luck.

The only luck we've had is in not discovering any evidence that Belikin has been attacked, eaten, or hit by a car — which we suspect would have been apparent and happened in the area we hoofed yesterday. He likely got spooked, ran, and got lost.

He's in Allied Gardens somewhere. Napping.

Last night we left the garage door open with a basket of our dirty laundry, food, and water, hoping to attract him home with some of his favorite things: food, and us. Today we have expanded the search. Sarah registered Belikin with a national missing pets organization, and I posted fliers at businesses up and down Waring Road (our closest major street).

We have hope that he will turn up. He is a stocky, strong cat with sharp-ass claws. And he moves so little, it's hard to imagine any other creature noticing he is there. Tonight we will expand our leafleting to a four block radius.

I type this to the sound of fliers printing. It's surprising how many noises sound like a whiny cat gone missing.

Jason

At last.

Our long wait has been rewarded with a brilliant preview of our wedding photo collection. Stan and Jeanette did an amazing job, as we knew they would, and the slideshow they have posted on their revamped blog showcases the event and the people who made it a phenomenal experience.

We are so happy with the work, and are excited to be able to share these pictures with you.

Click here.

Jason