Aloha. My name is Honeyboy and I am from Hawai'i. A vet just told my Human Being that I have only two more weeks to live. This is the reason why I want to tell You my life story. It is a story about the purest love between one of us and a Human Being. It is also wonderful story with some very happy, some very dramatic and some very sad events and Unconditional Love at its core.
I was born in Kalapana in the Southern part of the Puna district on Hawai'i Island, which is known as The Big Island, because it is really big. Kalapana is well known for having been overrun by Lava in the 1980's, but that was long before my time. When I started to see the sunny light of Kaimu - the historic remainder of Kalapana - Lava was only flowing into the ocean two miles away from my home. Nobody really knows exactly when I was born, but I remember that it was summer and my Human says it was in 2010.
My first Human Being holding me when I was very little (edited to protect the identity of the first Human Being)
My Human was very close to my first family and we knew each other as long as I can remember. She was always there and there was lots of fun as far as I can tell, because those Humans had a great time laughing, singing and eating. I loved it too, because it was very easy going. The only thing that I did not like were all those dogs running around. I know that Humans love dogs, but us Felines do not. Too many relatives of mine were killed by big dogs and I had many run ins with them, but I never stood down for them.
Here You can see me doing what I loved to do most. Catching rodents and play with them. My Humans would sometimes scold me, because I would let them get away and not kill them. They never understood that I was just keeping them for later. Only my Human accepted me unconditionally and she would never get upset about anything. That's why I love to be with her.
When I was about a year old, I got into big troubles with some bad canines. They had ganged up on me and the biggest one was a pit bull, the kind that kills everything but rodents. I was able to fend them off for some time, but then they got the upper hand and mauled me badly. My Human was not there at the time and the other ones simply put me in the bottom shelf of a book case to do, or die. After I was laying there for a few days without food, water and bathroom, my Human showed up and she got furious about the fact that nobody had called and told her what had happened. She carefully picked me up and took me with her to her own house.
The next morning she drove me to the veterinary in Hilo and they made x-rays. They found out that my left arm was badly shredded.
This is how my left arm looked like. The Veterinary told my Human that it was a very difficult undertaking, trying to put me back together. She said that I did not have water and food for too long and that my kidneys had badly suffered. Fortunately enough, she said that she would give it a try - without any guarantees and a small chance that it might all work out. I don't remember anything about all that, but my Human told me everything about it later. She always said that the Veterinary did the best work of her life with me, because the surgery worked out well and I was reconstructed with steel. My Human would call me "my lovely steel boy" when she explained to others what had happened.
Here You can see how much steel the Veterinary used to put my arm back together. And lots of staples.
My Human was giving me pain medication, so I can't remember that I had any pain. Although, I am a tough Kitty and can take a lot. My Human always said that she admired my strength and endurance in the face of such a grave injury. But that's just how I am. I am not much of a whiner. Many Humans are whiners for no serious reasons, like stuff that happens that one cannot change. Why whine then? It's better to catch a rodent, or a lizard and even much better to just lay down in the sun and enjoy life. But it took several month for me to fully recover. I wanted to get out of the bed earlier, but my Human said "No! You need to stay in bed until You can really walk again. Remember what the veterinary said? If it doesn't heal well, she might have to take the arm off. Nobody wants their arm to be taken off." She made a valid point there. So, I listened to her and it wasn't that bad either to get spoiled 24/7.
You can see the staples here. My human said that I would be her little Herman Munster. I don't know who that was, but he must have had staples as well.
My Human tucked me in, because she said I can't move around as much as I like. It had to do with the bones growing back together properly. I am not a doctor, but I believe my Human most of the time.
Progress has been made and I don't have to be in bed all the time anymore. Only when I like to. The spot without fur will stay like that, or grow back a little bit, said the doctor. She also said that it was the result from using up one of my nine lives. I don't mind the spot and neither does my Human. She is the happiest Human Being ever, because she told me that things look good and that I might be able to go outside soon. Which makes me as happy as can be also.
My Human had organized a nice blue box for me to stay in during the day. She said it is safer for me to stay in there until I can walk around again. It had my favorite blankie in it as well.
Now I am allowed to be on our Kitty shelf again. I am doing much better now and my brother Peteyboy is helping me a lot by goofing around. My Human only says that we should not go overboard with it. Maybe because we are on the shelf and I should not fall down from anywhere, or jump around.
Six weeks after my surgery my Human takes me outside on a leash. I don't like the leash, but I like to go outside into the lawn. Today is the first day that I can walk on all of my paws again. My arm is still weak, because I have not used it for so many weeks. It feels good though to be out and on my feet again. Maybe next time I can go without this leash thing.
No more leash! Three month after I was mauled and put back together, I feel like new. Goofing around with Peteyboy is so much fun, especially outside. We can go 'full throttle'. Even though my Human tells me to take it easy. She is still overly concerned, but I tell her that I am fine and that she doesn't have to worry about me. Our yard is great to play and my siblings make sure that there is always some great fun.
Okay, this got me into some serious trouble. My Human filmed me while I was playing with Peteyboy. She said, that the doctor had told her that I can't climb any longer, because the screws that held my bones together might come lose. She said, I could end up getting my arm amputated if there would be an infection because of wiggly screws from climbing up stuff like trees. But when I was playing with Peteyboy, I didn't think of what the doctor had said to my Human. As a matter of fact, when I am outside, I don't remember anything at all. The only thing that I saw was our African Tulip and she is perfect for climbing up. As You can see. Boy, was I in trouble. My Human would not allow me to go outside for a long time. She was really mad at me for not listening. Well, not really mad, but very unexcited.
As You saw earlier, there was not only me, but also Peteyboy in the family. However, Peteyboy was only the last Feline Being to join the family before I did. My Human had attracted two amazing Feline colleagues many years before I moved in. They were both girls and they were both not taking any names from anybody. The true head of the family was Sheeba. She was a league of her own. Majestic in every way. We understood each other immediately - in so far that I agreed that she is the boss. And the boss she was. And what a boss at that. The word 'sovereign' was invented by her just being herself. Her younger sister was also very special and best of all - still is. Her name is YinYang and she has been assisting our Human for over eleven years now. YinYang was born in the jungle in Kapoho and realized that the only place she would ever want to be was with our Human. So, we were four Felines and our Human. All of us lived with a very good friend of our Human and her two Canines. Their names were Arthur and Isabelle. They were small Doggies so I never had to fear them. They respected us and our superiority without problems. Here we are all having dinner.
From left: Sheeba, Yours Truly, Peteyboy and YinYang Girl.
Our Human always said "I want You Kitties to love each other as much as I love each one of You. Could You do that? Or at least don't fight with each other?" We agreed not to fight with each other. But we also loved each other just the way our Human wished for us to do. We love her also very much.
Unfortunately, at this point things started to get very sad. My first Human, whom our own Human loved so very much, had a heart attack and went to where all Felines and Humans go when they are done with living. It was heartbreaking to see our Human suffer so much. Of course we did everything we could to make it easier on her. We gave her extra furtime and cuddled all together with her. Her Human friend was very helpful, too. The two became very close, just like us. We grew into a deeply connected family. Six of us with four paws and a couple with two.
This is where my first Human and the love of our own left us. I used to play there, but only my Human went back there, because she and the family did not want me to get attacked another time by the dogs. It was a difficult time for our Human. There was so much grief. She was not even able to play at lot with us. But it was alright. We were always there for her - day and night.
The next sad thing happened when the Uncle of my first Human got very sick from the loss of his nephew. They were very close and very special. Our Human visited Uncle in the hospital and assisted his Alpha Boy colleague of ours in Uncle's house. His name is Ku'uipo. That is Hawai'ian and means 'Sweetheart'. Only two month after my first Human had left, Uncle followed because of a broken heart. Our Human had to promise Uncle to assist Ipo (short form of Ku'uipo) - if he would follow his nephew. Our Humans were celebrating Easter when the phone rang and the news arrived. The Uncle and our Human were also very close and there was great sadness in the house. We were all sleeping in our big bed and the Doggies and our other Human in their bed. The dogs did not bark.
I remember the moment when Ipo came to live with us. No Alpha Boy will ever just sneak in. He came, he saw and he understood that all of us accepted him, but not his Alpha Boyishness. Especially Sheeba was not thrilled. She was an independent Girl and would never leave a doubt that she will not be intimidated by anybody else. I know that Sheeba resented our Human that she allowed Ipo to stay at our home. She would not come in as often any longer. Only to get her food and our Human's attention.
But we all knew how difficult it was for Ipo to be without his Human. They were so in love with each other that they always nicked each other. Uncle had two birds and Ipo would scare them whenever he could. That would get Uncle running after Ipo and it looked like a lot of fun. You can see that he is sad and does not want to play, or even bother Sheeba. It took a very long time for him to get better and his original Alpha Boyish self.
Sheeba and I truly loved each other. She was so graceful. Like a real Tigress. We respected each other and I always wanted to have an older sister that looks out for me. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to enjoy each others company. Ipo would give her a hard time and therefor she was much less in the house than I loved her to be. Here, I am lying in her favorite space on top of the dryer. There she was above everything else - nobody could bother her. I loved her smell. It felt so good to be with her, staying in her spots and basking in her sovereignty.
Destiny took another hit at us and very badly at our Human. In August 2013 she had to fly to Honolulu for medical reasons. She stayed over night, because Peteyboy's first Human Being had moved there in 2009 and that was the reason why Peteyboy joined our family. I don't know what happened to Sheeba. She was around the house and looking for our Human. They were super close and the one would always know where the other one is. She came in like every night and had some food. Then she left.
The next morning our Human returned from Oahu. She always brought us some nice treats when she was in town. There is a great fish place in Hilo. She loved fish as much as we do. We are a family of fish lovers. Bless those fishies that give their lives for us to get a treat. But Felines love Sashimi as much as Humans. It was then, that our Human knew something was very wrong. You know, Sheeba could be a mile away - if our Human brought home some Sashimi, she overcame light speed. It was more like beaming. As soon as the shopping bags touched the kitchen counter, she was sitting next to them. So, when she did not show up for her fish, it spelled great doom.
Sheeba - Never able to wait for the Ahi to be cut into Sashimi
Our Human started to get very concerned. She freaked out and went outside, looking for Sheeba with a piece of Ahi in her hand. Calling her. Then it got silent. We heard that she had started to cry. She was sobbing and screaming "No! No! No!" All of us knew that something very, very bad had happened. She came back inside the house holding Sheeba in her arms and was devastated. How could that be? Who did that? What had happened? Our other Human cried also very much. But she said that we should not have Sheeba examined. In order to allow her to leave with the greatest dignity. I remember when the love of her life had left our Human, followed by Uncle. It was unbearable for her. It was only a year later and she was looking at her lifeless Queen. Everybody in the house was in agony. Sheeba was such a great Feline Being. She was never less than divine. When I saw my beloved sister, I became really sad, like never before. It was difficult when my first Human Being went ahead without us, but Sheeba was one of ours. I adored her.
I was devastated when I looked at Sheeba. We loved each other so much. She looked as if she was only sleeping. But she wasn't.
The following time was not very happy. As a matter of fact, it was also very painful once again for me. My Human had always told me not to lounge on the opened garage door in the garage. It was an electrical roll door. Like many other things, the clicker did not work. So, my Human had to go around the garage and open the side door in order to open it when they came back home with the car. This time the garage door was open and I was laying on it inside the garage - just like I was told not to, of course. When she would leave, she would reach in side the garage without triggering the light beam and the door would close. And it did - with me on top of it. I got scared and didn't know how to get down. because it was moving so fast. Then I slid down to the front and the hinges were closing with my right back paw in it. I was screaming like never before, because it hurt so badly.
My Human was already about to drive away when she saw me dangling from the garage door. It freaked her totally out. She has always been very concerned about me after the surgery. I got a hold of her when she grabbed me to get me out of there. Of course she never blamed me for it, but I chewed up her arm and wrist really bad. I had to chew on something, because the pain was so bad. Then she realized that she had to run around the garage, through the side door to open the garage door, which she did. The door opened and I fell down to the ground. Our other Human said that we must go and get an x-ray for my paw. So, we did. We drove to Hilo - and I didn't like driving a lot then - and went to the same doctor that did my surgery. She said it was a miracle. There was no broken bone, not even a fracture. Only a fat paw from swelling up. My Human was very happy. Well happy wouldn't be the right word. She was relieved that I got away without bad injury.
That was not the case with her though. She was in bad shape. Her arm and wrist were bleeding badly and I had chewed her up to the bone. Of course she never blamed me for it. I did not know what I was doing and felt very sorry about it. She went to the clinic and got really sick from an infection. But now we took care of her very well. YinYang Girl, Peteyboy, Ipo and I were on her bed all the time to give her comfort. Our other Human was very worried and she spent a lot of time at the bed, too. After two month things started to improve and the arm and wrist were healing well. When I sit on her lap, I put my paw on her scar to tell her how I felt about having had hurt her. But she loves me very much no matter what. And so do I.
Then came my Human's birthday and things started to look better. But not for long. Because a day before her birthday, our Tutu Pele had decided to pay a visit our little village Pahoa. As she started out from one of her most popular spaces - Pu'u O'o - she hiked down the hill through thick, native Ohia forests. Our Humans were talking about it a lot, because it meant that the air would get very bad at night, when the wind comes down from the mountain. And it did. And with each new stretch of forest she set on fire, the air got worse. Unfortunately, both of our Humans suffered from respiratory illnesses, which means that they had a hard time breathing. Our Human with the Canine companions even used a machine to breathe. But ours did not and had a difficult time each night. I remember the scratchy in my throat, and Ipo would get skin problems. YinYang girl and Peteyboy had none of our symptoms. They were more lucky.
It was a challenging time and our Human decided to stay for some time at a friend's house in Hawai'ian Paradise Park, because the air was better there in the night. Then it turned out that the friend had problems with our hair. They called it allergy. Although we were brushed every day, the problem persisted and we had to find another place. Which we did, at least for a short time, when our Human started to work at a farm that included a tiny house and lots of space to run around. There was only one problem, or actually three problems. There were three hunting dogs, but I would call them 'killers', as it turned out that the person who worked there before our Human had two Felines and both were killed by these big animals.
Here we are in our room, unable to go outside, even though YinYang is trying to
We had managed to arrange for times in which we were allowed to go outside when the beasts were locked away. It kind of worked for some time, but there were accidents, too. Like all over sudden these monsters are sniffing us out. Luckily we had gone back inside every time. You might call that Feline instincts combined with our vigilant Human. There was an area with a fruit tree orchard we liked to go to, because we could always climb up a tree in lightening speed. But we could never really relax and goof around like in our real home. I know that our Human did her best to get us a safe place, but that was increasingly difficult on the Big Island.
Sitting on our Human's lap and looking at the fruit tree orchard
Tutu Pele was still burning down her house and it looked like there would be others soon, too. She came closer to a place in the neighborhood of Pahoa. Our Human had friends there and Sheeba and YinYang even stayed there for a very short time. Everybody was scared that Tutu Pele would flow to Pahoa, and eventually, she did. But before that happened, a hurricane with the name Iselle payed us a visit. There was a lot of panic and for a good reason. Our Human was looking in her computer to find out where the thing would go. It turned out that it came straight at us. All the people that worked on the farm had to shelter in the owner's house, which was hurricane proof. But not scare proof. The monsters were there, too. We were in our kennels though and they were frightened to the max. When the hurricane moved over the house, we thought that the world would end. There were loud explosions around us from the tree tops snapping. But that was not all of it. After the worst winds were over, the driveway was blocked by these huge trees. Our Human tried to get out from the property with some co-workers in her truck, when the plant where they drill into the lava blew up and deadly gases came down the hill. They all got a good dose of it, but nobody ever cared about that. Other friends of our Human and she herself wanted money from the poison people for the health problems they had from that. Not a chance. She was very angry at the people who did not take responsibility for not turning the thing off before Iselle came by.
After the hurricane and gas attack, we were offered a bigger cabin. It had two rooms. That was important, because we could not go outside as much as we wanted. And our Human was busy during the day, so we had to entertain ourselves in the cabin. Of course, this did not last long either. Our Human, Ipo and I felt ill after the nights. We woke up in the morning and felt like we never slept. And we were not outside hunting all night. None of us. Then, our Human found out what the problem was. She found a big hole in the ground, or as we say in Hawai'i 'Puka'. Since we all like a piece of cheese from time to time, we know that there are holes in the cheese. Big Island is like a Big Cheese. It has holes everywhere. One of them was in the back of our rudimentary cabin.
Not only would there a lot of Tutu's breath coming out in the night, but the floor of the rudimentary cabin would also get quite hot. The Lava is never far away in Lower Puna. I should mention that the rudimentary cabin and the whole farm no longer exist. Tutu Pele took care of it.
Our Human always says that "There are no Problems. Problems are made. They don't exist in Nature." She is a smart cookie and I love her so much not only for that. When she told the exploitative owner about our problems with the Puka, he got angry and wanted us to leave - right away. Now we had a lot of stuff and not all of it was ours. Our Human had stuff, too. Like lots of tools and such. To make a long story short, our Human called the police and the police told the exploiter to cut it out or get into trouble. This despicable person then threw meaty bones all around our rudimentary cabin. For the dogs to stay around our shack and to kill any of us marvelous Felines. How bad and sad was that? Our Human was crying a lot during this time and we did everything we could to comfort her. It was next to impossible.
She went and visited our real home. The other Human was having a hard time, too. They decided for us to return, that we could again help each other out. The air though had not gotten better, but worse. Now we were all suffering from it. Our Human invented an air washer, but she never had the time to build it. Instead, she and her beloved friend came up with a plan to relocate. Her friend was kind of scared to relocate with all the animals and the respiratory problems she had. But our Human was to go ahead and look for a place with better air somewhere. For a number of reasons, most notably that we could afford it and that many things would be very similar to Hawai'i, they agreed upon our Human flying down to Uruguay to see if they could find a nice farm for all of us.
Our Human knew someone down there and was encouraged to check it out. The only problem was that we could not go with her, but had to stay at home. It made me and my siblings very uneasy. Ipo got even mad about it. He didn't want our Human to leave us behind. However, she convinced us that she would be back soon and that we would go all together then. We were very sad when she left. All of us. Her friend and the two little Doggies, too. Because she took them often for walks and they thought that there would be no more then.
There are no pictures of us during this time. But we were never happy without our Human. Not only Ipo was sad. Actually, he was still mad and we were only very sad. Our Human had left by the end of November and wrote us that she was talking to other Felines, asking them how life in Uruguay is for lovely Felines. They must have had convinced her that Humans are good to Felines and it made us feel better.
Vicente was so much like Sheeba. He was a Calico Kitty, too. He was killed by a car two days after our Human had left Uruguay to return to Hawai'i. It made her also very sad, because they really cared for each other as well.
This is Pitou and he lived with Vicente in the hotel in Montevideo. He is still there. Our Human saw him a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately, destiny was yet to strike us seriously and painfully again.
In December, our other Human had a respiratory failure and ended up in the hospital. There was nobody to feed us and clean our toilet anymore. The neighbors offered to do it until our other Human would be back, but she didn't come back for a long time. Instead, a friend of hers came from what they call the mainland and fed us. She also cleaned our toilet. but it was sub par to what we were used. Sadly though, the person was not really a nice person at all. She was okay with us, but she was not so nice with her own friend in the hospital. We could hear them argue on the telephone. Our own Human decided to come back to take care of things and of course of us. We are very homesick for each other. It would take another couple of weeks for her to return.
When our Human arrived, she wanted to stay at our home. But the friend of our other Human did not want that to happen. Therefor she stayed in Hilo and only came by to visit us. It was very difficult, because we wanted her to be back so badly. We were not able to sit on her lap and lay in the bed with her for such a long time. We missed her and she told us that she missed us, too. When our other Human had to leave the hospital, her 'friend' took the next airplane and left back to where she came from. Someone at the hospital had told her that our other Human would need more help than before. Like cooking and helping with taking a shower. That was enough to scare her away and our Human came back the next day. Everybody was very happy. We were all laying on the bed together. For the first time in a long while were sleeping well.
Our Human took classes at the hospital to be able to help our other Human with everything. They were both practicing her return home. When she came back, we saw that she had a tube going from her neck to a machine. It was scary. She could also not talk to us like before. There was a special thing that needed to be put in the tube for her to talk to us. But it hurt her very much, so we talked without speaking. Like all Cats do. Everybody was so happy that we were all back together again. The Doggies would not stop running around in the house for being so happy. Our other Human came home on a Friday and on Sunday there was a big storm in the night.
(Not the actual storm, but one a year earlier)
We were all scared and then the power went out and the machine our other Human needed to breathe stopped giving her air. Our Human went as fast as she could onto the porch, where they had another machine to make electricity. It felt like a long time, but in a few minutes the air would come back to our other Human's tube and everything was okay for then and the electricity returned in the morning.
The next day our Humans were very tired, but also very happy. They had the power fail and made their own very quickly. They decided to celebrate with a nice dinner just how well they did. Our Human bought some nice food to cook, some Sashimi for us and some Limburger for the Doggies. It was the best food, Sashimi, Limburger evening ever. Our other Human would talk and the two had such a great time that they were crying a lot. Since it was dinner in bed, there was enough place for us to lay on the bed. This night was much better and the power did not go anywhere else. Everybody got their sleep.
Our Human had to go back to work this morning, but she did not like to. She did not like the place. It was a horrible place for more than one reason. There were really bad people. But we needed the money badly. Our Human would tell us not to worry, but everything got more expensive. Our Human did not know that she would not work there too much longer. She wanted to stay at home and take care of everybody and everything there. She looked very worried when she left. Our other Human convinced her that everything would be alright and they would see each other later. In Hawai'ian that means 'A hui hou' - 'until we see each other again' - and that's what our Human said.
That day was very busy. A friend came by to help cleaning the house. Our other Human and the Lady that helped knew each other for many years. So, they were also happy to see each other again. Later, a woman from the hospital came to see if everything goes as well as it should be. Both of them left and we were by ourselves for two more hours.
Then there was a lot of noise coming from our other Human's bedroom. And there was this loud beeping. The beeping would not go away again. It hurt our ears and the Doggies were barking. After a short while the young woman from across the street came running into the house. She always had a key. She found our other Human had left us and was now with my first Human, Uncle, Sheeba, her husband and her parents, because the air machine had fallen to the floor and she did not get any more air to breathe. People came to help, but it was already much too late. She was no longer there. The people who came to help called our Human and she arrived a short time later. Only the people that came to help did not cry. Our Human was suffering so much. When she arrived, our other Human was still warm. There was so much grief. Something did help our Human a lot. Our other Human had the most beautiful smile on her face. She looked happier then I ever saw her before. Such a beautiful smile. It helped a lot.
Missing our other Human very much
This changed everything for all of us. Our Human had such a hard time to get on, even though we cuddled with her as much as we could. She lost the job at the horrible place and we were glad about that, because they were poisoning Felines there and no place where Felines are poisoned and have to die very painfully is a place where a Human who loves Felines more than anybody can understand should ever be for whatever reason. Humans don't know, but Karma is not only for Cats. It's for everybody.
Time is running and death is always running with it. I have ten more days left if we are to believe the numbers the veterinary showed my Human, but she does not believe that. She does not want to believe that. She is giving me the same medicine she is taking for herself, but mine is for Cats only. I have been feeling better since she started to give it to me. Many doctors do not believe in miracles, but we Felines know that they exist. I have six lives left now and I want to spend them with my family.
This will be the end of the first part of my life. The second part will follow very soon.
A hui hou,
Honeyboy