Six: Part II; The Visit

Our neighbor Mark from Seattle came through Amsterdam on his way home from travels in the Middle East. He only stayed two days, but they were action packed.

Saturday: Mark arrives and announces "I know how hard it is with Rollie and everything, so if you need some space I can totally go off and do stuff on my own". However I for one am not about to let this opportunity for some much needed fun and distraction with a friend from home go by. We rent bikes. We ride around the Jordaan (where the Anne Frank House is), eat at a Dutch pancake house, go to a locals beer hall with a huge selection of Dutch beer. We go through Oud Zuid (Old South) and De Pijp (The Pipe). Really nice, very Amsterdamy neighborhoods. We ride along the Amstel River. It's perfect. Then we ride back to our neighborhood and walk around calling for Rollie, to no avail.

Sunday: Kim and I wake up around 5:30 and hit the streets looking for our stupid cat. At this point my voice is almost shot. "Rollie! Rollie! Rooooollieeeeee!" The neighbors are probably wishing we would go missing, too. After an hour or so, we go back to the apartment feeling defeated. Again. She's gone for good. We sleep for a while, then get up and go for breakfast with Mark. Today we plan to visit the Greenhouse (coffee shop) and the Van Gogh Museum. We make a quick stop at the apartment to pick up a few things. Mark and Kim step out on the deck for a moment, and Kim throws out a few half-hearted "Rollie!"s. Almost immediately she hears it. Yowling. The loud, obnoxious, question mark yowl that can only be made by one particular cat. I come out of the bathroom and see them peering into the garden courtyard below yelling "Rollie!!" I run out and sure enough, she's down there darting around and looking panicked. I dash down to Eva and Michale's place to access the garden. They are in their robes (about the 3rd time I've burst in on them in their robes) but of course are as convivial as ever. I run out into the courtyard. Several neighbors watch from above. Mark directs "Left! More Left! Right!" Eva and Michael are shouting stuff, a neighbor woman is shouting stuff, it's pandemonium. I crawl through gardens (smashing flower beds along the way) and finally find her under some stairs. She comes out but is definitely freaked. I grab her and quickly go back through Michael and Eva's place, tracking mud on their pristine white floors while apologizing profusely. They are convincing in their assertion that it is no problem at all and they are just happy we found her. I hope never to have to disturb them again.

"Holy shit! No way! I can't believe she came back!" Kim says. "It's a miracle. It's a miracle. It's totally a miracle" proclaims Mark.

We happily head out for our day of biking, coffee shopping and Van Goghing. I shut the front door behind us. I realize I forgot my bag. I realize the keys to the apartment are in the bag. I realize I have to ring Michael and Eva to get them to open our front door.