Thread by @filzballjaeger

Today, exactly 1 year ago, my Mami was 5 days into her 14 day vacation, her first holiday in years. She was travelling and hiking with a colleague and a group arranged by the travel agency around the volcanic islands of Sicily. It was the eve of my 10th birthday.

-A long thread-

She had left me in the care of her vis-a-vis flat neighbor, whom I knew well and liked. This lady is 80 years old and peculiar, but Mami had been caring for her cat in the past and vice versa. She also asked the lady from downstairs to step in just in case. Both had keys and a..

.. manual with photos and instructions . Both had been visiting us and shown all the important things to take care of. In addition Mami placed 4 cameras around the flat (the Ladies knew of course) to check on me. Still she had had a bad feeling leaving me...She called the...

primary caretaking neighbor lady once a day (to that ladies great annoyance) and checked the cameras too, whenever she could get WiFi. She also checked the weather forecast for Berlin every day, as she was worried I would get to hot in our flat, it being located under the roof...

This hour today, one year ago, she could not reach her neighbors. She checked the cameras and saw that the flat was dark, even though it was not late yet. She could not see me. She checked the weather app and saw that there was a big summer thunderstorm raging in Berlin...

She fretted and worried, but the WiFi just didn't work. So she consoled herself that I was in good hands and tried to get a good nights sleep...It was the last sleep she would get for a couple of days...

-to be continued-

The next morning her hiking group was transferring on a modern speedboat to the island of Lipari. It has good WiFi and again Mami checked all 4 cameras but didn't see me. She called neighbor lady 1(NL1), who told her all was well, neighbor lady 2 (NL2) had cared for me.

Mami was relieved and asked her to make sure I got my special tasty food, as it was my 10th birthday.
Only a couple of minutes later she got a WhatsApp call from NL2. The connection was very bad and at first she could not believe what she was hearing.. .
It could not be true! 🙀

That lady said she had opened a skylight window the day before, and thought she has closed it. That morning when she came in to feed me she found the window open wide, and no sign of me in the flat! She searched every room but I was gone! 🙀 At this point my Mami started to cry..

She refused to believe it, she kept crying "Donald, mein Donald! Nein! " and people on the boat were staring with pity at her. The NL2 on the phone said, a friend of hers had seen me this morning in a garden nearby, so she should calm herself because that meant I was alive! 🙏

Mami knew that this cat seen was likely not me. I am very scared of the outside world, having lived indoors all my life. The people Mami got me from told her that I had spent the first 3 years of my life in one room only, a kitchen. When Mami took me on the balcony for the first

time, I freaked and she realized I had never seen the sky and open world before...I got used to it, but still now I run inside, if there is a sudden gust of wind or an unfamiliar sound.
So she doubted it had been me wandering around strange gardens after falling out of a window

in the midst of a thunderstorm. But she needed this hope and immediately told NL2 that she would try to come home as soon as she could and begged her to look for me. She then called NL1 who refused to believe the story and promised to talk to NL2 and to search the flat again.

All this happened while her colleague and friend was sitting next to Mami and the people from her German hiking group. The Italian people on the boat did not understand that all this distress was about a cat, but the Germans did. They were looking away, embarrassed.

Mami didn't care about the reaction of strangers to her shock and distress, but it still pains her to think of the disbelief on the face of her friend from work when she heard Mami say she will try to get home. "But we are supposed to hike up the volcano! And everything is paid!"

In the meantime they had arrived on Lipari and were transferring onto a small private fishing boat, that was supposed to get them to Stromboli. While still having WiFi at the harbor, Mami called my vet and asked them to put up a note and to ask patients if they'd seen me. She

wrote tweets from her own Twitter account to the Berlin police and a local newspaper and all addresses she could think of, asking to RT a picture of me and where I was lost. The only reaction she got was from the police account, telling her that they won't RT. Until then it had

not occurred to Mami to tell my Twitter friends about me missing. She wrote messages to all kinds of people in Germany, even, in her distress, to the parents of my Ex-Dad. She was hoping that one, just anyone would reply: I'll come, I'll look for your Donald.." But none did. 😔

While she was standing on that pier in the rising Italian heat, frantically typing messages and still shivering with shock, feeling very much alone and friendless because even her travelling companion kept an embarrassed distance, something amazing happened!

She opened my Twitter account almost by accident and saw that two days before, @Dax_Cat and his Dad, had sent a DM, innocently inquiring about my upcoming birthday, as they were not sure when it was exactly.
All of a sudden Mami realized: She might be friendless and alone, but..

...I was not! 💕
I had few Twitter friends in Germany, but more than 2000 followers in English speaking countries. And those friends might again have followers in Germany, who could spread the word...
She replied some incoherent account of what had happened to Dax and then posted

a plea for help on Twitter from my account. She didn't ask for money, she just hoped that #followerpower would get her message to people who lived close to us and could search for me. But she could not even have dreamt of the help we got!

At this time Mami had to reluctantly board the small fisherman’s boat, that was supposed to bring them to Stromboli in a slow and exclusive way, with scenic detours for photographers and stops to swim in the azure blue Mediterranean waters.
It was, of course, pure torture. Mami

sat quietly in a corner, while all the others were swimming or sunbathing on the boats roof. Lots of times she was asked to „come into the nice water, it will distract you from your cat!“ and: „You can’t help him from here anyway, might as well enjoy the trip.“ They meant well..

...but they didn’t have a clue how she felt. She couldn’t do anything regarding her return (small fisherman’s boats in the Mediterranean don’t have WiFi) so she closed her eyes an willed her thoughts to reach me. It was not a prayer but something close, maybe a mantra she kept...

...repeating, hoping it would reach me somehow through the force of her love and pure will (or desperation):
„Stay wherever you are. Don’t run! I am coming for you! Hide. Don’t run. Stay close! Mami is coming. Stay away from cars. Hide from dogs. Don’t move and wait for me...“

When they finally! reached Stromboli and were transferred to their hotel (it is still with a very(!) slight regret that Mami remembers that location, it was the nicest yet, as all the lodgings until then had been very simple and ecological friendly private accommodations...

But it had WiFi! And in the meantime she had found a new strength to overcome her desperation, especially after having a look at my Twitter feed!So she immediately started to organize her leaving the group and getting back to Berlin. Less than two hours later she left the hotel..

with a taxi for the port, after hugging her friend from work goodbye and asking for her understanding. She had, through the hotel, got one of the last tickets to mainland Sicily!

On that boat (WiFi again!🙏) she made further arrangements and had the chance to check my Twitter account! And she was amazed at all the friends rallying and retweeting and contacting her via DM! It was quite overwhelming and my Mami was starting to feel the effects of shock..

..dehydration and hunger. And constant fear for me...You all know what it feels like to fear for a loved one, no matter if it is a human or animal you love. It is like a cold iron fist that squeezes your heart into a tight ball and you feel you can not breathe properly...

...In addition Mami felt a great amount of guilt. She had feared something might go wrong,and kept talking to NL1 about it, who kept saying it was all nonsense, as she was quite capable of handling it all. Mami knew that NL1 had her own reasons for that, because Mami shops and...