An Unusual Start
Have you ever had one of those days where everything just doesn't seem to go your way? Well I had an unusual day a few years ago that immediately comes to mind…
The date was July 4, 2006 and I had attended a job interview in Newport, Kentucky, I was really looking forward to it as I've been out of a work since February of that year. Luckily it went great; I was told that I had gotten the job! As I walked across the bridge back to my hometown of Cincinnati I figured that nothing could ruin my good mood. As I approached the middle of the bridge, my cell phone rang, it was my mother.
"Jay where are you? You didn't get caught in the rain did you? And how did your job interview go?" My mom asked me with slight worry creeping into her voice.
"I'm on the bridge now mom. No, I didn't get caught in the rain and the interview went great! They told me that I got the job!" I replied excitedly.
"Oh Jay, that's great news! Also don't forget that Chris's Independence Day barbeque party is today. We are already here so just come straight out to Westwood Village ok."
"Sure." I told her. She then gave me the directions to his home before I hung up. I started to run across the bridge as when there is food I'm never to far away! (That and I wanted to get on a bus as early as possible).
I got off the bus in Westwood Village about 30 minutes later and was that much closer to good fun and great food! (I love to eat if you haven't noticed.) I tried to follow the directions my mom gave me, yet still I was lost. I wondered where the hell I was! After 30 minutes of aimless wondering around what I felt was the same street sign I had saw when I first got off the bus, I felt like pulling my hair out in frustration.
"Damn it! What else can go wrong?" I yelled.
Now the law of the universe states that every time you ask if anything else can go wrong, it usually does. And trust me this is no different. As I started to aimlessly walk down another street – that's when disaster struck; The weather man did say that that it was going to rain, but I don't remember him saying anything about a Tornado touching down in front me! So as I was sucked into oblivion the last thought in my mind was 'Damn you, Rich Apuso!'
I later awoke after an untold amount of time. I then took stock of my surroundings and quickly took stock of my environment and the splitting headache that suddenly racked my forehead. I allowed a few minutes to allow the headache to dissipate. 'Where am I' I wondered. I was in a huge forest with trees as far as the eye could see, but I didn't see anything that I could recognize. I wasn't sure but I slowly realized that I wasn't in Cincinnati anymore, and so I had no idea where I was, how I gotten there, or how I was going to get back.
'Well I won't get anywhere standing here, I guess I should see if I can find a settlement' I said to myself as I started down what appeared to be a well worn path through the trees.
Three hours later, I came to a beautiful lake that looked clean enough to drink from much less swim in, it also had a house near it that looked like something that I would see on "MTV Cribs" and a quarter mile from the home there was a hill covered in all types of flowers, with stone stairs that lead to a Japanese Shinto Temple at the top. 'So I'm somewhere in Japan, but how did I get here and why here of all places. Even though, it's does seem to be really peaceful here.'
"Mew? Meow!"
'Huh.' I looked down and noticed a small animal by my foot that I hadn't noticed before. It looked like a mix between a cat and a rabbit, you can describe it as cute with long floppy ears and cotton like tail, but with a cat's body, I never seen anything like it before in my life. (Science was my favorite subject back in high school.) I became curious so I bent down to try and pet it.
"Hey there, I'm not going to hurt you." I said to the creature, but it jumped back away from me. 'I got it!' I exclaimed to myself. I went inside my pack and found my emergency food stash; a medium sized bag of carrots.
"Hey girl, are you hungry? Do want some?" I asked it, since I figured that since it looked like a rabbit it might like them. The next thing I know it suddenly jumps into my arms and looks really happy.
I smiled. "Jackpot."
I started walking towards the temple with the strange animal resting in my arms, she (I think it was female) seemed to be really smart and what can I say she was great company – I couldn't understand what she was saying but she was a great listener. After walking up what looked like 500 stairs, we finally made it to the temple. I could see lights on inside.
"Yes someone lives here! I can finally find out where I am!" I yelled. I excitedly ran towards the temple. Just at that moment there was a huge explosion I was thrown backwards and the temple was reduced to splinters!
"Holy shit! What the hell is going on?" I sunk to my knees and felt like crying. The little creature I later learned was a cabbit (get it Cat + Rabbit = Cabbit) puts its paw on my hand in a gesture that told me that everything will be all right. I put my other hand over the paw and told it thank you.
"So do you want some more carrots?" I asked her.
"Mew!"
"I'll take that as a yes." I said with an amused smile on my face.
"So you have any idea what that was all about?" I asked the little cabbit. She shook her head no. "You know I never introduced myself; my name is Jonte but everyone calls me Johnathan, what's yours?" I asked her as I shook her paw. She then starts writing something in the dirt; I bent down to read it.
"Ryo-Ohki? So that's your name huh? Well it's a pleasure to meet you Ryo-chan and I hope we can be friends." She nods and jumps back into my arms. As I stand to survey the damage I mutter to myself; 'I wonder what's going to happen next?' And at that moment my misadventures with Ryo-Ohki began.
To Be Continued…