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Monday, April 04, 2005

MISSY, MY FRIEND.... 

Missy came into my life on a cold, drizzly, November evening. Becky and I had been walking up and down the road in front of our place several times and over our conversation, I heard a cat meowing. We commented on it and kept walking. The cat was discovered across the road in small brush and she followed us down and back but kept her distance. I mentioned the cat and Becky said, “Yah, she must be a stray. I’ve noticed her for a week or more over across there…..someone has probably dumped her out.”

Those words always bring volumes of pity to me. I can’t think of anything more cruel than to take a pet who trusts you and pitch them out like so much trash. I immediately began talking to her and trying to coax her out of her safety net. Darkness was setting in and the woods were drenched, soaked by several rains and fog was setting in. It would be a miserable night to be alone, without food and needing a dry place to sleep. My coaxing was unsuccessful.

I finally walked to the house and came out with some dry cat food and a saucer of milk. I called her several times and she watched but wouldn’t come closer than across the road and to our front yard. I came in, shut the door and watched to see what she would do. After several minutes of hesitation she came to the food and ate. She was small framed and all black, very dainty. I looked for her the next morning and I didn’t see her any where….but I figured she was where she could see me. I left more food and milk and stayed away from the front of the house. Each time the food would be gone until one morning I opened the door and she was sitting on the porch.

It was the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship. By the last of November she had a little routine. She came night and morning to be fed and I would see her around the edges of the house or yard during the day. She stayed close on our property. One evening I didn’t see her but left her food out. It was untouched but Becky came early and went in the garage for something and Miss Kitty came strolling out of the garage. She had taken refuge under some boxes stored there and seemed quite satisfied. It began a routine of the years Missy stayed with me. Each evening I would take her food to the garage and she would follow me in…..I would close it up for the night so animals wouldn’t come in and bother her….nor could she roam around and get hurt. Each morning I would bring food and she would eat before leaving the garage.

At the time I still didn’t know what sex the cat was so I coaxed her close enough to pick her up and put her in a pet carrier. She was frantic for a while …..especially when I put her in the car. I was quite sure she had been dumped or hit by a car sometime earlier. I took her to our veterinarian and he checked her over good….then informed me that she was kitty leukemia positive. I was just crushed. “It” turned out to be a she so I made an appointment for her to be spayed.

Doc Lewis told me as long as she had good food, a dry place to sleep and someone to love and care for her she may never contract it. He felt sure she would live quite a few years. She was healthy in every other aspect. The day he was to spay her, he shaved her and was ready for surgery when he noticed a scar on her abdomen. She had already been spayed. He called to tell me I could pick her up the next day after she slept off the anesthetic. In those days I did a lot of yard work and stayed outside much of the time. Wherever I worked, she would lay under a bush, a step, or a tree and watch me. She was a lot of company. Warren died a year before she came and I figured that God gave me someone to be a companion to. Many times we sat on the deck together after some mowing or when I just wanted to rest for a while.

Missy was a lady. She walked very daintily and always curled her tail around her back feet after she lay down. She kept much of her independence and I didn’t impose upon that. We both knew where and when to draw the line. Our relationship was strong over the years. She was about a year old when she came to me and I had her for 6-years and 5-months. She would only let me hold or pet her…..she didn’t like men at all and as the years went by our hearts grew together, as one.

One day I noticed she was walking strangely with her front feet. I didn’t know then it would be the beginning of a slow decline for my little friend. Tomorrow I’ll finish Missy’s story.

Until then,
Essentially Esther