I shed a few tears today. I had to say good but to my buddy. I met him in the cornfields of Indiana and the last thing I was thinking 14 years ago is that I would get attached to the little guy the way I did. TheLovelySoozie was asking me if we could get a cat. My response was that animals should stay outside and I wasn’t about to be cleaning cat hair the rest of my life.
All that changed when I ran into him in a small town in Indiana. He was being a nuacence to the little old lady. Hanging by her front door, begging to be fed and taken in. She asked the people I was with to take him away and that’s what we did. While in the car I asked them what were they planning to do with him. Their response was, to take him out in the country and let him go. The next thing I know they stopped at Taco Bell and got him a burrito and milk. While he was scarfing dow his food I petted him and realized he was all bones.
Our next stop was a farm house were they would be playing music and I would be tending the fire. I opened the door and let him out, thinking this would be the place that he can spend his life. While tending the fire and having a cold one, I made the decision that when we left if he came back in the truck I would bring him home to TheLovelySoozie. If it was you and someone offered you fast food, wouldn’t you jump back in the truck? Of course you would.
You will read about what happened next in my book. I will now skip forward 14 years and recount the last week of his life. We left for an overnight stay and when we returned he was lethargic and he hadn’t touched his food. We took him to the vet where they rehydrated him and gave him antibiotics. He was fine for a couple of days and then he went back to sleeping all day. My wife insisted that we don’t let him go out. My response was that he ran the neighborhood all his life and it would be a crime to deprive him of that. I followed him out, watched as he did his business and carried him back in. I figured I would give him his favorite food and I opened up a can of tuna. Every time he heard the can opener he came running. He drank the tuna water and went back under the bed. Later he had another and proceeded to jump on the dryer and go out his cat door. I started calling him Lazarus and I was sure he would bounce back. After a few days of hearing him coming and going he went out and we didn’t see him for over a day.
For the first time in three years I overslept and decided to call in to work. While on our walk we heard him under my neighbors porch and spent an hour coaxing him out. When he finally came out he was so weak that he fell over. Our neighbor suggested that we take him in and put him down and my initial reaction was that my wife would never go for that, but I was wrong. An hour later he ended up in his final resting place.
So long Bear, I will miss you!