Cleo,
I remember the day Milena told me that a little boy had you at his house. His parents wanted him to get rid of you. She told me that you looked like my other cat, Tigger. I knew that I wanted to help you find a new and loving home. I told Milena that I would pick you up and try to find you a new family. I explained that I could not keep you because I had Tigger, my cat, Pee Wee, my Poodle, and Gizmo my new Pekingese puppy.
When I picked you up I saw that you were a dirty malnourished calico kitten. I quickly brought you home and began to clean you up. Your ears were filled with a blackish brown infection. It took me hours to carefully clean them out with Vaseline but you still bled a little. You were infested with fleas. Your stomach looked blown up and it was because we later found out you had worms. When I was done with your bath I dried you off. It was at that point that I realized I had a special bond with you, and you with me.
I called my mom down to see you and she fell in love with you right away. Once I knew that she wanted to keep you I felt relieved, I could not have dealt with finding you another home and giving you up. The only obstacle would be my dad. He was the sensible one that would lecture us on all the pets we already had and about how we couldn’t save the world. My mother and I decided to put you on the the front steps so that he would be the one to find you instead of us.
I still remember crawling on the floor to put you outside as soon as we saw my dad walking down the street. He saw you and called for my mom, who acted surprised. She made the crazy comment , “maybe Tigger had kittens.” Meanwhile Tigger was already hissing at you and had been fixed for years. My father told me that we could keep you only until we found you a home.
I think deep down he knew you would not be leaving especially once he saw how much we quickly grew to love you. We called you his special 50th birthday gift, I’m sure you were just what he wanted, another cat.
As time went on we realized that you were not just any cat, you were indeed so special. For some reason you loved to lie on my stomach and spread your arms out on each side as if to hug me. I loved when you did this. You were the type of cat that could make anyone love cats because you were at times much like a dog.
I remember walking Pee Wee and Gizmo and you following right behind. Company would come over and you would greet them by jumping into their laps, uninvited of course. Sometimes my parents and I were constantly making each other jealous by seeing whose lap you would choose. You loved it a couple of years later when we moved to a bigger house with a bigger yard and got Lola another Pekingese puppy. You and Lola would always put on a show. Lola would run and you would jump on her. Then she would chase you and you would
bonk her on the head.
My mom will always remember petting you on the head and then you would just decide to bonk her too. She found you really entertaining. My dad would be putting laundry away and there you would be lying in the drawer. I remember you seeing me on the second floor of the house and you tried to climb up the construction ladder to see me. You never grew out of that kitten phase and were always full of energy.
This is why five years later I’m puzzled of why I’m here writing about your memory and why your not here with me anymore. I don’t know why you died but my father found you in the house at the bottom of the basement stairs. My parents were very upset and had a hard time breaking the news to me. They knew how special our bond was. They knew my heart would truly be broken at the realization that you were taken from me before your time. I didn’t want to believe you were gone forever. I cried for hours in my room before I could even come to terms of seeing your lifeless body in the box my mother had made for you.
I knew once I saw you, it would be true that you were indeed dead and not coming back. I was not prepared to see that you left us with your arms spread out, as if to give us, your family, a hug that would last forever. John carried your body out and my mom nailed the top of the box. We buried you in the hole my father had dug for you. And then we said our last goodbyes.
Cleo, losing you is so hard for us to deal with especially me. We all loved you so much. You always kept us laughing. I would do anything to have you back with me again. I miss the way I put my face close to you and you would meet me so that I could kiss you. It’s hard for me to accept that I will NEVER have a cat like you again. Your memory will live on because we will never forget you.
Your loving family,
| Cleo |
| Liz Aronson |