I’m not really an animal guy. We got the cat for my little girl and my wife (mainly my wife) about 8 months ago. My daughter, aged 2, doted on the creature, merrily chasing it around the house. However, I was by far its favorite. It jumped on my lap everytime I sat down. It lay on my head every night. It was annoying.
But, I got used to it. It was sweet. And it liked me.
We recently moved out of town, and we knew that there were coyotes around. The cat liked being out-of-doors most of the time. We curtailed its outdoor hijinks in the beginning, but eventually caved, letting her out during the day. She would always howl to be let back in around 6:00 pm or so. The coyotes would usually start howling around 9 or 10.
She has disappeared for a couple of days from time to time, but has always come back.
Last Tuesday, my wife and daughter left to go on a two week trip to visit my in-laws. Friday, the cat didn’t come home. On Saturday, I was getting concerned. I left some food out, hoping that she might return and want let in.
Sunday morning, I check the food and see that part of it was eaten. I was relieved, and expected to see the little thing around sometime soon.
Sunday evening, a neighbor comes to the door. Asks me if I had a cat with a green collar. “Sure,” I said. “The coyotes got it,” he says.
He led me over to the fence separating his property from the road. There, its lips pulled back in a rictus of pain, was half of my cat.
Stupid cat.
My neighbor and I made small talk over my cat’s corpse (“Look, they ripped it’s spine out.”), while his wife was searching for a garbage bag. After standing there for a few minutes, still waiting for his wife, he said that he will get rid of it if I wanted him to. I briefly considered burying the cat, but it was only half of it. I asked him to throw it away for me.
Man, I threw this thing off my lap countless times. It got hair everywhere.
Damn cat. Now, I have to explain to a two-year old that her pet won’t be around anymore.
Damn. . .