He Didn't Say Goodbye
Brave: August 2001-April 2010
One of the good books I read over the years stated: cats always say “hello” but the never say “goodbye”. That seems to be true for most cats, especially those independent ones that prefer spending their time in the great outdoors, and come inside when it is stormy, or really cold, or terribly hot. Brave was such a cat. He was raised in my woodpile, brought in by Mother of Pearl, he had one brother Frosty, who was black and beautiful as Brave, and a beautiful Siamese cross sister, Pearl, who did not make it beyond a month after her surgery, and Frosty also had met his fate in being run over. Brave survived several encounters, a drastic one with a large dog, which took him several weeks to heal, and that, of course, was in “his” house and he was welcome. He was the con artist in the neighborhood, everyone knew him and anyone who came in the house when he was inside, was told “she didn’t feed me today, would you like to go to the entry and feed me?”. One day the front door opened and Brave came in and headed for the entry, followed by my neighbor from across the street in the hotel saying: he saw me outside, came over and told me you had not fed him today, and led me right to the door. Another related the story that he would sit on her porch rail, see her in the window and kept talking until she came out and fed him. He was the character of the town. He was even accepted by Giddy, and she detests every other cat in the world, but she loved Brave, they played and kept the house in an uproar until they both tired out.
He left a few days ago, I remember letting him out and telling him to be careful; and I usually did not say that to him.
I know, a lot of you are saying “he was just a damned cat” and yes he was, he was a big cat, black as a panther, heavy and muscled, timid and loving, sensitive and sweet. And if there is a cat heaven, by now he has found someone loving to take him to the entry and open his favorite can of cat food. The end of the Brave era; He Didn’t Say Goodbye.