Charlotte: Rest in Peace.
Charlotte, the cat who has been with Kendall since she was a little girl, is moving on into the next life today. Charlotte has greeted me on Kendall's front porch almost every time I've ever been there. When all the other pets are wild and erratic, Charlotte has always stayed cool. Sometimes I would see her look at the other, newer pets in the house and glare at them and it was always so funny. She has always had this world-weary air to her and could definitely be a bitch, much like Kendall. Also like Kendall, she was fiercely independent like no other pet. Charlotte did not like to be picked up, because she always liked to be in control of what she was doing, but that didn't make her non-affectionate. She loved to have someone pet her and she had one of the most happy-sounding purrs of any cat. She was also capable of some of the most frightening hisses and those cat growls that are like mean meows, and I loved her for it. She was a cat who was not afraid to show you what she thought about something. And when Molly first came to Kendall's house, she was sure that Charlotte would love to rough-house and play with her, but it didn't take a full week of Charlotte growling and slapping Molly across the nose for Molly to get the message, and she hasn't really bothered Charlotte since. Charlotte was also the only cat I've ever seen who was an outdoor cat by choice. She's come inside occasionally, but not without making it known that she'd rather be outside, even in the rain. I love Charlotte and she will be missed, but I take comfort in the knowledge that she has lived one of the longest, most full life of any cat around, and she won't be in pain anymore very soon.