loss

Last night I buried my beloved cat. She was as glorious and vivacious as ever she was on Wednesday. Thursday morning I thought she had been bitten by something, she was lethargic and sluggish, Thursday night she could barely move and whimpered all night, Friday morning she died not in my arms, not at home, but at the vets. He thinks she had cancer. She was only 9 months old. I had been in Costa Rica for 10 days when Norah followed me. She was a tiny, tiny kitten, maybe 4 weeks old and was sitting meowling under a dirty bush near the center of Santa Elena. I carried her home balancing on my shoulder. Her stomach was swollen and hard and full of worms some of which she threw up that night. But she was so strong and feisty, she survived them and would go for dogs who came near the house. Then Hoss came along and she loved him, they slept together every night, he helped dig the hole we put her in. She was so friendly and would come to a whistle or her name being called, bounding down the path eager to trip us up or attack our ankles. Hoss and she would hunt together, she always let Hoss make the final move which he would invariably blunder and the prey would scuttle off with Norah again in hot pursuit. She loved to have her belly rubbed, she loved to bite one's nose. She was a kitten, full of all the energy, curiosity and love a kitten has and yet the grace and sophistication of a cat. She moved 4 times in her short life, each time adapting with ease and strength to every new surrounding, new challenge. She was friends with every cat she met, she showed great skill in determining which dogs she could approach and rub against. I love her very much and shall miss her intensely.

We buried her on the hill behind the casita, she liked to sit there just by the tree with the good birds in it with a full view of all the paths, close by the lizards and big spiders, where she can hear the sound of the ocean and the rustling of the grass, with nice soft earth to dig in. She was beautiful, Arohi and Michael who had taken her to the vets - a 2 hour journey - while I worked, brought her little body home last night and made her so beautiful: wrapped in a little blanket covered with red hibiscus flowers and surrounded by candles. She looked as though she was sleeping. She was so soft, so peaceful. She returned to the earth at 9:30 under a dark starry sky with the warm wind off the ocean, she loved the wind. I wanted to take so many pictures of her this week but never had my camera. On Thursday night I dreamed that I saw her jump off the edge of the casita and bound into the cashews, I think her spirit was gone to avoid the pain she was in. I shall miss her.