Going on that FINAL passage of life, with your, beloved cat, staying with her, all the way, and now, you can, bring her home with you, and she’s, there, to stay, forever! Translated…
Everything happened, naturally, as I’d, imagined it.
Passing through the illness state, arriving at death, and we’d not held a funeral. I’d only, notified a few friends, few family members, then, I’d gone to search online for a crematorium, planned to call them up tomorrow. I’d placed Sissy on the long table in the sunroom, with the towel blanket over her lower extremities, like she’s, only, asleep.
I’d, cleaned up the house top to bottom.
At night, I’d, had a simple supper, but, warmed up half a pitcher of sake for myself. The night, greenish black, a bit, cooled. Sissy was carried to the rug inside the room, I sat on the bed, using my laptop, with the video streaming then. But, the world around me, so silent, without, a single, sound to be heard. I was, in the world of hi-def color, but it’d felt, like I got, stuck, in one of those, black-and-white silent films too.
Morning of September 23, light rain. I’d, called up the crematorium, Sissy was placed into a cardboard box, carried into my car. She’d, hated the car rides, she’d become, antsy every time I took her in, and I’d, tried my hardest, to calm her down. But this time, we both, fell, silent, was that George Winston that was singing at random on the radio?
The rain, in the, light wavering off. The skies are, grayed, and bright at the same time then, the dark clouds, and the white ones, they’d, pushed on one another. The drenched, Highway 90, all the cars all around started, splashing. I’d, gone slowly, with what my map showed me. This was NOT a high-end Hurst, and, I’m, the only one who’s, going to, this, particular, funeral.
We’d, arrived, in a bright and warm living room, I’d, signed the papers for the cremation. An African American man named Tony told me, to come back in the afternoon, to pick up the ashes. I’d handed Tony a Japanese-made golden round box with a cat on it, asked him if he could put Sissy inside? He’d looked at the size of the box, told me, that it should be, no problem.
As I saw Sissy again, she was, inside, this, tiny box. She doesn’t have anything anymore, just some fragments of bones that the fire didn’t take. I’d, carried the box in the palm of my hands, placed it close to my heart, thanked Tony. He had an expressionless face.
The rain had stopped, the sun shone down on my car, we are, on the way back then. As for what music was playing, I have, no memories. There’s still that humidity in the air, the highway started, getting, more and more, traffic as I drove down it, we’re, going home again, together.
Opening the door to my house, it was like, opening up, to a brand new world, nothing is, ever, the same again.
You are here, and yet, you’re, not.
And so, this is your, walking that final mile of life, with your cat, and, going through this process step by step, will help you to cope better, with the loss of your, beloved cat, and, you may need to grieve for her a little longer, but, you will, get better, and only remember the better times you’d come to share, instead of how ill she’d become toward the end.
Life, the Obstacle Course 