I Miss Chaplin
Late in 2000 my grandmother passed away leaving a sizeable hole in my life. Even now I find that I wish I could call her up and have her pick apart my decisions and make me laugh while also having me write down recipes for things with mushroom soup in them.
I drove home for the funeral and when I returned to Minneapolis I decided to "check out" the Humane Society. I wanted a kitten but I met a cat instead. I heard the line "he doesn't let anyone else pet him" and thought for sure that it was used-cat con man tactics... but after an hour of silent observation I thought that it might be true.
The cat was hovering at the back of his small cage and sitting in his litter box as it was the only way to be untouched. When I approached I was allowed to pet the cat's head and I was sold on the idea of this being my new buddy.
I named him Chaplin and took him home that day. He was a tuxedo cat - kind of like Sylvester from Looney Tunes - and absolutely gorgeous. It took awhile but we became best friends.
He had been brought in as part of an unwanted litter. Then he was adopted by a woman who thought that he shed too much and then adopted by someone from the shelter. The shelter woman returned him with less than two weeks at her home because he didn't instantly bond with the other cats there... I liked that about Chaplin. He made choices and picked who his love fell upon.
Then after three years of being pals he got sick. I returned from a business trip of three weeks to find him terminally ill. A bladder infection had run rampant while I was gone and had a toxic effect on the rest of his organs. My roommates hadn't noticed. I had to put my best friend to sleep...
R cried and the Boy cried and I cried and it was horrible. I wonder if there was something that I could have done. I worry that I might adopt another cat only to have something similar happen. I doubt my ability to be the right kind of cat parent and worry about failing another best friend...
but it doesn't stop me from looking at the pictures of kittens the shelters are caring for... I am wishing and hoping and I believe that I will try again. I would hope that Chaplin would approve.
