Francis would have liked an orderly biography; Lucy did not want one. I know because when I started to write the story of her life, called Lucy's Story, about her recovery from catnip, it was not the real story. In the fake story, she took the subway to AA. In reality, she lost interest in the catnip, because it had gotten stale -- one day she turned her nose up at it and walked away. She was still alive when I started work on her story. She lived a remarkable life, for a cat -- even if she had not been a cat -- in a series of wonderful apartment buildings and in five cities. About this book of her life, she sat in my lap and pointed her ears back while I typed, not back flat, but enough back so that I could tell she wasn't a fan of histories herself, even though hers is a good one, with few details too embarrassing to mention, or, if embarrassing in someone else -- not in her -- and for us instructive. In fact, Lucy preferred art, and before she died, she had learned to sculpt using her favorite red yarn -- favorite since early cathood -- in large cursive letters: G, L, J, and the symbol for pi. Lucy Rain Cat, I called her, and Lucy Bourgeoise.
In the 3-part story of Francis' demise, called "Animals, part 1," "Animals, part 2," and "Animals, part 3," the time element is misleading. I wrote all three passages on or about December 29, but the record (that follows) shows December 29 for the first two parts and December 27 for the third part. Technically, the third part was written last, not first, as the line-up suggests. Left in reverse order as I wrote the parts, with most recent near the top, next recent next, and so forth, the story read out of order, so I reordered them. Rather than delete the place for December 27, I reused it. Today is January 1, 2007.
1 comment:
What a posting, [Charles J. Butler on Facebook about his dog's euthanasia and his feeling like a murderer] thank you. I semi-euthanized one cat and let the other die naturally at home. There really WERE differences in the perceived outcomes. My semi-euthanized cat returned in dreams first as a wolverine then as himself locked out of the house for some unknown yet permanent reason. Now a cat that looks EXACTLY like him lives in a house next door. My other cat died naturally at home on her own without resort to euthanasia. There was some agony in it for her, yet it was clearer somehow that she had gone on her own graces. There was a feeling that reminded me of a golf ball sailing into the air and not landing. That little sound the impact of a golf ball makes: dktah!
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