But the cat came back, the very next day, oh the cat came back, you know they thought he was a goner, but the cat came back, he just wouldn’t stay away…..
a song I learned at camp in sixth grade
We got some bad news while on our recent family trip to New York City. Our neighbor called and let us know that a dead cat, fitting the description of our orange cat Spaz, had been found alongside a nearby road in our neighborhood. Spaz is about four years old, he’s the kitten we kept when Kitty gave us that gift, and it wouldn’t be the first time Spaz has been hit by a car. I was just glad it happened while I was with the whole family in New York, giving me a solid alibi (I’m not known as the family cat lover).
My wife and I decided not to tell the kids, no point in ruining out trip. It would wait until the next day, on our way home. So we kept the sad secret. We were all the way back to Virginia when we stopped for a last meal of the trip, knowing our kitchen at home was pretty bare. And when we finished eating, we broke the news to the kids, knowing their would be grieving neighbors waiting at home and we couldn’t keep them in the dark any longer. As you might expect, there were tears and long faces, and it was a pretty quiet drive home, as the song ‘Bad Day’ played on the radio.
So it was with some surprise, as we pulled into our driveway, that my wife said, “Hey, there’s Spaz”, and sure enough, there as Spaz coming off the front porch just as we would have expected had nothing else every come up.
We confirmed it wasn’t Spaz’s ghost, and there’s no nearby Pet Sematary that we’re aware of. We thanked the neighbor who had gone to the trouble of taking ‘someones’ dead cat to the shelter to be cremated, and there was much relief and rejoicing. Welcome back to the family Spaz, we’re glad you’re still with us.