You Were A Good Boy, Jack

“Hey Mama.” My son waited until I turned to face him as I awoke Wednesday (April 10, 2019) morning. “Jack is lying in the road.” As I hurried to grab my glasses and shoes, deep down I already knew the outcome of finding my sweet kitty Jack lying in the road. He was always too skittish and scared to just lie there . . . .

My son and I were quickly able to grab a towel and carefully place his broken body onto it as we carted him away from any more vehicles that might crush him further.

He never knew what hit him. It was fast, and based on how his body appeared as he lay there, he had flown up into the air and was gone probably before he hit the ground.

My husband pretends to not greatly like cats but the look on his face as I told him Jack was killed said otherwise.

Oldest boy digging our sweet Jack’s grave

God was merciful.

My last cat Percy, had suffered awhile before crawling into the woods to die.

My youngest son thanked God over hotdogs at lunch hours later, for letting Jack die quickly and that he didn’t suffer….

We buried him at the edge of the sidewalk that leads into the woods. It was Jack’s favorite spot. He often napped there to get out of the hot sun in the summertime. He protected his spot from others critters quite often, that and his rather growing and smelly compost heap.

As midday approached his mama, Katniss, caught on and could be seen sitting next to his grave in the very spot Jack loved to lay in for hours. It’s hard to watch her sniff the air and roam the yard confused and wondering where her son is. It’s just her now, her companion is gone and there’s no one around but her to defend the territory, no one to play with, no one’s head to lick, and no one to share the two sided cat food dish with.

I have written more about my precious “Jackie Boy” here and as my heart is breaking, I still feel so blessed to have enjoyed him for nearly five years! He was a sweet boy. Never once hissed at me or any of the others and loved lapping milk every morning before going outside to roam. Sometimes he drank so much he burped his contented “thank you”, as an over-stuffed cat does.

You were a good boy, Jack. As you rest in the land where good cats go, I hope you still have fun chasing butterflies, lapping up milk, and most importantly, having sole posession of the compost heap.

Jack AKA “Jackie Boy”

May 8, 2014 ~ April 10, 2019