Mouse cat...in memory

This morning as Ambuya was feeding us animals in the kitchen I snapped at Mouse cat...broke her neck and she slowly died in Mum's arms. She is Mum's last animal link to the farm. She was born in a 20 litre tin at the workshop on Erewhon during November 1995. Mum felt sorry for her workshop cat and kittens and brought them all to the house to live. She kept Le Shat and two of her kittens. Mouse cat spent the next 16 years with Mum wondering from one house to another as they moved. When Mum went down to the barns late at night to check on the barn boys and make sure the barn temperatures and vents were all correct, Mouse used to follow her diligently to help check. When they moved from the farm to town, Mouse learned to live in the limited space she now had to live in. She also became accustomed to avoiding the huge cane rats at the bottom of the garden. When we moved again to Shenstone, she adjusted to more space but kept close to home. As the years passed she became more and more of a house cat. But of course I love chasing anything that moves. I like intimidating the cats and other dogs and so Mum often has to reprimand me and remind me that SHE is top dog...
So today, when I snapped, Mouse was in the way...and not fleet enough to escape to the top of the freezer...and so I sat and watched Mum hold her precious cat in stunned silence as she slowly died....
Mouse has been buried in the bottom of the garden with all the other pets who have passed on to better places over the past 8 years....
...and Mum is still just stunned...not really realising that her precious friend has actually gone...

with head hanging low, and shadowing my Mum diligently...

till next time,
Musole