Institutional school
Our family favored pets ever since I was little: we had at least one animal in our apartment at a time. However, there was that one pet, that one cat that was different from every other living thing that shared a life with us at our home. Its name was Tom, he was a simple domestic cat, a gray one. He was an extremely beautiful and smart cat. We grew up together; he was 5 months old when he first entered the threshold of our door. I got him from a friend whose female cat has given birth to six kittens.
There it was, my dream cat playing all around, so full of energy, and so loyal to its owner. Throughout the time I taught it how to chase an object fast enough and how to stop biting me when I said so. Sometimes I even felt that I was not talking to a cat, but to a real person. Usually, cats do not obey as much to commands as dogs do, but Tom was different. Once, while he was lying next to me on the couch, I was telling him a story about something that happened at school, and made me feel down. It seemed that the cat was listening to me and empathizing to every word I said. It is said that the dog is a man’s best friend, but in my case my cat was my number one friend.
Tom grew and time passed by when suddenly he stopped eating and did not want to play as much anymore. He was not that old to start having health issues, so I knew something was definitely wrong. We took him to the vet, and he started asking questions about the cat’s nutrition regime. I remember I used to give Tom a lot of milk and feed him with bone leftovers from dinner. It turned out that part of these bones, most probably chicken bones, got stuck in the cat’s stomach and had perforated its large intestine. Unfortunately, after three weeks of non-stop caring and regular visits to the veterinarian’s, we decided to put Tom to sleep in order to end his struggle and pain. So far, this was and still is the worst day of my life.
Losing something, a living thing, that has been so close to me, losing my best friend, losing the cat that woke up and went to sleep with me, the cat that waited for me every day to come back from school, was devastating. I was destroyed for days, weeks, and still when I think about it, my eyes fill up with tears. Saying goodbye to something that gave me so much joy and loved me endlessly without judging was hard. It was not like I did not know that a day like this would come, but I did not expect it to be so soon. My family and I gave Tom a proper goodbye and buried him not far from our cabin in the woods.
During the summer it was tough being around the apartment, so I tried to avoid the places where I had many memories playing with Tom. When summer approached its end, I had the opportunity to go to the US, continue developing myself, and start living there. It was going to be a new beginning for me, and it was going to be away from all the reminiscences. I knew it could never be the same. Maybe one day I could bond as much with another cat, but connecting to cats is hard. When moving to the US, I took some pictures with me, so that I could at least always carry him with me, and it felt good, it felt like honoring his memory.
My parents and I decided not to have any pets for a little while because all of us were devastated from what had happened. Moreover, moving to the US created new solicitudes which had to be taken care of, and our lives were getting busier. It was just not the right time to have a new cat. My mind was getting occupied by other things little by little.
I still look back at the days that we spent together with Tom, and I smile because it was something that I bet every person would like to feel. Often I look at the couch where Tom would be sleeping if he was still here, and rapidly chase that thought out of my mind because, even though time has passed by, it still makes me sad. It was such an obedient cat - my best friend.
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