Fahruck Sleeping
Acrylic on Canvas, 2023
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The Spirit Cat
They say that cats have nine lives, but Spirit Cat only needed one. At sixteen, Spirit Cat had outlived all of the other cats in the house. There had been eight in his litter and Spirit Cat was the runt which was even more surprising to the humans. When he turned twenty and showed no signs of illness, the humans were even more surprised.
The youngest child, who had known Spirit Cat since he was a kitten, feared Spirit Cat’s death whenever he left home for college. However, on every school break when the youngest child returned, Spirit Cat was still alive and well. When the youngest child graduated from college at the age of twenty-four, he thought surely this would be the end for Spirit Cat, but it was not. Spirit Cat was still there when the youngest child turned thirty. And he was still there when the youngest child turned thirty-five.
One rainy day, the youngest child was driving to work in the city. He had a terrible accident and died. The family was devastated by their loss. They became resentful that Spirit Cat was still alive when their youngest child was gone. In their grief, they began neglecting Spirit Cat. Spirit Cat became lonely and old. He spent most of his time hiding in the depths of closets away from the humans. This went on for years until the daughter of the youngest child discovered Spirit Cat when she was playing hide and seek.
At first, the daughter of the youngest child thought that Spirit Cat was a mouse because he had gotten so small and frail. Upon closer inspection, she realized that he was a cat. She tried to lure him out with food, but he wouldn’t budge. Since Spirit Cat refused to move, the daughter of the youngest child brought blankets for him and gave treats to him in the closet. She spent hours a day in the closet with Spirit Cat, talking to him, petting him, brushing him, and playing with him. She often fell asleep with him in the closet.
The daughter of the youngest child had been visiting Spirit Cat in the closet for a few months when she got sick. She had the flu and stayed in bed for two days. Spirit Cat was worried and ventured out of the closet for the first time in years to look for her. He found the daughter of the youngest child in her bedroom. Spirit Cat climbed his way up the bed and waited for daughter of the youngest child to recover from her illness.
The daughter of the youngest child got better the next day and was overjoyed to see Spirit Cat. She put up a cat tree by the window, made a little cat house for him, and gave him many treats. Spirit Cat decided that it was okay to be out in the world again and stayed with the daughter of the youngest child.
Spirit Cat lived for another ninety years until the daughter of the youngest child died. Their last day together was a sunny afternoon in October when the leaves on their favorite tree turned orange, yellow, and red.