On Wednesday my dad called and told me he was going to have to put his cat down. Miss Kitty had been a stray who started coming around his property 13 or 14 years ago. She was small and had bright blue eyes and no tail. He brought her inside and there she stayed all those years.

My dad said the morning he woke up and knew it had to be done, he wrapped her in a pillowcase as though it were a blanket and held her until the vet got there to put her down. And afterwards he buried her in a little plot in his yard where our other pets are.

Every time I would come visit him, she’d be curled up in her box on his kitchen table. I will miss kissing her head and hearing her little meow.