I received a phone call on Monday morning from a young man who had been "accosted" by a little old lady in a back alley of East Hastings. He saw that she was not doing well and needed medical attention, so he took her home with him and offered her a place to stay. She indicated to him in various ways that she had been left to fend for herself because her family could not afford the cost of treatment. The young man phoned me and explained the situation: that she cried whenever she was left alone, that no matter her obvious pain she would get up and follow him whenever it appeared that he was leaving her alone, that she was very hungry, but every time she ate she vomited, that when she coughed, she expressed blood, that she was only contented when being held.

I arranged an appointment for her at a clinic and the young man got her there. The young man has nothing, by the way, and finds himself in a situation similar to the little old lady. He's not ill. He doesn't need medical attention, but deep inside himself he accedes to the similarities. That's what drew them together.

I met them at the clinic. She really was the smallest, frailest, little old lady I have ever met. She greeted me with the sweetest reception I have ever received from anyone.

The doctor examined her carefully and indicated that, despite her sweetness, she was really suffering, assuredly, in a lot of pain. I told him to help her the only way possible. She slipped into death as gracefully as she had obviously lived.

The young man had known her only for days, I, only for minutes. Because she was such a uniquely loving individual, she shared her last moments of grace with us.

This posting is not an attempt to anthropomorphize any being. It is a request that we see every "animal" as a unique individual joined to every other "animal" in an interdependance which is life itself.

This posting is for the memory of a little, old, abandoned, cat.