With Little Bit - It Was Kismet

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

He left just like he came.   With just a sigh.   The little guy slipped away peacefully.   We had a great run.  Almost 19 years.

I know you’ve heard the story about how he came into our lives but it’s worth repeating.   That cold rainy day, driving down the road to the quinta.  The windows were damp with fog, the windshield wipers doing their regular whine on a rhythm that was not in beat with the music on the radio or with the potholes in the road.

There was this thing in the road, I could see it but I wasn’t sure what it was.   The closer I got the clearer my destiny came to me.   He was there, just a little bit, about three weeks old, decimated, shivering in the cold rain eating a desiccated frog skin.   I drove by as I said to myself, “we promised, no more rescues”.   Well, he wouldn’t be the last either but we just didn’t know it then.

I drove on and attempted to shake it off as if it was just some other lonely creature who would either find its way or be lost like everything else that Mother Nature gives us and we shrug it off as just the way life is.   I couldn’t help but look back in the rearview mirror and there he was, that little bit, looking up at me as if to say, “hey, what about me?”.   I hit the brakes, jumped out and picked him up.  He sat on my lap on the way to the house and I looked at his pathetic body and wondered what I could do for him.

That was in September of 2000.   He was my shadow.   Everywhere I went, he followed.  I had always wanted a lap cat and that’s exactly what he had become.   He was ornery, difficult at times, a rough houser with the others and pretty much a copy of me.  A real shyster.  He loved everyone and I think everyone loved him, even those that were allergic to cats.  He had that natural attraction.   He was one of my best friends.   He loved to travel and would always hide in my suitcase when he knew I was going away for work.   I’d even call him by saying, “hey Little Bit, let’s go out to the trailer”, and there he would be on my heels.  On work trips, I would call home and I could see him on the Facebook phone and watch his face light up at the sound of my voice.

What made him so special though, was when he knew we would pull into the driveway, no matter if he was in the house or not, he would come out running either from the backyard or his pet door to greet us.

Well, my baby’s gone now but he gave us so much that we could never find that in any other pleasure.  I said my goodbyes days ago and whispered in his ear that we’d see each other soon.   I told him that Tasha, Gum, Gingi, Maggie, Candy, Friend, Summers, and all the others that came into and left our lives would be waiting.   I told him he needed to be a good boy when he got there and treat everyone well.

Adios muchacho.  I’m gonna miss the heck out of my little shadow.