Bama

June 1, 2012

I was leaving a Petsmart location in my hometown when I felt drawn to the adoption center set up in the store. Through the glass window, all the cages were empty except for one. In this lone cage lay a skinny tuxedo cat with yellow eyes. Usually when someone speaks of seeing a cat all alone, we tend to think of pity or sorrow, but Bama's yellow eyes seemed more calm and at peace.

I knew that Bama was the one because she seemed to watch me. I know I could have walked away, but something deep within me stirred and I couldn't allow her to spend another night in the shop all alone and risk losing her the next day to another family or perhaps her being returned to the shelter. I had to ask a sales clerk to help me find the Animal Humane representative who was actually in the back preparing to leave for the night. She willingly stayed.

Bama enriched my life and that of my family in so many ways. For one she seemed to be the guardian of the family. Her antics one morning saved my other cat, Peach, from the chilly darkness of the refrigerator. She was also very keen on keeping me humble. She would often mark my shoes or my backpack or some papers I had left carelessly on the floor. She taught me the value of what was important: naps, family and food. Everything else was not so dire.

Bama loved her catnip. She used to rouse and roll on the top shelf of our cat tree for even just a spritz of catnip spray or a single leaf. Across her the back of her black coat was a white lightning bolt, which if you could scratch hard enough and fast enough she'd lick the air, close her eyes, and stretch her toes.

Only a few weeks before Bama's death on March 23, 2012, our vet discovered that Bama had been shot with a pellet that had lodged in her neck. For seven years that little pellet had stayed there and someone had put it there. But Bama loved our family and she gladly sat with anyone or shared a bed with anyone. She never hated or showed fear of any of us, regardless if I raged at her for leaving her scent on something. She never held a grudge for what someone else had done, and she fought to the bitter end of her life in my arms. She showed me courage, unconditional love, serenity in hardships, and forgiveness.

Submitted by: Martin Roof
Lavaca , Arkansas
US