#76 :Death of a Friend

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Scamps was cold. He couldn't seem to get warm, he kept moving around next to the old man he was sleeping with and nuzzling the old man's face. After half a night of doing this the old man, Sam Hill by name,(yeah...cute name....it had been the bane of his existence....) picked up the cat and crawled out of the truck’s bunk. He sat in the driver's seat holding his buddy directly in the air blast from the heater. It was over a hundred degrees in the cab. Sam only had shorts on and was sweating profusely, but Scamp was still cold. He shivered.

Sam held Scamp like a baby and rocked. They sat like that till dawn...the old man dozing occasionally..... cradling his cat. Crooning to his cat.

His dead cat. Scamps died as the dawn broke. Scamps was an Old, Old, OLD cat. There wasn't anything wrong with him, he didn't hurt, he wasn't injured, he wasn't sick..... but he was OLD. He died in the old man's arms, held by his friend and partner. He'd been with Sam since he was tiny kitten. He'd known nothing else. He'd had a good, long, long life.

Silent tears flowed down the old man's white bearded cheek. Sam unashamedly wept for his friend...for himself. BushTop, his other cat, had died heroically months earlier saving the old man's life. Scamps had been no less heroic but Scamps had survived. Now Scamps was dead and the old man was alone.

Again.

Sam wept...for his cat-buddies...for himself.

...........
Next Episode
#77 :At the Animal Shelter…
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#75 :You done Good Boy!
First Episode
# 1 : In the beginning…

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