HEART STATION

When I was turning 8, I really wanted to have a cat, since I have always loved how they are. My sister decided it’d be a good gift, and my father is a real animal lover, so he was really into it. It was a weekend and we went to a pet store that now is not there anymore, called “Animal.” When the lady escorted us to the display of persian kittens, she took out a tiny, grey one called “Thundercat,” and happily went on and on about how cute he was, but I looked at this tiny furry, champagne-toned cat at the corner of the display, she was also looking at me, all relaxed and elegant (She’s the sophisticated kind), and I was sold, she was the cat I wanted, no matter how excellent all the others were. I loved that one. We brought her home, and even though my mother freaked out, she ended up loving her anyway. We went to a Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood with her, and my mother kept saying how she didn’t want her to go to the bathroom there at the restaurant. I don’t know how she recieved the message, but when we got home, we saw that actually she had, only she did it on her tail… It does sound gross, but it didn’t even look like it, it took a while to notice, but we washed her up.

Then came the joy of birth, four times. The first time she had kittens was in 2004, when I was coming back from a birthday party and entered the kitchen. Her serene expression and her tiny little paws slowly carressing the floor with her nail. But then again, not all kittens survive and this was pretty much a bomb, whenever one of them died. The other three times were also blessings, but they didn’t catch us by surprise like the first birth. We followed every step of her kitten’s lives, we fed them when they didn’t find where to find food and took care of them all the time. It was the first thing we did when got home from school.

After we got Prince, our male cat, we decided to marry both of them, and her fourth and last litter of kittens were the outcome of this “marriage.” This was around 2005 and we still have the certificate. Then we spayed her and she got a lot more caring and docile, if that was possible. Everytime the window was opened, she’d jump and stay with us or walk around the house. Everybody loved her and out of the 3 cats, everyone’s favorite for being so cute and the most social.

Today, after my sister and I came out of the car, we heard cries from our neighbor, Emellyn, telling us not to get in the house. She was crying and told us to follow her. When we got where she wanted us to be, we saw Xuxa lying on the floor, dead. Her tiny mouth was opened and some blood was inside, her eyes were wide open and her position was still sophisticated, just like how she always had been. My sister and I broke into tears and so did our neighbors. My mother was crying from the phone and Xuxa was sent to the vet to analyze her death. Because of her red mouth, the veterinary believes she suffered of some impact on her nose because it’s a very sensitive area, and it killed her. I can’t even think straight, she meant so much to me, any thought of her makes me cry and writing this post was one of the hardest experiences because of so many tears and memories of our past together. I never thought she’d die so young (4 years old) and so suddenly. I’ll never forget her, my little baby.