I love you, Little Mercy

This pic, taken on 4-29-06, was the next to the last picture I had ever taken of the Princess. I would have shown the last one, but it was a bit blurry.

When she came into my life, she was an hour away from death. My dearest Sister Una, and her husband, Shane, had come down to visit me here at the beginning of July of last year. I had taken them to Cedar Forest so Una could shoot some nature shots. We had been sitting at the campground/picnic area of the park, near the restrooms. When it was time to leave, I lead the way and I praise God that I turned around to speak to Una, because movement caught my attention. A small movement of white and I thought it was wildlife and that it was close enough for Una to get a pic of. I moved close to it, only to discover it was a very tiny kitten crammed down against a decaying log for protection.

It was hot that day, so very hot. This baby had been without food and water for who knows how long. She had a wound on her neck and bugs climbed all over her, they way they do when they know something is almost dead. Her poor little eyes were practically gummed shut with pus, but I lifted her up and carried her to the bathroom. I can still see those turn of events right as I type this, as if it just happened this morning. I cleaned her face and cleaned her eyes out, then I turned on the water, holding her against my body as the water poured into my hands and I let her drink, she was so thirsty.

Shane held her a lot on the way back to the house, and I had hopes that they would consider taking her home. They didn't, but she was already bonded to my heart. I got a kitten nursing bottle and human baby food, feeding her the baby food with a spoon and letting her drink the water out of the bottle.

She was my little Princess. She loved to ride back and forth to Alabama in my arms, and when she would settle in for a good nap, she would slid her right arm around against the left side of my neck and sleep.

She was blind in her left eye and she was weak in her left front paw. She didn't have much sensation in her left side, we think it was due to heat stroke when she was waiting to be rescued. She always circled to the right, not enough to empeed her, but to compensate for the loss of sight in her left eye. She played with the best of the cats.

She was ripped from me last night, so very brutally, but a pack of fucking dogs that are so ungreatful to have a home with food and water. She got off of the porch through the screen that had been pushed loose. (Chose your contractors well, those two that built our screened in porch should be shot) I was spending the night with my Grandmother, who was in the hospital. Grandma isn't doing very well, she hardly knew I was there.

Momma told me this morning that the dogs had killed Mercy. I don't think I've stopped mourning. She had her wrapped up on the porch in her favorite blue towel. Momma's favorite blue towel, that is. I lifted her up and sat on the porch swing where I would often hold her, and wept, because my very soul was splitting in two.


Some may wonder why I would ache so much over a cat. She wasn't just a cat, she was my little Princess. She was my baby. I don't have to explain to anyone why I loved her as deeply as I do, I just loved her.

I named her Mercy, because it was God's Mercy that I had turned around when I did. If I hadn't turned when I did as we were leaving the campground, we would have walked away and she would have perished, a tiny little kitten that could fit into the palm of my hand and have room.

My heart aches for you, Little Princess. I am emotionally humbled. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I'm sorry I let you down.