Slow Moving Lightnin'

Lightnin’ is gone. He’s been away for a couple of days now. Not at all like him. He arrived at my house in the days after Katrina; a little wild kitten who wouldn’t let anyone come too close. He was mostly black with a white chest, paws and whiskers and amazing yellow eyes. He moved with the grace of an athletic dancer. Slowly he warmed to Barry. Mostly because Barry was generous with the stiff bristled cat brush. And Lightnin’ LOVED that brush. In time relationship grew from allowing us to brush him, to petting him and even picking him up to play. He would sleep at the foot of the bed. And when he wanted to go outside he stood at the back door patiently waiting until one of us would say, “Do you want to go out?” He always responded by slowly raising his paw and stroking the door a few times. Once, when he was occupied with a bowl of cat food in the kitchen, he heard his cat-buddy, Wiz, at the door trying to get the shutters opened. He paused in his meal, walked over to the door, opened the shutters for Wiz and went back to his meal. He is a special cat. So where ever he is, I hope he comes home. And if he is gone forever, I hope he has a friend with a generous cat brush.