Cotton

In the early 1980’s when my brother was dating his future wife, he gave her a white cat.  But her mother didn’t want to have a cat in their house, so that is how Cotton came to be our cat.  None of us were excited to have a cat as a pet, but neither did Cotton care to be part of our family.  So, Cotton took up residence around the rabbit barn a good way from our house.  When he wasn’t napping, he stalked birds and caught mice.  My mother felt sorry for Cotton and put out bowls of dry cat food, but Cotton felt entitled and only ate the food when my mother left.  He wasn’t grateful nor did he show respect for anyone.  He lived for years without a bath or a single petting and was content to scowl at anyone who came near.  Cotton developed a bowel blockage, which made him all the more disagreeable, and late one December when it was bitter cold, he died.  My mother found his frozen body curled up in the barn.  The ground was frozen, so Mom couldn’t dig a proper grave.  She broke a hole in the frozen sod but could only manage a few inches of depth with a post-hole digger.  Mom struggled to fit the frozen cat into the narrow hole and had to tamp the frozen dirt around Cotton.  The hole in the ground was barely deep enough for the body, so my mother put a concrete paver on top to seal the shallow grave.  What an ending to a cranky life.  Hey, what is going to be your epitaph?  Will folk be glad or sad when you are gone?  Will you leave a hole in the hearts of those who knew you, or will you pass on with indifference?  If you love the Lord, your passing will be well for you will awake to eternal bliss.  But if you don’t know the dear Lord as your Savior, you will enter into eternal torment.  Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”  Will your demise be lamented, or will your passing go unnoticed like Cotton?  P.S. No picture was ever taken of Cotton, that I know of.)