Tink's Adventure in Heaven

Friends all know that we lost Ty the blogging kitten on Monday. Today Ty's sister Tink went to join her in kitty heaven. (Both died as a result of FIV, or feline AIDS.) I only knew these critters for a matter of weeks, but they carved themselves a very large place in my heart, and I miss them terribly.

Tink lived a lot of the time in Ty's shadow, but she was a sweet, feisty little kitten in her own right who loved to be my bluebird riding on my shoulder (or climb to the middle of my back and cling so we could play "Where Did Tinker Go?") and wrassle with her sister and/or a roll of paper towels, and stand guard on the top level of their kitten house defending it against all comers (i.e., Ty). Anyway, since Ty got to document all her adventures in her blog, I thought Tink should have a chance to have one special adventure of her own. This is Tinky-wink's final adventure:

I miss Ty. I came home from the hospital and she didn't.

And I haven't been feeling good, either. Not-Mom says I look like a stick figure of a kitten, and it hurts when she makes me eat, and when I try to poop, I cry because it hurts and there is blood. I like to cuddle with Not-Mom, though. We did that all day yesterday and today. Not-Mom cried a lot.

Then she and Uncle Pete took me in the car. We went to the hospital again. Our friend Adele kissed me, and then Not-Mom held me and kissed me for a long. long time while I got some shots that made me go to sleep. The last thing I remember is Not-Mom's hand under my face, stroking my cheek and telling me she loves me. I love her, too.

Then I woke up in a sunny garden. Before I could even look around, Ty had jumped on my tail. She looked all fat and sassy again. We wrassled and played in green grass, and then she showed me where we could eat all the tuna we wanted. I was afraid to eat, because eating had made me feel bad, but Ty said I should try it, so I did. And I felt good! (The tuna was extra-good, too!)

There were toys in the garden, and other cats besides Ty to play with. I met a black-and-white cat named Thomas. He said he knew all the good places to eat, and if I stuck with him, he would show me. I met a very big cat named Mr. Hobbes. He was very serious. He liked to sit on a big chair and read books. Mr. Hobbes is very smart. He looked down his nose at me, but when he figured out I wasn't Ty--I guess Ty walked up and bopped him in the nose when she met him; Ty doesn't like it when someone doesn't pay attention to her--he said I could come and learn things from him if I wanted. He called me his new protege. That was funny, because Not-Mom had always said she thought I would be Shawonie the upstairs cat's protege, and that Ty would be Turk the upstairs cat's protege. Was Mr. Hobbes an upstairs cat, too?

There were lots of other cats, too: I met Puff, and Diane, and Jasper (who is also new here and learning his way around, but he is much older than I am, so he arrived knowing stuff I didn't), and lots of others whose names I can't remember.

The toys were pretty cool, too. Ty and I played until we were very tired, and then we found a nice cozy blanket and curled up together to take a nap in the sun. When we woke up it was still sunny. Thomas told me it never gets dark in that part of the garden, but if you go just a little ways away, there is a part of the garden where it is always night, with bright stars and a full moon and a warm breeze. He said lots of cats like to play at night, and we could go there and have nighttime anytime we wanted. Ty and I do like to play at night--and I knew about the night garden before Ty did, even though I just got here!--so we went there. We got all rambunctious with a bunch of other kittens we met there. We played hide and seek and we snuck up on each other and jumped on each other's tails. It was very fun.

But something was still missing: Not-Mom. I went to Mr. Hobbes, because he knows lots of things and I am his protege, and asked him where I could find her. I told her what she looked like, and suddenly he got all quiet. He asked me all about her: what she liked to do, what she smelled like, what it felt like to cuddle against her chest. I told him, and he nodded very wisely. He licked my face and told me that he knew Not-Mom very well, and he loved her, too.

Mr. Hobbes told me to come with him, that there was someone I had to meet. Ty asked where we were going. Mr. Hobbes ignored her, but I told him that Ty loved Not-Mom too, and Not-Mom loved us both, so he said Ty could come with us, as long as she showed him proper respect. I nipped her butt to remind her to behave herself.

We climbed up a big hill at the edge of the garden. From the hill we could see people, and dogs, and other critters, and cats, too. Mr. Hobbes said that the day and night gardens were special for cats, but that there were lots of other places we could go, too. I kept looking at all the people, looking for Not-Mom, but I didn't see her. Mr. Hobbes told me not to worry, I would get to see her soon enough.

At the top of the hill was a person, but I couldn't make out who it was or anything, because there was a cloud of light that made everything all fuzzy. A hand reached out of the cloud and picked me up. I squeaked because I was scared, but a gentle voice told me it was okay, and soon I was doing one of my favorite things: sitting on someone's shoulder and being stroked.

The gentle voice told me Not-Mom would not be here for a while, but that I should wait for her, because when she came, she would very much want to see me. I wanted to go to Not-Mom right away, though! I cried because I wanted Not-Mom to cuddle me.

Do you want to see Not-Mom? the gentle voice asked me. I did. The voice said Mr. Hobbes could show me the way now. And the voice said that I was an angel now, but I said I already knew I was an angel because Not-Mom always called us her angel babies. Mr. Hobbes laughed at that--which was very strange, because he is so serious. He said now we could go back to the cat garden the easiest way. He ran to the edge of the top of the hill and leaped off--and he could fly! He told Ty and me to try it. Ty wanted to go first--she always wants to be first, so I let her. She jumped and flew! I jumped into the air after her. I am very good at jumping. I jumped very, very high.

Flying is fun! It is like riding on Not-Mom's shoulder, but without anything to hold on to, and you can go anywhere you want just by thinking it! When we flew through the air, I could see Ty's ears wiggle just like when we would drink from our bottle when we were small.

We flew back to the day garden with Mr. Hobbes. We rolled on the ground and romped and played after all the fun of flying. We ran and ate some tuna and some chicken--it was very yummy, and I could feel myself getting all round again. Not-Mom wouldn't call me a stick figure now!

Not-Mom. Hey, we were supposed to get to see Not-Mom. I went to find Mr. Hobbes in his big chair with his books. He said he had wondered when we would be ready.

I followed Mr. Hobbes under some bushes and along a very long path that was only wide enough for a cat. Ty followed, too. We found leaves and balls and stuff to play with along the way. Mr. Hobbes would wait for us, sighing, until we caught up.

At the end of the path there was a pink towel just like the one we had in our kitten house. Mr. Hobbes sat on the pink towel and told us to curl up there, too, and close our eyes. Ty and I snuggled into a pile of kitten. We were tired from our adventures.

But when we closed our eyes, I could see Not-Mom! She was sitting in the big yellow chair by the desk where we would play with the pens and the Slinky. Not-Mom was crying. I remembered how lonely I was alone at night after Ty went away, and I thought Not-Mom must be lonely, too. She told us there were upstairs cats, who we were going to meet one day if we got better, but there were no upstairs cats with Not-Mom in the yellow chair. It made us both very sad to see her cry.

Mr. Hobbes said he liked to visit Not-Mom when she was lying in her bed because he always liked to sleep next to her, but we could visit her anywhere we liked. He said she wouldn't be able to see us, but she would know we were there.

I jumped to her shoulder, just like I always have, and snuggled myself around the back of her neck. She cried even harder. Ty hopped into her lap, put her front paws on Not-Mom's arm and snuggled against her with her head in the crook of Not-Mom's elbow. We are here, we tried to tell her. We love you. I didn't think she could hear us, but then she whispered, "Oh my little kittens, I always love you." And we were very happy to know that she knew we were with her.

Mr. Hobbes said we could come back and watch her from the pink towel any time. She wouldn't always know we were there, but we could still be with her and watch over her. And just like the gentle voice, he said that Not-Mom would come join us one day, and that when that happened, our job was to cuddle her and welcome her, and we should always be ready for that day. He said that even if it was a long time away, we would still be kittens, and Not-Mom would for sure always love us.

We decided we would find some toys that Not-Mom would like to play with us with, like the Slinky, when she gets here. And I promised I will go to the pink towel place every day--I whispered it in Not-Mom's ear so she would know--so I can always be Not-Mom's kitten and she will always know that I am here, thinking of her, and waiting for her to cuddle me again.

God bless you, my little furry angel. I truly will always love you.