Poco

Poco and Robin sitting outside our front door in South Dakota, the morning after he first came to us.

Poco came to live with us nineteen years ago. It was a cool autumn evening when we heard a squalling sound coming out from under our pickup. Peeking under the truck we discovered a tiny kitten making a very hoarse and un-catlike sound. He wouldn’t come out from under, so we rounded up some food, put it in a dish, and placed it on the ground nearby.

A few minutes passed before he came out to devour what was in the bowl, and did it so rapidly that we knew he wasn’t chewing his food properly, so we made a note to ourselves to work with him later on this issue. When he was done eating he began purring like a tiny champ and allowed us to pet him and pick him up. Now nineteen years later this small warrior has taken his leave of us.

There was a lot of life that happened in these intervening years, and from Poco’s standpoint I hope that we were a decent pair of humans to hang out with. To us he was always affectionate and a warm and steady presence in our day. His curling up beside you on a couch could be a great comfort at moments when your spirits were low. A small act that said somehow “I am here and this will pass and I will still be here.”

Of course this is me attributing human feelings and thought processes to a very different creature. Anthropomorphism is more than a little hazardous, so I freely admit that in spite of paying good attention for all these years, I don’t have many clues as to what was in Poco’s mind at any given time. I sometimes had the mildly uncomfortable feeling that his thoughts were on a much higher plane than my own.

As far as I know, the young Poco never let another cat’s challenge go unanswered. He had the notched ears and the scars, and we had the veterinary bills to prove it. But time and infirmities finally caught up with him this Spring, and we had to say goodbye.

Vale, Poco. Vale, brave friend and defender of the back yard. We are missing you greatly. Our hearts are on the ground.

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