Farewell, Charlie

Daughter Amy decided to adopt Charlie from a shelter. She was looking for a big ginger cat with lots of catitude and Charlie fit the bill perfectly. He wasn't all that big at the time, but it was obvious that he would grow quite a bit. Charlie had been rescued from being a full time barn cat. When he discovered that his new family had a barn on their property in Vermont, Charlie was thrilled. During the summers, he only came inside to eat, and that only if he hadn't managed to feed himself enough, as he was a mighty hunter. This was a great arrangement, as the family already had an Alpha Cat, Buddy. Charlie was the Boss of the Barn and Buddy was the Boss of the House. The only rough times were the winters, when they both stayed inside most of the time. There was some hissing and swatting then, but both of them spent most of their time eating and sleeping, so things went along pretty well. Charlie even made friends with the skunks who hung out around and in the barn. Things got a little more tense when the family moved to New Hampshire and no longer had a barn on the premises. From what I have read, Charlie eventually made himself the Alpha Cat, as he was the one who laid claim to the bed and would chase off any other cat who wanted to sleep there. He still spent as much time as possible outdoors, as the family had a large rural property and he had plenty of room to roam. He would come inside every night at about 10:00. One night he didn't come home. The family was able to reconstruct what had happened. Poor Charlie got ambushed by two coyotes near a wooded area. Coyotes don't fool around when they attack, so Charlie probably didn't suffer anything more than a moment of terror and pain. It's sad, but Charlie would never have been happy as an inside cat.  I am sure that the Rainbow Bridge has enough room for every Alpha Cat to have his own territory and pride of cats who want to follow, with no need for fighting about it.  Charlie has probably already found himself a barn and a group of followers and lots of mice to hunt.  Maybe even some skunk friends.

                                   Charlie came to grief near the wood,
                                   So he ran to the Bridge as fast as he could.
                                        Now he is the Boss Cat
                                        Of wherever he's at,
                                  While we shed a tear when we think of that wood.