Let's Stay Together

    Long ago, when we were all a lot younger, and before I lived with her, Alice used to sing to her cat Madeline a lot. She got the best response with Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." Madeline would frolic, gambol, and  try to sing along. Madeline was not usually a particularly playful cat. She was high-flying and she was talkative, but she wasn't terribly playful. And she was hell to take to the vet.
    The last attribute was her tragic flaw. We eventually gave up trying to take her. When she started throwing up frequently, I changed her food. Frequency was lessened and I thought, wrongly, that she was better, that it was just hairballs.
    Finally, she stopped eating, lost weight dramatically and became visibly wobbly. I took her to the nearest vet and she didn't fight, which I guess should have told me all I needed to know. The vet said she had suffered both kidney and liver failure, and that though she could be kept alive, it was really time for her to go.
    I called Alice at work. She cried. We told the vet we would take Madeline home to spend some time with her, but would bring her back within the week. Alice came home. We fed Madeline some special canned food the vet had given her. She seemed to enjoy it, but couldn't keep it down. She was so tottery that it was pathetic, particularly for one who had been so high-flying so recently. Alice decided it was time, and we went back to the vet.
    Madeline had one shot to let her sleep, and the vet let us spend time with her. Alice sang her "Let's Stay Together" one last time (and goddammit I'm crying again). When she was sleeping, we left the room so the vet could give her the final shot.
    The crying wasn't over for a month, and would have lasted longer but for the arrival from the cattery of a ragdoll kitten Alice named Lily. She made her own place in our hearts, particularly Alice's, and helped the healing a lot.