Saying Goodbye To Bella

Lifestyles have changed over the decades.  People no longer seem to have the time or interest in getting to know their neighbors.  I grew up in a neighborhood where all the neighbors knew and watched out for one another.  During my teenage years I resented the lack of privacy.  If I snuck out at night some neighbor was bound to spot me and rat me out to my parents.  This was great for my parents, not so great for me.  When I first moved out of my parent’s home I looked forward to living among neighbors who kept to themselves.  Being young and rebellious I did not want to believe that there were benefits to living in a close neighborhood.  Years passed and my husband and I were able to move our five children into a house of our own.  By then the idea of caring neighbors was almost a foreign concept.  My brother was our realtor and wanted us to look at a house that was on a private lane.  We were reluctant because it was not in the neighbor we were looking in.  The day of our appointment we arrived before my brother.   The owners had already moved into a new home so the house was vacant.  We were in the driveway waiting when one of the neighbors stopped by.  He was checking to make sure no one was trying to break into the house.  This was a good sign to us and helped us to decide to make the purchase.  It was a good choice because the neighborhood is close to what we grew up with.

An incident occurred last week that once again proved to us that we chose the right neighborhood.  It was in the early evening last Tuesday when there was a knock upon our door.  Our neighbor was standing on our porch and asked if we had a black and white cat.  A cat had been hit on the main road and she believed it was ours.  Fearing the worst we all ran down the lane to the street.  When we got to the street we noticed a truck parked to the side and a small group of people.  Unfortunately our cat was the object of their attention.  The lady who owned the truck had seen Bella get hit.  The driver did not stop but this kind lady did.  Several neighbors had come out to see what the fuss was.  One had gotten a basket from their house; another had grabbed a blanket while the third went door to door trying to locate the cat’s owner.  When we arrived at the scene the lady had wrapped Bella up and was trying to comfort her.  A man, who had been walking his dog, stopped and began using his phone to call the animal rescue to come and help the cat.  Bella was still alive but was bleeding from her mouth.  She was frantic and trying to get away.  My daughter’s bundled her into the car and drove to the nearest animal hospital.  Bella was a fighter and she struggled for the 20 minute car ride.  Sadly just as they pulled off the exit she lost her fight for life.  They tearfully brought her back home.

Bella was mostly my daughter Lauren’s cat.  She found a box and lovingly wrapped Bella up in a blanket and placed her inside.  Our backyard is the resting place of many of our past cats and small animals and my husband being the official gravedigger knows the exact locations better than any of us.  We waited for his arrival home before we could bury her.  My five year old grandson spent the time trying to comfort his Aunty.  After my husband had prepared the burial spot, we all gathered round to say goodbye to Bella.  It was an emotional scene.  Lauren gently placed the box in the ground as we all silently watched.  It was an emotional scene until Jr broke the tension.  He looked up at Lauren and very seriously said “Aunty it is time to say goodbye, but Bella is a cat and she does not understand English”.  Then he tells her he will show her how to say goodbye.  With great care he leaned over the hole, cups his hand to his mouth and says “meow”.  The tension was broken as we tried to suppress our laughter.   His actions managed to cheer us up considerably.  While it is a tragic thing event that took Bella from us we were so touched by the care and compassion demonstrated by our neighbors.  Without them she would have been left to suffer and die on the side of the road by herself.  It is heartwarming to know that caring people do still exist.