Back in September, we had the deeply upsetting experience of having to have one of our cats put to sleep. Alf was 12 years old and we'd had him and his sister for six years. They were rescue cats who came from a difficult background. We are experienced cat owners and have always had rescue cats, but these two took far more rehabilitation than any other cats we've had.
The reason for this blog is that when I was writing Courage of the Railway Girls, I knew that Alf's life was coming to an end. At the time he was still in pretty good shape and thanks to meds and pain relief he was fine in himself. We thought then that we would have him until well into the autumn - November, we thought. We had no idea he would suddenly go downhill or how quickly it would happen.
Anyway, whie I was writing Courage, Alf was very much on my mind and so I gave him a walk-on part in one of the scenes. Earier this week, while I was proofreading the final version of the book before it goes off to be printed, there was my lovely Alf on the page.
It was a moment of sadness, of course, but also one of pleasure and a flood of happy memories. Dear old Alf.
Make A Comment
Comments (0)