Kit the Cat

For the last few weeks, on our walks, Ella has been playing with a new friend. Kit. A cat. It apparently was a loose cat that showed up at Nelson's house at 9th and Ellicott and he began feeding it while it lived in his backyard. It was a playful little cat, not afraid of dogs. I always enjoyed walking Ella by there, looking forward to a little cat play. It was a fun time.





A few days ago, I was walking Ella by Nelson's house, looking for Kit. Nelson was in his kitchen and through his open kitchen window which overlooked the yards where we and apparently many others played with Kit, he gave me the bad news.

One night, after coming home from running up to the store, two men came up and told him they had found Kit and that a dog killed it. He was heartbroken. Although not a cat person, he had decided earlier that day he was going to get the cat fixed and bring him/her indoors. He always enjoyed watching from his windows, seeing people walking their dogs playing with Kit.

Susan and I were always afraid something like this would happen, that a stray dog would hamr the cat. However, as I spread the news to several neighbors both close and far, a darker theory emerged.

There is a neighbor nearby who has two dogs. One day the son was walking those dogs by Ashley Warner's house. Somehow. . . somehow... somehow those dogs got loose and ran into Ashley's yard, killing her cat, while the son just stood there, taking no action. The father was advised of the cat murder and he became incensed at the cat parents and refused to take responsibility for the killing. Fortunately Ashley's mother is a lawyer and she showed him the light.

Later apparently the dogs got loose and ran into a closer neighbor's yard and killed one of his cats. Again the owner of the dogs became incensed at the cat parent intread of taking responsibility for the death. He said no way could his dogs have gotten loose, that someone must have opened the gate. Police were called and he was taken to court and fined.

Suspicion now falls that his dogs were involved in Kit's death and that perhaps, . . . perhaps, it was deliberate.

If so, there is a special place in Hell waiting. Outer Ring of the 7th Circle of Hell standing deep in the Phlegethon (Dante's Inferno)