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Anonymous
The last day I was working at the Denver dumb friends league I was cleaning and feeding one cat, a black domestic short-hair named Syria. She had been mistreated by a past owner and was ill-tempered with some of the more careless staff, but she always was amiable when I was taking care of her. I guess it was just the extra time I was willing to spend with her that made the difference.
She was scheduled to be put to sleep because of a rather minor bite incident, and the other kennels were filling up with the spring kitten boom that always seems to happen in rural areas. On that last day when I was taking care of her it almost seemed she knew what was coming. She was much more amorous than normal, and came out of her little kennel almost as soon as I had opened the door.
She just clung to the front of my shirt, purring and mewling sorrowfully, trying to get as close to me as possible. I know it was probably just coincidence, but I could almost sense her last goodbye to one of the few people that had been kind to her. After a long session of petting and sitting quietly together she finally got up and did something that still warms my heart to this day. She put one paw on each side of my neck and gave me a single caress and lick on my cheek, then walked back into her cage and laid down.
That night was one of the roughest in my life, I still think about her every now and then.
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