When the Cat’s Away

While collecting letters for our new Communion Letters file, we came across this story, which is not about UFOs or visitors, but is a kind of after death experience (keep reading).

“Mark” writes: Up until a few days ago, my friend Marge had two black male cats?Cassius and Columbus. They had each been with her for more than five years. Cassius has always been rather distant and aloof toward her, whereas Columbus was very personable and affectionate. The cats’ relationship with each other was one of respectful distance.

Cassius has always been content to stay in his personal space and wait for Marge to bring him his daily canned cat food. Columbus, on the other hand, felt perfectly free to help himself to Marge’s own plates of food, and was not at all shy about reaching his paw onto the plate to swat off a piece of chicken, fish, beef, or any other morsel that caught his fancy. Marge has always been so amused by this behavior that she has never made any effort to dissuade Columbus from displaying such atrocious table manners.

Every night, Marge would go to sleep alone in her bed, and every morning she would awake to find Columbus sitting either on or beside her, purring her awake with gradually more audible noises. (He never failed to remind her that it was time for his breakfast.)

And otherwise, Columbus was usually never more than a few feet away from Marge, taking every opportunity to rub up against her and receive the showerings of petting and affection that Marge was more than happy to bestow upon him. Cassius would always keep his distance as the two of them adored one another. Cassius would always view their love fest with a skeptical smirk and blank gaze that might be translated into people language as, “How obnoxious.”

Sadly, Columbus fell victim to a passing car. Before his spirit had completely departed, Cassius slowly approached the broken body and squatted in front of Columbus in a very peculiar display of compassion and regard. There were some rather odd sounds vocalized by Cassius before Columbus completely passed that were at first regarded as “catgrieving.” And very quickly, Columbus’ life energies were released from the physical form. His lifeless body was immediately buried in a peaceful place in the garden area near the house.

The next morning, as she had for so many years, Marge awoke to the sounds of loving purrs emanating from a cat that was (this morning) resting on her chest. “OK, Columbus……”, Marge began with her usual morning greeting. It wasn’t until she actually opened her eyes to find the formerly aloof Cassius staring her in the eyes that Marge firstrealized that there was something very peculiar in the works. Cassius seemed to have also changed his usual meal procedures, now feeling no shyness about jumping up on Marge’s table to swat-off a piece of chicken, fish, beef, or any other morsel from Marge’s dinner plate that caught his fancy. And then there was the very uncustomary shows of affection toward Marge that Cassius had suddenly added to his daily routine.

But every so often, when Cassius was sleeping, Marge would glimpse the shadowy black form of a cat?exactly the same size as Columbus was?darting here and there, seen from the corner of her eye. Only very rarely would Marge spy Columbus’ ghost when Cassius was awake. And then there are those times when Cassius seems fully back to his old self again. Those are also the times when Columbus’ spirit is most likely to be spotted gallivanting about.

It would seem apparent to everyone who has studied this case that the spirit of Columbus has found a new home, and is now Cassius’ occasional corporeal “roommate.” Marge is not at all surprised by these events (considering Columbus’ strong personality, loving nature, and enjoyment of living). She’ll tell you, “Not much at all has changed around here since I buried Columbus’ body. I still have two cats in one body. It’s a marvelous display of the efficiency of nature, wouldn’t you say?”

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.