Last Rites for Mr. Merryweather (1)

From STORIES FROM JONES FARM
Copyright December 1986

Synopsis: Alice, Nick, and Erin had had a very hard day. They had brought a white corrugated cardboard box, the size of their favorite picnic basket, home from the Vet's office. Inside the box was their golden Tabby cat who had loved to ride in the picnic basket, but now had died. They buried him under their largest pear tree and said a prayer to God, thanking him for making such a special cat as theirs. Then Mother had a dream....


[Part 1]


"Ready?" asked Grandfather. Grandfather was sitting atop his tractor and had plowed out a special part of the garden under their largest pear tree so that Mr. Merryweather's box could be buried.

"I feel degraded," muttered Grandfather, "taking off from my business to bury a cat!" Mother smiled. She thought of how many pets Grandfather had buried for her through the years. Sure enough, his eyes were wet behind his glasses as always, and he was being gruff, hoping no one would notice. Mother and the children bowed their heads.

Mr. Morris "Pumpkinface" Merryweather had been the children's first cat. The children were four, five, and six years old. They weren't quite sure how old Mr. Merryweather was, because they had found him half-starved in the schoolyard less than a year before and had nursed him back to health. Mr. Merryweather had apparently died of old age, and had aged quickly in a life scrounging on his own for a livelihood. The Vet thought the children had probably been Mr. Merryweather's first family.

"Thank you, God, for making such a wonderful cat as Mr. Merryweather," said Mother.

"Thank you for the day we found him," said Nick, "and for Grandmother who paid for his shots and license. Thank you that he didn't get mashed, sitting in my rocking chair with me."

"Thank you that Mr. Merryweather's golden Tabby fur was just the color of our hair so that we matched," said Alice.

"Thank you that Cat liked to wear my doll clothes," said four-year-old Erin. "Mommy," said Erin looking up, "who's going to wear my doll clothes now?"

"I guess your doll can have them back, now," said Mother quietly, and she added, "Amen."

Grandfather started up the tractor motor and, with an attachment on the front of the tractor, smoothed the dirt over Cat's white box. The box was marked "RUSH--VETERINARY SUPPLIES," and was sealed with bandage tape. The children pulled up some of the golden weeds nearby, weeds Mr. Merryweather had often hidden in for Hide-and-Seek. They strewed weeds over the newly smoothed dirt, and then walked back to their house.