After ten years of serving as my constant companion, familiar spirit and supervisor, my beautiful Gabby left and went away. Enough time has passed that I’m sure she isn’t coming back. I know in my heart that she would be here if she could be.

I always knew it could be this way. She came to us as a stray. She started coming around the house in 2014. She was very wary and would not let us get near her. Nevertheless, she kept coming around. We put out a water dish for her and she seemed to appreciate that. Finally, on a very cold and stormy night she came up on the porch when I was out there. She was wet and cold. I invited her into the house and she accepted the invitation. I opened a can of tuna and fed it to her. She never left after that and she began to let us pet her and pick her up.

She never relinquished her need and demand to go outside. She needed to roam and hunt, especially at night. I couldn’t keep her in the house. She came to us as a free agent and she demanded that she remain that way. I knew that as her life came to a close it would go one of two ways. Either she would stay with me for a series of vet visits until that final one-way vet visit, or she would simply leave and not return again, leaving me to wonder forever what happened to her. That is what I’m left with – a question and some photographs.


Syd Weedon
9/6/2024