Beasley

Beasley is dead.

A neighbor found him on the lawn west of his this morning - two doors down from me. I don't know if he was hit by a car or the state dog of Oklahoma got him. He doesn't appear to have any lacerations or external injuries.

I had been keeping him indoors since he got into the fight with another cat about five weeks ago. I didn't even know he was outdoors and if I had known, I would have brought him in.

If the dog killed him, he's at least the second cat killed by the dog. A couple of others have also disappeared and they may have also been killed.

If he was hit by a car, then he's the third this summer. This is after living here seven years and having only two outdoor cats killed by cars.

I'm still sort of assimilating this. I thought Beasley would be around after all the other cats were gone.

Beasley had been with me ten years. He had been with me during all the turmoil of losing my job, my marriage ending, crazy relationships and non-relationships. He went with me to Texas and came back.

I used to tell friends he held the position of Senior Pet - a title which now falls to Smudge, I guess. Smudge has been with me almost as long as Beasley. But I always thought of Beasley as being The Cat, and Smudge as The Other Cat.