For many years this gentle, ginger tom has sat outside the local shop on a busy village roundabout . Every day villagers, visitors and tourists have come and gone to and from the village shop and Post Office and all have been greeted by Fergus and have given him a stoke and a bit of fuss.. He is always there morning noon and night whatever the weather. Every night I have come home from work from far and wide I turn the Post Office corner into my lane and there is Fergus.
Fergus belonged to a Gentleman next door to the shop but the Lady in the shop has for years provided a chair and cushion in the shop doorway for fergus to take an occasional catnap during the day.
Recently I made a point of stopping the car to walk across and make a fuss of this dear old cat and immediately noticed that Fergus had lost a great deal of weight. He was just skin and bone, his spine and ribs showing through his frail skin. He was clearly very ill and probably in the advanced stages of kidney disease. I wanted to take him to the vets there and then but the Lady in the shop assured me he was receiving treatment. I hurried back home and retrieved my camera and took a few pictures . Somehow in my heart I knew poor Fergus did not have long with us.
Today the chair in the shop doorway was empty, I stopped and with a heavy heart went to speak to the Lady in the shop and I could see in her eyes that Fergus would not be greeting us any more . He had died in her arms in the garden where he had lain every day for over 20 years.
Today the shops on the roundabout seem oddly different somehow now as I turn for home there is no Fergus to greet me .
Farewell darling Fergus, farewell brave boy. Those of us who were privileged to share your life all these years will miss you.
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