It has been 4 years since our Sooty has gone. Sooty and Sweep joined us from Cats Protection on 19th December 1997 when they were 7 months old. They had been abandoned in a cardboard box outside what was then known as Petsmart. When they were young, they spent a lot of time together – this is the first photo of that I took of them.
Here are a few more that I took in the following months.
In these 3 photos, Sooty is the one on the left, Sweep is on the right.
They were full of energy and mischief, and I don’t think we have ever laughed as much as when we played with them. They loved to play with the feather on a string, and The Stick Game. This involved poking the feather-on-a-string stick under a lamb’s wool rug when Sooty and Sweep were on the other side, and they had to work out where is was going to come out, and to catch it. You really had to be involved in it to know how much fun it was.
Both Sooty and Sweep grew up to be such handsome boys. Sooty was always a Daddy’s boy, right from the very first time that we met them. He followed Jim around, and loved to sit on his lap.
Sooty loved Christmas. Whenever the Christmas tree box came out, he would always assist in putting it up, checking out the inside of the box, and when the tree was up, he always personally inspected the baubles. Christmas hasn't been the same since he has gone.
In the following photo, Sooty was practising his
look, something he was extremely accomplished at.
At 1 AM on 11th February 2004, we received a call from the police. They told us that Sooty had run out in front of their car, and they could not avoid him.
We threw on whatever clothes we could find, and rushed to where they said they were. I remember us thanking them for letting us know, and Jim carrying Sooty’s body back home. I can’t believe how calm we were, but inside I was screaming – and I still am. I will never understand why he had to die. He was only 6 and a half years old, and he loved to play. He should still be with us now.
That was the only occasion that we had the time to show the body to the remaining kitties, and subsequently they all seemed to understand, and cope with the loss a lot better than we did, even Sweepy.
It was a while after we lost Sooty that I sent off a film to be developed, and when it was returned, it had the last photos that I ever took of him. In the one of Sooty and Sweep together, yet again, Sooty is on the left, and Sweep on the right.
Sweepy, Daddy and I love you always Soots
, and we miss you very, very much. I hope that Monty and Chloe are looking after you at the Bridge, and that they are letting you play to your heart’s content.
