Making up and cheering up

Ming the Merciless and Bobbit have been enemies all their lives; they hated each other and would rarely even stay in the same room, but last night as Bobbit lay very ill in a blanket on the settee, Ming jumped up next to her. I moved in because I thought she was going to take a swipe at Bobbit, but instead she settled down close by, faced Bobbit and purred gently for a while. It was very touching and I had enough time to sketch them together. All three cats slept in with us and Bobbit survived another night, although she was mostly unconscious. We’d agreed that if she hadn’t slipped away by Saturday, we’d take her to the vet to be euthanized and sadly, that’s what we had to do, although she was asleep and didn’t have any knowledge of what was happening. Melvyn buried her in a sunny spot in her garden, near her old bros Bola and Sialco.

We were very upset but we’d arranged to babysit our nephew and it was lovely weather after the recent monsoon, so we were out for the rest of the day and you can’t be too introspective with a seven-year old tearing around. This evening, he asked to watch a film and chose Mama Mia. I wasn’t keen at first but it’s hilarious and soon he and I were singing and hand-jiving. The best bit was watching him trying to get his grumpy old great uncle to dance and sing along. He didn’t succeed. The day started so badly, but although we’ll be grieving for Bobbit for a while yet, we’ve been reminded that there’s plenty of joy in life as well.