A Good Boy

Charlie

You Were Such a Good Boy, Charlie

Charlie is gone. He had eaten part of a string. His small intestine could not pass it. By the time we figured it out, the prognosis was untenable.

Charlie was found crying in the front flowerbed one June night in 2024. We buried him near Jodi on January 24, 2026.

There are people who do not understand why others get so emotional about the death of a pet. Frankly, I don't understand those people. It hurts.

Charlie had become to us like a child. His passing has left a void. We are devastated by what happened. He is sorely missed. That will continue for quite some time to come.

I thought it would be fitting to pull together the photos we have from his short life and put them here. I tried to put something in each caption that would give you a hint of what a good boy Charlie was. I don't think there's any more I can say than what you find there.

A Short Life in Pictures

Charlie was not remotely pretty when we found him. More rat than cat to my eye. He knew he was safe with the human who rescued him. This bond was strong from the start. We surmised he was likely the runt of the litter. He seemed malnourished and his body proportions seemed a bit odd. Huge ears for such a small head. He was, for the most part, a calm character. That's not to say he was passive. No, not in the least. But he did possess a certain self-assuredness about him. He knew when to stand his ground, when to walk away and when to run. Charlie quickly became a lanky mess. His kittenhood saw him lengthen as you would expect, although he still wasn't exactly a good-looking cat. Elvis (the big black one) and Buster (the blonde tabby) viewed him as some sort of curiosity. Elvis would eventually assume more of a parental role, while Buster morphed into Charlie's big brother. Charlie sensed Elvis was not going to do him harm. Like most big brothers, Buster tolerated Charlie's intrusions into his routines and space. I don't recall there being any real animosity between any of "the boys" as they came to be known around here. There is nothing more telling than a cat sleeping upside down. This is one at-peace individual. He has not a care in the world, and absolute confidence in his personal security at this moment. While it is true Charlie was generally calm, that's not to imply he wasn't vigilant. He was very spatially aware. It was very hard to sneak up on Charlie. He slowly warmed up to the ogre who clomped around the house in those massive boots. If it moved, he was interested in finding out more about it. Now and again, something on the TV would get his attention. That's normal, but still cute no matter how many times I see it. Like most cats, he grew quickly. In a few weeks his size and the quality of his fur had both improved dramatically. After about eight weeks or so, he was starting to show signs of the handsome cat he would become. I think it's funny how much longer his tail got. The long hair still had not shown up, but you could tell he was in good health. As Charlie grew, Buster started losing his advantages one at at time. Buster is a climber. Charlie watched him, and mimicked him constantly. In no time at all, there was nowhere Buster could go to escape this new kid. Elvis is a very sweet cat. He is also incredibly fast and powerful. But he seemed to be quite attached to Charlie from early on. Charlie took full advantage of Elvis' sweet disposition and at times would be quite the irritant. For the most part, however, they loved playing together. This was true of all three of the boys, actually. Buster seemed almost dejected the day Charlie finally made it to the ledge in the livingroom. That had been pretty much Buster's private domain. No longer. There were so many times we witnessed what we felt was Charlie looking up to his big brother, both literally and figuratively. This might be a bit of both. This narrow ledge was another of Buster's favorite high spots. Charlie now had ascended all the heights. We don't know exactly who did this, but we do know it had not happened prior to Charlie's arrival. I call whoever did it the 'papertrator' of the crime. June to October and Charlie is coming into his own. His fur is getting longer and more luxurious, and his pose seems to imply an awareness of his good looks. Elvis is zonked out nearby. Like most cats, Charlie loved getting in the middle of whatever was going on. Here he is helping his mom do some sewing. Charlie grew to be about the same length as Elvis, but nowhere near as massive as Elvis. His fuzziness was deceiving. We soon learned that nothing was safe from Charlie. He had no qualm about investigating anything that caught his curious eye. Charlie also enjoyed watching things fall. You can guess how we know that. Charlie is guarding bags of food just behind him here. He's telling Buster to get lost. By December Charlie had become this gorgeous feline. I nick-named him, "Mr. Fancy Pants". That tail! Long and so fluffy. Our grandkids just went nuts when they saw him. A far cry from the rat-like creature from the flowerbed. There was never any angst about dinnertime. All three just settled down to business and left the others alone. It was great. We had a habit of leaving a lot of toys out. The vacuum seemed to like trying to ingest them. I'm not totally sure what's going on here. He seems to be protesting our use of the table for eating. In his mind, this is a platform for jumping up to the ledge. Or maybe he just wants to be in the middle of what's happening. It became a common occurance for Charlie to jump into the catfood canister when the lid came off. It was like he was laying claim to all its contents. We still don't know who the papertrator was. We normally don't leave those lids up, but we obviously did here. Someone had a great time with this. The Boys liked to look outside. They wanted to be out there, but we denied them that experience unless they wore their harnesses and stayed on the leash. We knew it wasn't really satisfactory, but Buster and Elvis both would do it. Charlie never got comfortable with the harness. Silence around the table. Serious chomping is happening here. By May Charlie had really become a full-blown cat. But he was still small enough to remain mom's lap cat. One really fun thing about Charlie was his love of being under fabrics. I would drape him with my t-shirt and he would wear it around like a cape. It was hilarious. Here he's lying in wait for some unsuspecting soul to wander by. "Hey!" "Let us IN!" The vacuum just loved playing with their toys. In retrospect they should never have been out. Hindsight is 20/20. "What's out there, Buster? What do you see? Let me up, I want to see!" Did I mention Charlie liked to watch things fall? Well, he got a bonus when he pushed this little container of cat food off the counter. Elvis has no qualm about getting some of the unauthorized goodies. Buster in his Home Depot bucket. Charlie watches Buster watching something in the yard. There is an attack imminent, you just know it. Yep. Again. If only Charlie had opposable thumbs. He would have made a great helper. Except for his short attention span. Brothers. Now this carrier remains empty. And Buster, Elvis, and the two humans feel that inside. We all miss you, Charlie.

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