While collecting letters for our new
Communion Letters
file, we came across this story, which is not about UFOs or
visitors, but is a kind of after death experience (keep reading).
"Mark" writes: Up until a few days ago, my friend Marge had
two black male cats?Cassius and Columbus. They had each
been with her for more than five years. Cassius has always
been rather distant and aloof toward her, whereas Columbus
was very personable and affectionate. The cats' relationship
with each other was one of respectful distance.
Cassius has always been content to stay in his personal
space and wait for Marge to bring him his daily canned cat
food. Columbus, on the other hand, felt perfectly free to help
himself to Marge's own plates of food, and was not at all shy
about reaching his paw onto the plate to swat off a piece of
chicken, fish, beef, or any other morsel that caught his
fancy. Marge has always been so amused by this behavior
that she has never made any effort to dissuade Columbus
from displaying such atrocious table manners.
Every night, Marge would go to sleep alone in her bed, and
every morning she would awake to find Columbus sitting
either on or beside her, purring her awake with gradually more
audible noises. (He never failed to remind her that it was time
for his breakfast.)
And otherwise, Columbus was usually never more than a few
feet away from Marge, taking every opportunity to rub up
against her and receive the showerings of petting and
affection that Marge was more than happy to bestow upon
him. Cassius would always keep his distance as the two of
them adored one another. Cassius would always view their
love fest with a skeptical smirk and blank gaze that might be
translated into people language as, "How obnoxious."
Sadly, Columbus fell victim to a passing car. Before his spirit
had completely departed, Cassius slowly approached the
broken body and squatted in front of Columbus in a very
peculiar display of compassion and regard. There were some
rather odd sounds vocalized by Cassius before Columbus
completely passed that were at first regarded as "cat
grieving." And very quickly, Columbus' life energies were
released from the physical form. His lifeless body was
immediately buried in a peaceful place in the garden area near
the house.
The next morning, as she had for so many years, Marge
awoke to the sounds of loving purrs emanating from a cat
that was (this morning) resting on her chest. "OK,
Columbus......", Marge began with her usual morning greeting.
It wasn't until she actually opened her eyes to find the
formerly aloof Cassius staring her in the eyes that Marge first
realized that there was something very peculiar in the works.
Cassius seemed to have also changed his usual meal
procedures, now feeling no shyness about jumping up on
Marge's table to swat-off a piece of chicken, fish, beef, or
any other morsel from Marge's dinner plate that caught his
fancy. And then there was the very uncustomary shows of
affection toward Marge that Cassius had suddenly added to
his daily routine.
But every so often, when Cassius was sleeping, Marge would
glimpse the shadowy black form of a cat?exactly the same
size as Columbus was?darting here and there, seen from the
corner of her eye. Only very rarely would Marge spy
Columbus' ghost when Cassius was awake. And then there
are those times when Cassius seems fully back to his old self
again. Those are also the times when Columbus' spirit is most
likely to be spotted gallivanting about.
It would seem apparent to everyone who has studied this
case that the spirit of Columbus has found a new home, and
is now Cassius' occasional corporeal "roommate." Marge is not
at all surprised by these events (considering Columbus' strong
personality, loving nature, and enjoyment of living). She'll tell
you, "Not much at all has changed around here since I buried
Columbus' body. I still have two cats in one body. It's a
marvelous display of the efficiency of nature, wouldn't you
say?"
