Riley went to rainbow bridge

[Jeebo]

25. If you did the wrong thing ...

If you did the wrong thing, you did it for the right reasons. You did it because you were TRYING to do the right thing. You were TRYING to make things better for your feline (canine?) friend. You were not trying to do something bad, you were trying to do something good. That is an important distinction.

Incidentally, I'm interested in your canine (feline?) friend's name. A neighborhood cat took up with me. One day I saw him snoozing on the corner of a desk and I suddenly had the thought, this cat has people feeding him, opening doors for him, giving him affection, he's got a free meal ticket for life. He's really living "The Life of Riley". (Do y'all remember that old TV and radio show?) Therefore, if he's living the life of Riley, he must be ... Riley! So, I named him Riley. That name fit the little guy just perfectly.

Riley lived with me for several years, and then I let another cat take up with me. I named her Rose, because she was really pretty, but she had thorns. Once Rose moved in with me, Riley would not enter my house. He started hanging around other neighborhood houses instead. He became a neighborhood cat, with several other houses taking care of him, not just me. I think he just didn't like other animals. He was very friendly to people but he didn't get along with the other critters. I suspect that's why he took up with me in the first place. He came from a house where there were lots of other critters -- dogs, cats, and his own mom and litter-mates. So when another cat moved into my house, he didn't want to stay there any more, either. Riley was never really my cat; he was just a neighborhood cat all along.

I don't know what happened to Riley. One day I just realized, Hey, I haven't seen Riley in a while. And then, I never saw him again. He was a really good little guy and I miss him.

-- Ron