Goodbye

April Fools is usually a day for pulling harmless pranks on friends and loved ones. Unfortunately, none of the Turneys were in the mood as our usually lighthearted family experienced a tragic loss.

Late one evening last November we heard our cat, Kitty, screaming as though he was being attacked so Mom and I ran outside to save our beloved feline. When we reached the front door we saw that Kitty was not being attacked but was instead directing his ire at a little kitten. This precious white fluff of fur with big blue eyes just showed up on our doorstep and Kitty was defending his territory. We decided that someone must have dumped their unwanted kittens on our road and somehow the kitten made it to our house. In need of another "mousing" cat, we decided to adopt the little kitten. Chase named her Francis and we called her Francie or France. During the past 5 months we had grown quite fond of the little kitten who had so surprisingly come into our lives.

Unfortunately, yesterday Francis was taken from us. Around noon Aunt Stephanie discovered her under the house garage door. Apparently Francis had tried to squeeze under the door as Dad closed it on his way to work and she was crushed to death. We were mortified that none of us was aware the poor baby had suffered and died as we went about our morning activities. It was a tragic death and surprising considering we have cameras on our garage doors to prevent such accidents. Kitty and Francis are always triggering the garage door whenever we close it. Sadly, Francie didn't make it this time. Chase buried her next to Gladys behind the house in what is becoming a pet graveyard. Ironically, April 1st is Gladys' birthday. She would have been 18 years old today.

As suddenly and unexpectedly as she came to us, she was taken from us. We only had 5 months with Francie but we loved her and will miss her companionship.