Ruby Tuesday, Rest with the Lord
Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org

By Cee

I have not ever written a long story here. But, I feel it fitting to tell my little story here now.

When I moved to my new location 2 years ago I started attending a local non-denominational church.

I really wanted to find a church home.

One Sunday...after service let out...hundreds of people filed out of the parking lot...while every single vehicle passed by a cat who was lying in the road...clearly visible.

The cat was not there prior to service...or else I definitely would have noticed when driving in.

On top of my hurt and alarmed concern for the cat...my "primal instinct" to get him/her out of the road...to help and assess if he/she was actually alive, or not...I was deeply hurt by the fact that not one car stopped to help the cat. The word "hypocrites" came to my mind.

I was very new to the area...not particularly familiar with the lay of the land.

I pulled over to the side...and first assessed my surroundings in terms of my safety to cross the road; as it was busy and cars were wiping around the curb were the cat lay.

I saw a man and two teenage boys in their front yard...shoveling a flower bed. I asked the man to please help me help the cat.

He did...by removing the cat who was clearly not alive...from the road. In the meantime...I ran across the street to my nearby home...and got a nice sturdy box from my garage...and a baby's blanket. I gently wrapped the cat in the blanket...placed him/her in the box...and into my car. I drove to my house...while knowing...from what the neighbor had said...that the cat was from a nearby house where people haphazardly allowed a great number to roam freely...which was a whole other layer to this matter/issue.

It at once and in no uncertain terms came upon my heart to bury the cat under a lovely shade tree in my yard...in a flower bed that I had been working on.

I dug for close to an hour...all the while praying to Jesus about the apathy that I had seen from the people driving out of the parking lot at church...the likely carelessness of the person who wiped around that curb with their car...hitting the cat...and doing nothing to help the cat. All of my anger and disgust towards the uncompassionate and apathetic humans of this world..came up for me.

Aside where I had dug the grave site, I had placed flowering plants the day before...awaiting to be placed into the ground. One of the flowers (an English Garden plant) was labeled with the name Ruby Tuesday.

So, that is what I named the sweet cat. "Ruby Tuesday." I still did not know if the cat was a boy or girl...but I thought that the name would be nice either way.

The low branches of the tree had little wind chimes which I had bought and placed there only the day before too...along with a pottery bunny (that the woman whom I had just purchased the home from had left behind) aside where Ruby Tuesday lay. I placed a pretty rock (from the adjoining rock garden) as Ruby Tuesday's head stone. I prayed for the sweet cat's soul to be playing and having a good ole time in Heaven now and for all eternity...with Our Heavenly Father.

All the while, I was humming the lyrics of the Rolling Stones tune...Ruby Tuesday. I could not help but be struck by the irony of the lyrics (below).

RUBY TUESDAY
(Jagger/Richards)

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter if it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows
She comes and goes

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you...

Don't question why she needs to be so free
She'll tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost
At such a cost

There's no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind.
Ain't life unkind?

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you...

And that's all I have to say about that. (in the words of Forrest Gump)

For the animals In Christ Our Savior,

Cee

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