Alley Cat

A week ago Sunday my friend Alley Cat was found dead in her bedroom. I have not heard what the medical examiner's report said, so I don't know what the cause of death was. Many are speculating that it was a suicide. While I wouldn't be surprised if it were, ultimately, I don't think it matters. She's as dead today as she would be if she'd been hit by a runaway bus or succumbed sudden food poisoning. More on suicide later.

I don't know how to memorialize my dead friend. She was a big girl, but she was beautiful. She dressed well, always stylish, pulled together. I never saw her hiding in an oversized tshirt and sweatpants. Her beauty was not skin deep, although she had the sparkliest brown eyes I think I've ever seen and an absolutely devilish grin. There was much more to her than that. She was young, she had a way of getting to know people in a deeply personal way (no mean feat in a community where it takes people 9 interactions to associate names and faces).

Her memorial was yesterday. I couldn't go. I'm 1500 miles away, in an ancient, provincial outpost. A capital city where people keep chickens in town, and even just a mile from downtown there are unpaved streets. She's ever on my mind though.