Goodbye to Kitty
August 4, 2005 1:45 PM   Subscribe

Goodbye to Kitty - from a book, via
posted by hardcode (27 comments total)
 
I laughed, I cried, I snarfed on "His body will lie beneath the ground, and bugs will eat it."

MetaFilter: kind of pretend baby for us, before you came along

(sorry)
posted by zerokey at 1:52 PM on August 4, 2005


Hey, as an elementary school librarian, I have to say I liked it. Nice illustrations, and the message is gentle-hearted. Not that I didn't snarf on "bugs will eat it" too. Har!
posted by ancientgower at 1:55 PM on August 4, 2005


I'm amazed they let kitty sleep with baby. Don't they know that cats steal your breath when you sleep?
posted by jonson at 2:10 PM on August 4, 2005


Don't miss the poll on the right.

"THERE IS NO KITTY. ONLY ZUUL."
posted by frykitty at 2:22 PM on August 4, 2005


From the story: And so little bits of Clem will fly away with them inside their bellies, high in the sky.

Yep, not weird at all.
posted by tweak at 2:23 PM on August 4, 2005


Well, not as weird as saying a whole person will fly away, high in the sky, after dying, is it?
posted by soyjoy at 2:25 PM on August 4, 2005


soyjoy: nope, not at all. Maybe just more creepy. Unless by whole person you mean flesh and bones too, in which case I don't know what religion you are referring to, because I don't really follow the religion industry all that closely.
posted by tweak at 2:29 PM on August 4, 2005


wahh! thanks for making me cry.

/crazy cat lady
posted by killy willy at 2:34 PM on August 4, 2005


I cried. Swear to God.
posted by The Bellman at 2:34 PM on August 4, 2005


Me too. But ZUUL made me feel better.
posted by frykitty at 2:41 PM on August 4, 2005


"There is no *, only Zuul."
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:56 PM on August 4, 2005


And then another cat will eat the birds. Clem returns home.

Meow.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:56 PM on August 4, 2005


This really good, and really sad, and I am going to hug my cat extra hard when I get home.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:57 PM on August 4, 2005


The poll question that got the most votes:

Poll - Best thing to tell a kid when a pet dies is:

"Kitty has been indefinitely detained due to possible links to terrorism." 41%

I cried too...but didn't snarf at the bugs eating kitty...they do...and the birds do fly away with kitty in thier bellies...so, that's an interesting, non-sentimental, and hopeful slant to take in giving a child something to think about when dealing with death: to show how life comes from death (even if it is realistic in an odd way enough to be adult snark-fodder.)
posted by Dunvegan at 3:01 PM on August 4, 2005


I can't wait to see what Somethingawful does with this...
posted by sourwookie at 3:08 PM on August 4, 2005


Aww. So sad. My kitty just woke up so I gave him some love. The cover is great, too.
posted by effwerd at 3:25 PM on August 4, 2005


It is a circle of life sort of thing, the bugs eating Clem and the birds eating the bugs. I don't know, to me, that seems more amazing than "he is in kitty heaven." I would share this story with my kids when they were old enough.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:28 PM on August 4, 2005


I really liked this, but my brain added to this line:

And so little bits of Clem will fly away with them inside their bellies, high in the sky. And then the the birdies will poop him out onto Daddy's car.

Sorry.
posted by Specklet at 4:18 PM on August 4, 2005


Matthew Hemming is a talent and is the author of the Darth blog, Simon of Space" and many other things. His books are beautiful. We Hussites are very proud of him. Thanks for linking.

The honesty he gives his little girl about death is refreshing, not creepy. What else should be said?

The tryptich is my desktop wallpaper, the second Cheeseburger Brown wallpaper I've had.
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:31 PM on August 4, 2005



"There is no *, only Zuul."

I had to embark on a fantastic internet quest to discover the meaning of that one.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:33 PM on August 4, 2005


This is like the Anti-LOL.
posted by Balisong at 5:28 PM on August 4, 2005


Very, very cool, great post.
posted by JHarris at 5:45 PM on August 4, 2005


Christ, I'm a sap. That totally made me well up. Very touching. Thanks for the post.
posted by Sully6 at 6:59 PM on August 4, 2005


Rats eat the plums
Suzies eat the rats
Plums eat the Suzies
Circle of Life


(no, i don't really expect anyone to get that)
posted by ddf at 9:16 PM on August 4, 2005


I had a Siamese cat named Mehitabel from back before I'd met my wife. When she got old and died, and I had to bury her in the back yard, I had a conversation with my (then seven-year-old) son not all that different from the narrator's. It really helps to talk matter-of-factly with little ones about death and dying. I hope this gets published as a way to help parents talk with kids about pets' deaths.
posted by alumshubby at 1:01 AM on August 5, 2005


*sniff*
posted by deborah at 7:31 AM on August 5, 2005


Crying at work is slightly embarassing.

I lost my kitty this year. It was really tough.
posted by k8t at 11:44 AM on August 5, 2005


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