(Bigadoo, My Trusty Companion)
A couple of weeks after I had attained Fred, came our annual trip to New Mexico. I was quite excited but at the same time worried about my fish while I was to be away. My nanny was given the Herculean task of tending to my treasured friend. That next day I took the longest plane ride of my life.
All I could think of was Fred and as soon as we landed I called my nanny to see how he was. I was assured that everything would be all right and that I could go on my merry way. Besides seeing my spunky grandparents, I also got a chance to see one of my other favorite animals, the lizard. The kind that lived here was the whiptail lizard. Extremely fast and hard to catch, or see for that matter due to their elusiveness.
What the basking lizards didn’t know was that I was faster and I was determined. After a successful day of catching absolutely nothing I temporarily gave up and gazed at them from a distance. While doing so I realized that I hadn’t called Fred in over two days. Nimbly, I zoomed into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. I dialed my home number and anxiously awaited the ring. Unfortunately I didn’t know that I had to dial the number one before making a long distance call, so it never went through.
Frustrated, I dashed into the courtyard to consult my grandmother about the broken phone. Before my frustration could topple out of my mouth she told me to look in the large tree situated in the middle of the courtyard. Glaring back at me with just as much frustration was a small black kitten that couldn’t get out of the tree he had climbed into. My grandmother told me that it had just appeared on the property, and that I should go under the tree to call it down.
Not knowing what to make of the situation, I walked to the base of the tree and called the cat. It looked at me, wiggled its rear and leapt from its perch into the air like superman. By the time I realized that it wasn’t flying but falling quite quickly it had landed on my head. It knocked me flat onto the ground belly up.
Dazed, I got up and looked around for the bomber kitten. I did a full circle completely unaware of the cat’s presence, only to realize it was at the tips of my toes. For what ever reason it was that made us best friends.
The next 5 days were pure glee with my new pal. We slept, ate, and walked together for the whole week. The morning of my departure came upon me faster than I could have imagined. I was unprepared to leave my trusty companion behind. I kissed my grandparents goodbye and turned around. My grandmother asked if I was forgetting anything. I turned back around only to see her arms extended holding my beloved comrade. She handed him off to me and we left for home.
The whole time I had been with my new cat whom my mother had so cleverly named Bigadoo, I had completely forgotten about my dear Fred. When we finally appeared at the front door of our house I ran in readily awaiting an opportunity to see Fred and watch him feed. I opened the kitchen door and immediately noticed that something was different, the room seemed so bare. I was horrified to see Fred’s empty abode standing on the countertop.
There was a note explaining that he had passed away due to overeating. That night I went to bed soaked with tears. I gave him a proper burial and funeral service outside that next day. From this I learned that with every loss, something is gained. In this case it was Bigadoo, but the things that are gained from loss are not always physical. However, I was too young to understand that much of life lesson, so for that moment Bigadoo was a needed comfort.
The end of that summer was not a fond one. The Week after Fred died my family was notified that I had diabetes and needed to be rushed to the hospital. I stayed there for a whole week without my cherished Bigadoo. The days were long and even though my family visited me everyday, all I wanted was my cat.
When I returned he greeted me with an ear-piercing meow. I spent the rest of the day playing with him until I retired to my bedroom where we both slept peacefully.
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