In the summer of 1999 my neighbors and I were taking care of a stray cat and her 3 kittens (years later the mother cat "adopted" Ms. Mattie, who then named the cat "Pumpkin"), Shadow was one of her kittens. This was also the year that the government had made a big issue of the "West Nile Virus" and had made the decision to "spray" various locations through out the New York City area and its' surrounding burrows and counties. [NOTE: 12 years later we've grown in the knowledge of what these "sprays" actually were and are, the hazards associated with them, and what we know them to be -- biological insecticides which are sprayed by planes leaving chem-trails in their air-zone locations -- which are highly toxic and hazardous for our entire eco system and for all lifeforms -- human, animal, insect.]

Just prior to the government "spraying" our designated "spray zone area", we neighbors took Pumpkin and her 4 month old kittens (Mama/sister, Simba/brother, and Shadow/brother) and gave them shelter to shield them from these harmful death-spray insecticides (wild life had begun to die off in designated "spray" areas) and kept them within each of our homes (1 neighbor had Mama, 1 had Simba, I took in Pumpkin and Shadow) for 1 week which was the suggested duration period for human beings and pets to be kept indoors as much as possible from breathing in the air-born fumes or from the insecticides residuals left on outside surfaces from these sprays. After that confinement period Pumpkin just wanted out (she wasn't able to adapt to an indoor lifestyle, not even for Ms. Mattie), and being Shadow was rejected by his mother, he was more than welcomed by Fluffy and me to reside with us.

In January 2003 Fluffy was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, in April I made the difficult decision to put him down. After that Shadow wasn't the same. He was continually looking for his friend all over the home and eventually contracted a F.U.T.I., had to medication for a few weeks, and in June of 2003 while being weened off the medications, an unfortunate opportunity arose where he was able to get outside of the home.

I, with the help of others, searched and re-searched the area, put up fliers, called animal shelters, put his litter outside the home in hopes he would pick up his scent ... then the rains came. For 2 weeks it rained so any chance for him to pick up his scent from the litter sprinkling outside was washed away with all the rain ... he was never seen or heard of again. A month later I had a dream that he and Fluffy were together and he was content. When I awoke it was a feeling of knowing Shadow was no longer part of the living world but of the spirit world. It was then that I was able to release my hope and quest in being reunited with him here in the living realm.