Goodbye Old Friend (plastoflippancy)

It was Saturday morning, as usual we were waiting to my father to come back from the synagogue to eat breakfast.
While we await my uncle arrived, he sometimes also came to eat we us.
As he approached we noticed that he was holding a small white animal in his hands, it was a little cat cub that he found in his way from his house to ours.

My mother says that I was amazed to see that little creature and fall in love with it instantly. I was four years old and did not know that this small cute cub has very sharp teeth, when my uncle let me hold it I was instantly bitten.
From that moment I didn’t want to get near it any more.
My uncle decided to keep the small cub and named it Snowball because of the cat’s white body.

After couple of month Snowball had grown and my uncles full time job and small story apartment  made him understand the he can’t keep Snowball any more.
Instead of take her to the Israeli SPCA, he ask my parents if we want to keep her. At those days, we lived at apartment with very large yard so there was one condition –  she will stay outside.
So as the days passed our family and Snowball got attached and she became a part of our family and did her duty, she hunt down all the mice and other street cats, a real hero. When one of the family member was arrive from work or school, she was running towards him and welcome him with a cuddle, and we even had unique whistle that make her understand that we are calling her to come.

When I was six years old we moved to a new apartment couple blocs away and for some reason we could not find Snowball anywhere. We search for her everywhere and whistle our unique whistle and still nothing – the cat was gone.
We decided that there is nothing we can do and have to move to our new home without Snowball.

Several days after moving to our new home, I was walking back home from school, and I saw her! SONWBALL! I shout towards her, she slowly ran to me and while she approached I notice stiches on her belly.
I wanted to pick her up to my hands but I was afraid to hurt her, so we walked together to our new home.
Later my parents saw her and explain that Snowball had taken by the authorities during operation to catch all street cats and castrate them.
Snowball didn’t has a collar on her so they couldn’t know that she was house cat.

Our new house was excellent for Snowball a huge yard just for her, a real kingdom.
years have passed and I grew up an so did snowball. We started to the time’s marks on our beloved cat; she became weak and couldn’t see and hear so well anymore, big chunks of her beautiful whit fur started to fall. Those days were very hard for our family, we decided that she suffered enough and we should take her to the veterinarian and let her go in peace.

At the same day that we had to take Snowball to the vet, she disappeared again.
We searched all over the bloc and didn’t find her anywhere.
This time we knew that no one had took her…, my mother said that she probably hides somewhere and taking her last breath quietly.
It was very heartbreaking for us because we wanted to be with her in her last minutes and say good bye to our little family member.

Six month later we redesigned our yard, my father wanted a new and bigger warehouse. While he cleaned the selected area for the new warehouse, from tall grass and bushes, he saw white fur.
He took Snowball and bury her at the other side of our yard.

From that day, our family didn’t have any other pet, we just can’t handle the loss of a close friend again.