A Tribute to Cleo

Cleo was one of the Great All-Time Cats. He had led a charmed life in Belmont Shore as he made friends wherever he went. His former owners had abandoned Cleo so he then adopted my boss' neighbor. For some reason, he gave him the feminine name of Cleo.

Cleo was our company mascot, always coming over to nap or be petted, or try to bum food off of me, or sprawl all over Ericka’s desk, making it pretty difficult for her to use her computer. Even though he had a bell put on his collar, Cleo could be counted on to catch many birds – and even a rat! Ugh. He would happily bring them in to show my boss his trophies. One night, my boss woke up to a dead rat in his bedroom. Cleo had climbed in a window to show him this great prize!
Imagine my shock yesterday when I went to work and my boss told me he had some bad news. Before I even had time to react, he said, “Cleo is dead.”

He had been run over in his own driveway by the neighbor who lives over us. Cleo’s owner suspects the guy had been drunk and had pulled into his driveway very fast and very wide the night before. The guy had run over Cleo’s head! The neighbor felt bad (he liked Cleo) but couldn't quite fess up. To his credit, he talked about making a memorial in Cleo's memory on my boss's patio. That way, the neighbors who walk their dogs will know what happened to Cleo, because they'll all miss him.

Poor Ericka was the one who found Cleo. She had the presence of mind to put a towel over him. She had already gone home by the time I had gotten to work. I sat and cried for about an hour and then had to go home.

Cleo will be sorely missed. He was a terrific cat, smart and adorable. I do not relish going to work and not having him there to pet and make a fuss over. I'm glad I had taken these photos with my cell phone on September 1st. Who knew he only had weeks left to live?

The morale of this sad tale: keep your cats in the house. They will be safer and will not miss going outside, especially if they have a cat tree to climb.

Scroll down to see the rest of the Cleo photos.