Back in December Frankie was fading slowly and inexorably towards death but still with us, still yelling at us, still eating like a little hoover, sometimes; still wanting to be petted but mostly sleeping in our bed, only leaving the bedroom to eat and use the litter box.

I would occasionally see, out of the corner of my eye, and even when I turned to look full on, a cat, or rather just the rear of a cat, tail in the air, going around a corner of the room heading down the hallway, or turning the corner into the kitchen. I’d do a double take and get up to check if that was Frankie, needing something. 

It never was. There was no cat. And besides, this cat looked almost black and Frankie was a brown striped tabby. Tho there seemed to be some brown mixed in with the black on that tail.

This happened frequently and after Frankie died, I mentioned it to my husband. The man who believes in nothing, certainly not ghosts or visiting spirits tho over the years of living me and having to deal with my ability to see and hear ghosts and spirits he is fairly accepting of the concept. My husband did kind of a head-snap thing, and said, very quietly “I’ve seen it too”.

We rationally discussed the matter, deciding that it was just an omen, a manifestation of the fact that Frankie was fading fast and would soon be gone. We thought that we would just get up one morning and find Frankie had left. We didn’t think at that point that we would actively have to let her go. 

Thing is, after Frankie had died we were both still seeing that cat, turning a corner into the kitchen or down the hall. There seems to be more brown in the tail now, I don’t know what to make of it.

The day after Frankie’s ashes came home, I saw her sitting in the hall, as she did. Figment of my imagination? Wishful thinking or just remembering? Don’t know. But I’m still seeing the ghost cat. 

And I don’t know what to make of it.