Somewhere Over The Rainbow

In the light of our many recent losses at CLAW,
I have chosen the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

by Sage Lucinda BugBug Milliken

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful land filled with Kingdoms full of cats. The cats lived in towns big and small, with names like CLAW, and Ailurophilia, The Cat’s Meow, and the peaceful Catuary by the Sea. There were other Kingdoms and towns tucked beneath tall mountains, or sitting beside bubbling brooks. It was rumored that the towns were filled with dogs, and birds, and hamsters. I even heard once that there was a town full of such exotic animals as lions and tigers and giraffes and elephants.

Although I never saw any of those towns, these were the tales we were told as kittens, by our old nannys, our purrents, and our teachers. Some tales were meant to frighten naughty kittens into behaving. I know mew have all heard of the bogeydog who would carry mew off if mew didn’t go to sleep at night. Some tales were meant to delight and entertain. I always loved the story of the circus town, where lions and tigers and elephants rode round and round the whole day long on a thing called a merry-go-round. And some tales were just plain silly. My sisfur SnowLing made one up about a town full of birds called Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Hee hee.

Well, I don’t know if any of that is true or not. Like I said, I never saw any of the other towns. I am a cat, and I liked to be around my own kind. I tried not to feel prejudiced towards those other animals, but they were different, and therefore beneath my notice.

Then one day, as I lay sleeping in a spot of sun, I had a dream. In my dream, I saw a beautiful rainbow bridge. And on the bridge I saw many of my friends and furmily. There was my lovely Auntie Shibui holding Rajah’s paw as they began the long journey across. And there was Patches Jezabelle and little Blue close beside her. On the other side I could see many loved ones waiting with outstretched paws. Uncle Tucker, and Midnight C., and my beloved sisfur BabyCat.

But there was something very strange about my dream. Not only did I see cats on the bridge. I also saw dogs, and birds, and mice, and elephants. Indeed, I saw more kinds of animals than I ever dreamed possible. And as I looked I noticed that there were many animals waiting on the other side. And as each animal stepped off the end of the bridge, he or she was greeted by all the animals there. There were dogs hugging cats, and cats hugging mice. And they were all smiling and filled with joy as they greeted one another as old furriends.

In my dream I smiled, and thought how nice it would be if the world were really like that. How wonderful it could be if we could look beyond the fur, or the feathers, or the fins, and see the animal beneath. For I understood in my dream that we were all really the same.

Suddenly I woke up to mewmie calling us to dinner. But I thought long and hard about that dream. And then I finally realized that the world could be like that land which was somewhere over the rainbow. I could make that world come true myself, by learning all I could about my neighbors. The next morning I started out to go and visit some of those other towns. And as I put my paw upon the road, I smiled. I had taken the first step toward making my dream come true.

Done