At some point after Dad came to live with us, Cherokee told me that he was not feeling very good. He begged me not to tell Mom that he was sick, and he continued to play and jump and be his normal self. He did sleep more, and I tried to help him get better. He pretty much stopped eating after a while and I ate his food so that Mom wouldn't know that he was sick. One evening, he ate something and just couldn't hold it in. He did what Mom called projectile vomiting and it all came up. She was very scared and upset. The next day she put him in the box and took him to the vet. I was afraid that I would never see him again, but she and Dad brought him home again, but he was terribly sick and wouldn't, or couldn't, eat. Mom cried a lot and tried to comfort Cherokee. She tried again to give him something to eat, but it came right up.
One night, Mom and Dad went to bed, leaving Cherokee sleeping on a blanket downstairs. During the night, he crawled upstairs and went into the closet. Mom found him in the morning and he was so very sick. He had left a little blood on the carpet and he was moaning. I felt so helpless! What could I do? Dad picked him up and brought him to Mom, who was sitting in the comfy chair with a towel on her lap. Cherokee just lay there moaning, while Mom and Dad petted him and tried to comfort him, all the while crying themselves. After a little while, they wrapped him in the blanket and took him away. I was very scared.
Later on, they came home and lay the towel down on the floor. Something black and white that looked like Cherokee was lying very still on it. I sniffed at it and it had a little smell of Cherokee, but it also smelled of vomit, the vet, and some strange things that I couldn't identify. It lay very still and did not breathe. Dad went out on the patio with a shovel and some other tools. He lifted up some bricks and started digging in the ground underneath. Mom took the black and white thing into the bathroom, put some warm water in the tub and put the thing in. She washed it carefully, as it had vomit on it, then dried it off. She put some smelly oils on it, wrapped it in a white cloth and took it outside. Unfortunately, she had to go off to work, but Dad put the thing in the hole and covered it up. He said a prayer for it.
Where, oh where, was Cherokee? I was so upset and confused. I thought maybe he could explain things to me. I couldn’t find him anywhere. Finally, I went to sleep and I slept a lot after that.
I'm a little upset right now, as memories have overwhelmed me. I must take a very long nap.
Yours,
Apache
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