The Claudia Brown

My friend Roger and I were sipping coffee on the front porch this morning when our black cat, Princess Long Tail, ran onto the lawn with something tiny in her mouth. Princess was born on the 4th of July last summer and had been Rachel’s kitten.

“Drop it!” I yelled. Princess dropped the small creature and looked back at me, eyes wide.

“Meow!”

“It’s probably too late to save it,” Roger said. “But I’ll check on it if you want me to.”

Of course I wanted him to and, within minutes, we were making a mad dash out the house on our way to a wildlife rescue in a neighboring county. I forgot my phone and even matching shoes in the sprint to the car! Roger cradled the tiny newborn creature in his hands, keeping it warm and showering it with words of encouragement.

After a 35-minute drive, we surrendered what we learned then was a baby mouse to a hopeful fate. We pulled out of the rescue and back on the main road; and just as I was breathing a heavy sigh of relief, I spotted a church that I recognized.

Then it dawned on me. We were just down the road from the cemetery where Rachel was buried. I had last visited her grave on my birthday, months prior when it was still unmarked.

I spotted her headstone immediately, surrounded by presents from her kids, flowers, and pinwheels. She never looked more beautiful than in the headstone photograph taken by her brother John.

Then, I gasped when I spotted a Chinese lucky cat waving to me below her dancing eyes. A few months earlier, my son and I had visited the Visionary Art Museum with a couple of Rachel’s kids and I bought us all lucky Chinese cats as souvenirs. Now one sat on Rachel’s headstone, eyes twinkling.

On this Memorial Day as Rachel’s birthday month nears to an end, the timing of this visit could not have felt more fitting. Rachel never served in the military, but she had such a strong fighting spirit and was a protective force to everyone she took her under wing, including me!

Once I had felt like that baby mouse: vulnerable, scared, alone; but Rachel’s friendship was like a candle in the darkness, lighting my way forward.

**In these final days of her birthday month,  my wish is that anyone reading this who has any information on her case dig deep within themselves, face their fears of speaking up, and do the right thing.**