“A Little of Cinderella, a Little of Snow White”

Tuesday, October 9th 2018

The following story was written in a Comment on Facebook about two weeks ago.

In the late ’70s I went to Mr. Laffs once with some co-workers from Whitinsville Machine Shop. My younger brother had an apartment on Chester Street for a while. When I lived on Elm Street for 15 years, I used to walk to the Lil General on Social St. for milk and spring water; and I would notice Chester St. because my brother had lived there.

And the back entrance to my apartment building led to Gaulin Avenue. It was a short cut to Cumberland St. and Clinton St. And one Friday, July 12, 1996, I was walking home from the Woonsocket Harris Public Library; and just as I reached the back driveway to Sadwin Apts. on Gaulin Avenue, I noticed a man who went by the name of “Uncle Junior” to his niece. He was trying to give away a very pretty kitten, who could not walk, to his sister-in-law who lived in a tenement house on Gaulin Avenue near Sadwin’s driveway. She said she couldn’t take it. I had been thinking about that time that it might be nice to have a cat. I had never had a pet. I was about 45. So, I stopped on the sidewalk about ten feet away from them, hoping he might offer the cat to me. And he did. His sister-in-law said, “Wait.” She went into her apartment and came back with a shallow cardboard box for the cat and a plastic bowl of cat food and gave them to me. As I was walking up the driveway with the 5-6 month old cat in the box, I noticed her grey-and-white colors; and before we reached the back door of Sadwin’s I knew her name was Charcoal. We took the elevator to our apartment. Charcoal was a bit nervous on the elevator. She probably sensed that we were moving in the elevator and didn’t understand a “moving room.” She stayed in the box, though, like a brave little girl. In her new apartment she was timid at first. She stayed under an end table most of the time; until she got used to her new home. And the only way she could travel was by putting her front claws into the close-knit wall-to-wall carpeting and pulling herself forward. I called the Woonsocket Animal Shelter soon after we got home that first day, and told them what I had. And asked what would happen if I brought Charcoal to them. He admitted that they would likely put her to sleep under the circumstance of her inability to walk. For the next three days, Charcoal could only drag herself around the living room. On the fourth day, I woke up in the morning and Charcoal was walking just as normally as anyone else. And she never had a walking problem again. When we finally got to the Vet several weeks later, the Vet said that Charcoal may have had a dislocated hip; and that it may have just popped back into place by itself. Privately, I wondered if someone had been rough with her and had pulled her by her leg and dislocated it. I never knew for sure. Charcoal lived with me for 12 years at Sadwin’s. And then we moved to Kennedy Manor and she lived another 6 years with me there. At Sadwin’s, we went outside almost every day; so Charcoal got to be outside and walk on the grass and sniff the violets and meet our neighbors. And at Kennedy Manor she got to go out on the porch on the 8th floor; and see through the railings a panoramic view of the City. She really enjoyed just laying down on the floor of that porch and rubbing her side against the cement floor. That was the first thing she did whenever she went out there. I tried taking her outside at Kennedy Manor; but she was not at ease in the back yard with all the cars parked there. So we went up Clinton Street with Charcoal on a leash. She never minded the leash; but the busy street with cars going by fast made her skittish; so, at Kennedy Manor, she had to stay home. Couldn’t walk her in the hallways here, either. It was against the rules. Her last day was January 15, 2014. I’m crying as I write these last words about my buddy girl for 17-and-a-half years. Charcoal grey and Charcoal white. A little of Cinderella a little of Snow White. (Cinders are charcoal grey, are they not? ) I love you, buddy Charcoal; and hope we meet again. I’m so thankful to our Lord that we could be buddies for 17-and-a-half years. Charcoal is a sweet heart.

I sometimes wonder how Charcoal is now. Like to imagine that her spirit and soul were knit to the embryo-in-the-womb of a mother-to-be. And that she was born again as a human baby girl 9 months later. It’s been more than 4-and-a-half years since her departure, now. She could be 4 years old now. A pretty little girl living in a good home. If she’s precocious, she might even be learning to read already. Maybe she’s reading about Cinderella and Snow White. And other stories about cats and dogs. Maybe she likes music, too. And likes Cat Stevens beautiful song: “Morning Has Broken.” Maybe she’ll be entering preschool soon. And then kindergarten and first grade.

Thank you to Cat Stevens and to buyakga1946 and to YouTube.com for allowing this very beautiful song and video to play on this page.

Unbelievers might say, “Man, you’re crazy if you think your cat Charcoal is alive and living in a new body and living a completely new life somewhere!”

Well, it is written:

“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment.

‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’

But we have the mind of Christ.” -1Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV Study Bible.

About the “knitting of the soul” . . .  Lookey here boys and girls. You think I get these ideas from nowhere? : This is what is written in God’s Book:

“And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” -1Samuel 18:1  The Holy Scriptures of The Bible  (King James Version)

And someone might argue, “Yeah, but you’re taking those scriptures out of context.”

Answer: Well, you just go right ahead and read those scriptures in context. Read all of the Scriptures in context. Just remember, you need the help of our Lord’s Holy Spirit to help you understand His Word. And you receive the Helper, His Holy Spirit, by first hearing or maybe even just reading/hearing-in-your-heart the gospel of Jesus Christ and believing that Gospel of Christ. Then, by the grace of God and by the faith of Jesus Christ, you receive Christ Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour. And then, He sends His Holy Spirit into your heart. And you’re born again. And then, He will help you to understand His Word, the Holy Scriptures, as you read them daily. And that is how the seed of His Word, the gospel of Christ, will grow in your heart day by day.

The Gospel of John may be an excellent place in The Bible to begin reading His Word beginning with Chapter One. It would help you to begin your reading by saying a short prayer like: Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, please help me to believe your Holy Word so that I may understand it and love Your Word, to Your glory Heavenly Father and to the glory of Your Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Thank you to rhema marvanne 2018 and thank you to YouTube.com for allowing this song to play on this page. Amen.