One More Time With Feeling

There were seventeen cats living in Larry's basement. Why?
To understand that, we would have to go back four days, to the day his sister said she was going to the corner store for a loaf of bread.
To this day , she had not returned. The cats actually belonged to her,his sister , Charlotte.
To understand why Charlotte had amassed a collection of 17 cats, we would have to go back one year, to the day Charlotte's world was sent into chaos.
Charlotte and Larry were two happy teenage siblings, Larry being the elder by two years. They attended a small high school in rural Nebraska and although Charlotte didn't have many friends, she had hobbies which kept her busy; namely origami and bird watching.
They lived in a one story house with their parents.
That Tuesday when the parents walked through the door , Charlotte knew there was something wrong.

"Is Larry home?" her father asked

"No, hes out with Kenny and the boys." Charlotte replied.

"Call him on his cell phone. I need him home." the Father said with some urgency in his voice.

As the father paced back and forth Charlotte did as she was told.
Five minutes later , Larry walked in the door. His mother was sitting on the couch and you could tell she'd been crying.

"Sit down Larry. There's something I need to tell you and your sister." he said

"Now you know your Mum 'aint been feelin' well lately, so we went to see Doc. Mathews. He did some tests and ......well your Mum's got ....." he couldn't seem to say the last word.

"What Dad?" questioned Larry.

"Cancer son, your Mom's got cancer" he said.

"So what do we do about it, treatment? Larry asked


"Nothing son, 'aint nothing to be done. It's stage five. That means she goes to a place where they can make her as comfortable as possible." he explained, his voice breaking.

Charlotte ran to the bathroom and threw up. A few days later the Mother was transported to a hospice in Omaha. It was an hour and half drive. The Father and Charlotte went to visit the mother regularly twice a week. Charlotte did her homework in the car. Larry visited sporadically; when he had free time, which really translates into when he was not hanging out with his buddies.
A few months later , the Mother passed away. Charlotte was heartbroken , as was the father. If she felt alone before, she felt it even more now. Charlotte dealt with the grief by locking herself in her room and crying; the father by drinking. First just one at night ,but slowly his alcohol intake increased. It was to this end that the father met his demise. He went out for a drive one night after having a few too many. He swerved to miss the truck and his car headed front first down a steep hill.
Larry heard the knock on the door first. By the time he opened it, Charlotte had come out of her room. The officer took off his hat and bowed his head slightly. Charlotte instinctively knew something was wrong.

" I;m sorry, there's been an accident." he said. "It's your father. His car went down a hill. He didn't survive. I'm so sorry."
Charlotte felt herself feeling dizzy, so she grabbed the closest chair and plopped down. Larry thanked the officer and closed the door.

Well, It's a good I'm graduating next month, so I can start working somewhere to support us. Charlotte just looked at him; her mind boggled at his cold reaction.

Indeed, Larry graduated and soon landed a job at the local newspaper. Their father had take out a a small life insurance policy which covered the remaining debt owed on the house.

A few months had passed and Charlotte decided it was time to leave the house. She walked down the street and was passing by the row of stores, when she noticed a cat in the pet store window. She went in with some money and came out carrying two little kittens.
The two kittens eventually produced more kittens and so on until there were seventeen cats running around the house.
Finally Larry couldn't take all the cats, so he asked her to move them to the basement.
A year had passed since the death of their Mother. Charlotte was still grieving and feeling empty despite all the feline company.
She had run off that day and taken some supplies. She wandered aimlessly. Meanwhile day turned into night and Charlotte hadn't come home. Larry felt an increasing pit in the bottom of his stomach. A feeling he'd never felt before. Finally the police tracked the sister down. Larry went with them. He peered up in the afternoon sun at the top of the water tower.

"Charlotte it's me, Larry. Please come down, please."

"Why all you care about are your friends and your job" She replied.

"It's not true, you're all I have left. If I lose you .......I have nothing." he added sincerely. He finally felt a connection he never had before and the thought of losing Charlotte scared him.
"Charlotte felt it too, and she slowly climbed down.

" You promise you'll spend more time at home with me?" Charlotte asked

"I promise. I know I haven't been the best brother, but starting today I will."

They hugged and Charlotte started to feel the empty holes inside filling up.They walked to the car in the afternoon sunshine looking forward to a better tomorrow together.