The Shadow
Dear Editor,
This letter is directed to the person (and I use that term loosely) responsible for hitting and killing our beloved cat, Grace, on Oct. 20 between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. at the top of Jefferson Avenue. I hope you can live with yourself for committing such an act and showing zero compassion. Not only did you hit our cat with your car, but you did not even bother to stop and try to help. Unfor-tunately, she passed away after the incident but not immediately. Did she suffer? I don’t know. Do you care? I doubt it. Hopefully you personally get to suffer in some way for this egregious act.
By chance, my wife and our children found her lying in the road soon after the incident. I ended up trying to rush Grace to the emergency vet hospital in Roanoke to at least end her suffering. However, we did not make it and she passed on her own.
To help you better understand, the worst part was trying to explain to our four child-ren why someone would do such a thing without even trying to stop and help. I can understand if the incident was truly an accident (ie. Grace ran in front of your car) and you couldn’t avoid the situation. I cannot understand your callousness and selfishness to not showing some sympathy for an obvious pet. You could have at least stopped and moved her from the middle of the road. But no, you apparently chose to continue about your day.
We can only hope our Grace was not suffering over the last hour of her life as she tried to hang on. Grace was a wonderful companion and will deeply be missed by her family. I question whether you would understand how difficult it was to explain to our 3, 5, 9 and 12 year olds why someone would do such a thing and show no remorse (again, not the incident itself necessarily, but the lack of humanity thereafter). I guess it is the nature of some people, I guess I’ll never understand.
We’ve told our children that God needed a good mouse catcher in Heaven, but the youngest still asks “when is Grace coming back?” Perhaps you would like to come explain death to them, being selfish, uncaring and any other reason why you couldn’t stop and at least try to help?
I’m sure some will argue why Grace was allowed to roam freely and not be kept inside or in her yard. It wasn’t her style and no neighbors ever complained about her presence. I would argue that perhaps the person responsible for ending her life is the one that should be kept in his/her house or yard – we would all be safer.
I hope whoever did this to our Grace manages to read this letter. I would imagine speed also had something to do with the incident, because Grace knew not to hang out in the road and avoided cars, until now. I suspect she did not have time to avoid your murder machine. I hope your speeding through the neighborhood saved some precious time for you, because it did nothing to save our precious Grace.
Finally, Grace you will always be remembered by us, Mom and Dad, Catie, Meagan, Erin and Christopher, and your buddies, Hokie, Luci, Annie, Jenni, and Lily.
Sincerely,
The Harden Family
Forest Hill Avenue
Clifton Forge
