Andy Morgan went to mass every Sunday. He never missed one.

He went with his mother, father, baby sister, and on occasion he brought his cat, checkers along.

After mass they all went for lunch and a walk in the park.

One day the unspeakable happened to checkers the cat; he passed away.

And Andy was sad.

The next Sunday Andy told his family that he did not want to attend mass that day.

His family was shocked, especially his mother who wanted to know why.

So she marched up to his room and asked “why don’t you want to come with us to mass honey?”

Andy looked up with a stream of tears flooding his face and said “because God doesn’t love me anymore, he took Checkers away, and now I am sad”.

Andy’s mother explained to Andy that God took checkers to a better place, and that he should be happy for checkers. She also explain to Andy that for every door that God closes, he opens a window.

His mother’s words consoled him, but Andy was still sad.

Andy eventually went to mass that Sunday, and as was their custom, went for a walk in the park.

While in the park Andy went off by himself, and walk through checkers favorite places.

While looking up at checkers favorite tree, Andy spotted a homeless kitten with swirls on his coat.

The kitten came down from the tree, and jump up unto Andy’s arms.

Andy then knew that God had not forsaken him, because he had sent him another cat, which Andy appropriately name Swirls.

Andy never forgot about Checkers, but Swirls made him happy again.

Word Count: 277