His Reason for Visiting

My friend and I sat on the floor, leafing through a dusty stack of family albums.

Mark wanted me to help him pick out a few interesting photos to scan and post on his new website.

We went over the albums as if we were viewing stills of a home movie as each of his three kids came into the world and grew to be the young adults they are now.

The snapshots of birthdays, graduations, travels and holiday festivities immortalized the memories of faces, places and occasions that Mark’s family had encountered through the years.

The photos showed that the kids had been fond of dogs. Various breeds and sizes of dogs showed up in many pages of the albums.

But what struck me, as I scrutinized the photos one by one, was a black-and-white long-haired cat that obviously became an important member of the family.

He sat with the children on what must have been a memorable Halloween because he was dressed in a colorful clown costume and you could almost detect a smile between his whiskers.

“You had cats?” I asked casually.

“A cat. We had one cat. Harry.”

Harry appeared in a couple of Christmas family photos, posing as elegantly as the rest of the family. He frolicked for the kids in several snapshots of them having fun in the backyard. He sneaked in just in time to join a group picture of the family opening presents beside the Christmas tree. And in one of the kids’ albums, Harry actually had a dedicated section—a pictorial.

“Harry must’ve been special to Michelle. She has a pictorial of him here,” I said. I became curious because I grew up with cats and I know the kind of impact they can have on people.

“Oh yes, Michelle was particularly fond of Harry. Well, all of us were. Let’s take a break and I’ll tell you how Harry came into our lives.” Mark helped me off the floor and led me to the kitchen.

While waiting for the coffee to brew, Mark shared a remarkable story.

Their family had just relocated from across the country, and the transition was extremely tough, especially for the kids. Adjusting to new schools, starting new friendships and coping with each other’s anxieties stressed everyone to the breaking point.

Mark and his wife bickered over their new jobs and responsibilities, and the kids resented having to witness the growing animosity. They were all getting on each other’s nerves. The family was falling apart.

Mark remembered that one Christmas Eve, when they were hardly on speaking terms, he had to coerce everyone to dress up and attend mass—to be together as a family, even for one day of the year.

After the mass, as they all quietly hopped into the van to drive home, a curious thing happened—a black and-white stray cat hopped in too.