Chapter 24 (Vito) - All Good Things Come To An End

Vito spent the morning with the cats. 

"You're getting to be an old man, now, aren't you, Sake?" he asked, hugging his sweet cat tenderly.

"And look at this little cutie," he said, playing with Whiskers.

"You make beautiful kits, Kobe!"

He was happy to play with the kids when they got home, too.  These were good times!

But, usually all good things eventually come to an end.

(How the hell did KAYLYNN get inheritance? Lol.)

Sookie still couldn't believe her Dad was gone.  She thought of him as she prepared breakfast for the family.  She put away the 4th bowl that she'd pulled out by habit.  One less serving needed now.

Meadow laid on the couch, unsure what to do with her time.  Life seemed unfulfilling without Vito.

She knew the kids were struggling, but she felt powerless to help them.

"Ew! Roaches!" Sookie said, stomping on one by the trash can.  "Quit kicking the trash can over, Tetris!"

Tetris decided to reach out to the pretty girl from the produce stall. 

He was so happy she agreed to come over, after all, they hadn't had a lot of time to get to know each other while she was working.  But, it was enough.

He impulsively gave her a kiss.

Uh Oh.

Her old friend, Makoto, stopped by to check on her.

Perhaps he would be able to help cheer her up.

Sookie is a smart cookie!

"I wanted to see how you've been doing since Vito's passing," Makoto told her.

"Lonely," Meadow said, running her finger down his lapel. 

"Perhaps there's something I can do to help you with that," he generously offered.

Whiskers and Kitty started to look more and more like their mama!  I thought they would be more orange based on their kitten colors. lol

"I heard you were fired!" ex-coworker Peter said, giving Meadow a hug.  "How are you doing?"

Meadow wasn't sure what had come over here, but she'd always thought Peter was a handsome man. 

But now that Vito had passed, there wasn't any reason that she couldn't act on her desires, was there?

Sookie cleaned up the dead roaches.

"I don't know if you killed them Sake, but good boy!" she praised the feline.

Despite Sookie's praising the cats for killing the roaches, Meadow still thought there were entirely too many cats in the house.

Definitely too many untrained cats!

Sookie and Tetris headed to their teen jobs, getting valuable hands-on training for their future careers.

After they came home, Meadow invited family members over for a small going away party for Tetris.

He greeted Tesira with a kiss on her cheek.  "Hey Cuz!"

Meadow slid the cake into the oven while Sookie finished cleaning the counters. 

Almost the entire family tried to cram into Tetris' room in order to see the cats.

"For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow!" Meadow sang as she brought the iced cake to the table.  "For he's a jolly good feeeeeeeellow, which nobody can deny!"

"Congratulations baby. You're the first child in a couple of generations to actually go to University!"

"Thanks Mom, I'm looking forward to it!" Tetris told her with a grin.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" she said, a tear in her eye.

Tetris winked. "It'll be so quick, it'll be like I wasn't even gone!" he promised.

Before Melissa and Tesira left, Meadow offered to let them have Whiskers. 

Sighing, she moved around the table and chairs to clean up the floors.  One cat gone, 3 to go!

Tetris called University to check on his scholarships.  Surprisingly, he didn't get as much as he was expecting!

"It won't be the same without you!" Meadow teared up a little when her son hugged her goodbye.

Then she watched as he got in the taxi and left.

Oh my Lord, I had a heart attack when Sookie started mourning.

Scrolling the house, I quickly made sure Meadow was still safe. Phew!

Poor Sake had passed on without any notice.  Thank you for lifting the Pet Service restrictions & making our elders non-foggy headed!

And because life and death ebbs and flows, sweet little Kobe gave birth to two more beautiful kits.

Welcome to the family Tigger and Winnie!