Text Box: THE MIRACLE OF LIFE "Come quick, come quick", their mother said "the time is getting near". She feels that when the kittens come the children should be here. She told them that a big orange Tom took "Kitty" as his wife. "It's wonderful, a gift from God, the miracle of life". Half a year young, "Kitty" is too pained and too scared to appreciate six miracles, blind-eyed and yellow haired. But she knows these lives depend on her and nature tells her how. And as she cleans them, children ask "Mom, can we go now?" But now and then for six more weeks the children visit her to play with six new magic toys made of life and fur. The six weeks pass, the newness gone and new homes yet unfound, Mom bundles up six miracles and takes them to the pound. Where lovingly, with gentle hands and no tears left to cry, the shelter workers kiss them once and take them off to die. And "Momma Kitty" now she's called, mourns her loss and then, she's put outside, and of course, gets pregnant once again. Dad tells "Kitty" STOP THIS NOW or you won't live here long! But deep inside of Momma Cat, this time something's wrong. Too young, too small, too often bred, now nature's gone awry, Momma Kitty feels it too and she crawls off to die. She too is freed from this cruel world, and from her time of strife. How harsh the truth, how high the price this "Miracle of Life"? by Barry Taylor, DVM