An indoor cat was safe from roads and predators, but what was lost at the same time? What heroic hunting expeditions? What kinglike feelings from the top of an enthusiastically climbed tree? What perfect afternoons languidly cleaning a paw on a freshly mown lawn’s most prestigious sun-patterned corner? Safety was no good if its tariff was a radically diminished experience of life’s wonder. When a happy person or pet dies young, we don’t just say ‘At least they lived a full, happy life’ because we’re trying to console ourselves; we do so because we know, in our heart of hearts, that this is
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