...the paw prints on your heart. 
In 1978, I got stationed in Japan with the Air Force nurse corps. I had 2 cats at the time that I left with my parents because they would have needed to stay in quarantine for 6 full months if I wanted to bring them to Japan. That didn't seem fair to them.
One was a dilute orange tabby Manx I named Tribble, after the Star Trek critter. I'd taken her in as a stray during my first AF assignment in San Antonio. She was very loyal, and followed me around like a dog. When I'd go across the parking lot of my apartment complex to visit with one of my colleagues, she'd follow me and wait at that apartment door until I came back out.
She disappeared from my parents' house one day, and never came back. I think she probably went off looking for me.
The other cat, and orange and white male name Tigger, went to sleep on a pile of burlap sacks in my parents' garage, and never woke up.
I'll always wonder if I should have subjected them to the 6 months of quarantine.
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