Shadow Chen

Shadow came to the Chen family as a small black kitten in the summer of 2008, rescued from a cardboard box outside a grocery store by their youngest daughter, who was nine years old at the time. He moved through their home like he had already been there and was simply returning. He chose his spot on the couch on the first day and kept it for seventeen years. He was not a particularly social cat with strangers, but with the family he was constant. He slept near whoever was sick, sat with whoever was sad, and appeared without fail at the foot of the bed every night at the same hour. The Chen family moved twice during Shadow's lifetime, and both times he adjusted within a day -- walked the new rooms once, found a window, and resumed his routine as though the change had not registered. Shadow passed in April, quietly and at home, which was where he had always preferred to be. His daughter, now 26, drove three hours to be there. The family has been quiet since, in the particular way that houses are quiet when something that was always in them no longer is.