Aw, man

Today on my ride south of Iowa city I saw a beautiful gray cat who had been struck and killed by a car. I see many dead animals on each ride: deer, turtles, countless birds, raccoons (one today, in fact), frogs. In Princeton I saw squirrels.

I used to see this little cat all the time on my rides - he would stride around the fields near the sod farm, ranging all the way to the intersection with 520th st. I looked forward to seeing him. He always looked so pleased and proud of himself, like he was surveying his lands. His tail was up, and he marched along with dainty precision. It was very sad to see him there on the shoulder. I stopped at the house where I thought his owners lived but no one was home.