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Tommy and I grew up out in the country in Northern Illinois. I got him from a neighboring farm when I was in 8th grade(October, 1973 - you can do the math!). His full name was Lord Thomas Morris Gallagher, III, which seemed to give him a snobbish attitude. He would sleep with me, under the covers, down by my feet. Talk about a foot warmer!
Tommy loved to go out into the fields surrounding our house and hunt. Sometimes, he would bring his kill home to me. It was pretty gross, but he was so proud of it! When inside, Tommy liked to ambush people's ankles from underneath the chair in the archway between the kitchen and living room. Whenever he saw me standing still, like while washing the dishes, he would jump onto my back and crawl up to sit on my shoulder. He never did that to anyone but me.
In June, 1978, I went to live with my grandparents in the city to work and attend college. In November, 1979, Les and I got married, and in March, 1983, our daughter was born. All that time, Tommy was living the free life in the country with my parents. In May, 1985, after my youngest sister graduated from high school, they moved into the city. For 12 years Tommy had lived where he was able to go outside whenever he wanted. There was no way he was going to adapt to being kept indoors all the time, but it would have been far too dangerous to let him out in the city. After the last load was moved from the country house to the city house, we took him to the vet to let him go quietly to the cornfields of heaven to hunt mice and chipmunks for all eternity.
