25 CATS, 55 WORDS
Sandra Conaty Brace
Sandra Conaty Brace might have appreciated a short biographical sketch about her. After all, she herself had mastered the 55-word short story — a challenge to the most diligent amateur writer. Mrs. Brace had published much of her work on Web sites dedicated to the genre.
Mrs. Brace lived in Stapleton, Staten Island, and took the 7:40 a.m. ferry across the harbor each day to her job at Risk Insurance Solutions, where she was an administrative assistant. She shared her house with a husband, David, and 25 cats. Well, maybe not exactly 25. "It's probably more," Mr. Brace said, "But I lose count."
Dinner for the cats always caused a minor food riot, but even a riot can have its own poetry. Mrs. Brace placed cat food on seven plates on the kitchen and dining room floors. The groups of cats arrayed around each plate formed a furry constellation of stars, with the plates at the centers and the cats as the coronas.
On Sept. 10, Mrs. Brace, 60, took the day off from work to do chores, fix the carpeting on the stairs that had been torn by a cat, and watch "Judge Judy" on television. Mr. Brace came home at 5 p.m.
He asked her: "Why don't you take another vacation day tomorrow?" She replied, "No, I think I'll go to work."
"And that's what happened," Mr. Brace said. "That's what happened."
I never knew Sandy. But I
I never knew Sandy. But I pull out her yellowed obituary every September 11th. I read it and think of her. In 2001 after the attack, our paper ran every single obituary. I read them all. It was overwhelming at times, but I felt I needed and wanted to read them. I knew I would never remember all their names, so I clipped out Sandy's to keep and remember. One person to focus my thoughts on. I figured she and I would have liked each other. I love cats, and could relate to taking the day off to attend to them. I liked that she wrote as her form of expression. Across the street from my house is our city's Veteran Memorial Park (Beaverton Oregon) We have a monument stone honoring the victims of 9-11. Whenever I take a flower there, I say, "Hello Sandy". Weird to some perhaps, but after reading the story she wrote about her missing cat Orion, I think she would like it. Yep she and I would have been friends if we had ever met. Next year I will again take out my yellowed obituary of Sandy and re-read it. Rest in peace, fellow cat lover. Someday we will meet.
Posted by Janet Erwin
Love and miss you
Love and miss you
Posted by David M. Conaty
Ma am, We are running at
Ma am, We are running at Lackland AFB, TX in your Honor. God Bless your soul and God Bless your family
Posted by Marisa B.
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