So, Mom went suddenly into a nursing home in Autumn. Cousins took her cat to their place.

Cat was old w/ health issues. Cat died before Christmas.

Mom had trouble adjusting. It didn't seem right to tell her. So we lied. Said Cat was fine. Made up stories re: Cat's new life...

I visited after Christmas. She was doing better, but we still didn't think she could take the news. Another cousin gave her a Xmas card with a cat that looked like hers...as an angel.

Bit on the nose, but she loved that card.

I framed it.

We all (52 cousins) kept lying.

In February, Mom had settled in, was better physically and mentally...

My cousins told her that Cat was looking a little peaky. I confirmed that he'd been slowing down a bit during my January visit.

We were working up to the big reveal.

Then Mom's nursing home was bought by new owners, who decided to combine Mom's nursing home population w/ another of their facilities' nearby.

No problem - even nicer place. Mom was rather excited.

Should we tell her about Cat, I wondered? No, we all decided. AFTER the move.

Yeah. Well. Covid19 interrupted the move. Mom is in the old nursing home with about half the other residents.

We decided to wait again re: Cat.

We all keep lying. Cat now has good days and bad days. He's keeping warm, evidently.

But yesterday, Mom asked for a recent photo.

She asked my cousin Hope, who *lives* with Cat. And also lives with my cousin Kim.

Kim messaged frantically. Cousins aren't tech-y, and they were in a flap.

I re-dated an old photo, flipped it, recoloured it so it didn't look like Mom's old place, pulled it into closeup...

I sent it to Kim, who couldn't move it to Hope's phone for texting to Mom.

Daughter talked Kim through screenshots. Husband found some more photos of Cat, as reserves.

So now they're involved. Even Cat's vet is lying to my mother.

We're all going to burn in hell, aren't we?