[ WP ] All humans have the lifespan of cats , 12-15 years

& nbsp; 
 Mother would have been honoured to know that I was celebrating my'sweet 16th' birthday. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 Yet I am at the same time a disappointment to our species, having spawned no young of my own, and now my days grow short and dark. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 Mother became fertile at the surprisingly young age of 11, and many of the older boys courted her. Father won, apparently, though not a man of true stock or high standing, and from the seed of their loins I was born, and my younger sister also. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 Then father passed, and while other boys continued to ply her with sweet words and toys, mother did not mate again. She raised us alone for a time before she passed, and, contrary to the ruling party's ideals, to value kindness and love rather than hurried propagation. She thought our species would not long survive the path upon which it was travelling. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 She was right. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 In my case, at least, she was right. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 Sister died before she flowered, and she was the lucky one. I have endured years of courting only to see myself scorned and ignored, a lonely childless elder who has failed her species. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 I wanted to relent. I wanted to ignore mother's words, when the pressure was at its peak, and simply let one of the boys plant his seed in me and create a new life, as society demanded, but it would not be a life that I could care for. It would not be a life that mother would have wanted. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 No one has prepared a cake for me today. Father, mother, sister - your legacy ends with me. This is not the way that mother wanted, but neither will life carry on in spite of her wishes. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 For all life ends abruptly. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 And mine, I am sure, will end at sixteen. 
 
 & nbsp; 
 And it will be a bitter-sweet farewell.
