I buried the dead kitten in a flower pot this morning.
Sam told me several days before that there was a kitten loose in our garden, the silly thing probably escaped from a neighbour's yard to play in our garden. It played its last on Tuesday morning when I saw it next to the Moringa tree. I first mistook the strange twist of its body for one of Ellie's blankets left out on the lawn, covered with grass clippings. It was still soft but the torso had begun to stiffen. I wrapped the poor thing in one of Ellie's blankets, and stood there wondering what to do. Normally, I would have dug a hole and buried it but I didn't want to upset Sam who was beginning to wake up upstairs.
Then I had the idea to bury her in a pot rather than digging and risk waking Sam up. I wasn't sure of the dead kitten's sex, but it had pretty stripes and a tiny face - so it's a she. I decided on the lychee plant because the fruit is sweet and the leaves very pretty. I placed her at the bottom of the pot and put the pot in the exact spot where I had found her. I planted the lychee over her, and then I watered the plant and went back inside. Still in the darkness.