Heavier in Death
My rat Piers had to be put to sleep yesterday. He was suffering from respiratory problems due to an infection in his lungs, and though he'd been on antibiotics for a week, he wasn't getting any better. I already knew what was going to happen at the vet and started crying as soon as I walked into the examining room, but I tried to stop and be a calm presence for him in his last few minutes. I gave him a little water from a squeezed-out tissue in my hand. They gave him a shot to make him sleepy, and then another to end it. They gave me some tissues and a booklet on humanely ending your pet's life. Then I took him home in a box in his old cage. The strangest thing was that, though he had lost a lot of weight while he was alive, he was twice as heavy in his box. I couldn't figure out why. I buried him under the lilac tree in my backyard, next to the other pets I've lost, and with a rose petal and a crumb of Mexican peanut candy in the box with him. He loved that stuff. I lit some incense on his grave. His brother is lonely.