Ashes

This morning my heart told me it was time.

I pulled the little paw print container off the kitchen shelf and stepped outside into the cat enclosure. Star followed me, as she has made a habit of doing since we lost her brother, Dickens, four weeks ago today.

She cautiously sniffed the ashes and then, satisfied that they weren’t harmful, interesting or edible, she kept walking.

“Thank you, Dickens,” I whispered, “for twelve years of love, laughter and unimaginable joy. May you always watch over your sisters and me…and any other critters who may someday prowl and play out here as you did.”

A soft wind carried his precious remains into the nooks and crannies of the enclosure he loved so much. The ground carried my tears deep into the earth.

And from somewhere off in the distant lands of forever I heard Dickens purr.

Chris