death by morning

Pepe brought home a bird this morning. I was making my usual blurry walk into the kitchen and heard him meowing some strange meow with something dangling from his mouth. Too big to be a mouse. He dropped it on the faded green welcome mat, sprawled out beside it and just started pawing at the thing. Once I put Amy's glasses on I could see what all the fuss was about. He had unknowingly punctured a hole in the little chick's neck during transportation. Now his little gift was gasping for air in silent and terrible slow motion, no longer able to do much else. It was way too early for me to ponder the balance of nature. Or weigh any of the potential cosmic or karmic repercussions. So I thanked Pepe for the thought and put him inside, then gently placed the little bird into an empty salad container and brought him out near the cars to die. By the time Amy left for work, he was already dead.