"Can you dig me a hole in the garden?" That small voice was followed by a persistent shaking of his limbs.
"What?" he asked, now half awake. He didn't realize he fell asleep on the couch until his niece woke him up.
"Please Tito,"the little girl pleaded and stroked his hair with her little hands. Even he could not resist that cuteness.
"What do you need a hole for?"he asked, sat up and put the child on his lap.
"Peter went to heaven. He needs a funeral." Her voice was sad, she was holding back her tears. Maybe all kids get sad when their pets die but this one wants her uncle to dig a hole in the garden to bury a goldfish.Stephen was tempted to ask her to just flush Peter down the toilet. It would both save them some time and effort.
And what is this 'went to heaven thing' and Peter, what a funny name to give a fish. He looked at Jamie on his lap, waiting for his answer. He swallowed those words. It would only break the kid's already broken heart. Her dad gave Peter as a birthday gift and she has took care of him well, but all life has got to end. That is a reality. A friend of his once told him, that a person can grasp the meaning of death easier if he or she had pets as a kid. "Okay, let's get a trowel."
The garden isn't a real one. It's just a piece of land in front of the porch that has a lot of weeds growing in it. They just moved to this house and nobody has the time nor the heart to start gardening. Celine, his sister and Jamie's mom, never had a green thumb anyway. He couldn't expect Lander, his brother-in-law, who was always away on a business trip, to care about plants.There are still a few santan bushes but maybe once upon a time, that garden was filled with orchids or roses or other flowering things.
"Where do you want a hole?" he asked Jamie. The kid was now carrying a chocolate box. It's her childish version of a coffin. He smiled and thought that it is a long time ago when he was a kid himself.
"Anywhere, just make it deep, please," Jamie requested.
"All right. I'll dig here near the bushes so that you'll know where to visit Peter," he answered and almost broke into laughter. He wanted to laugh at himself for playing along with his niece.
He had to wet the soil before he could start digging. It was easy, they had a garden hose. Lander bought the property just a few months back and they just moved in two weeks ago but maybe nobody has lived in that house for years. He started digging and smelled the freshly turned earth. He almost forgot what it smelled like. He dug a hole that he thought would fit the box. Jamie wouldn't want Peter to be buried without his coffin,she was watching the whole time.
I'll just pretened I'm digging a treasure, he thought. After few scoops, the trowel struck something hard. He thought it was a rock. He tried to pull it out. It came out easy, with very little resistance. "What is it Tito?" Jamie asked.
"It's a box." he answered and thought:"Did a little girl used to live here a long time ago? And did she bury her dead gold fish on the same spot Jamie will bury Peter?"
>>to be continued
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