12/17

harriet died today
she was 3
she wasn't mine,
she was jorie's first encounter with death
harriet got put in a matchbox

i remember those pet deaths
the little boxes
the burials
keeping them in the freezer till the ground thawed if they died in the winter

the time my snake died
and i wasn't home
and my mom put it in a chocolate box in the fridge till we could put her to rest in the park
and my brother told me my mom had bought me candy
so i went and opened the box...
he caught hell for that
and i let him
even though i really did know
and faked my whole reaction
i'm the older sister
did he really think he was going to get away with that

yeah, i've fessed up since,
but no one really believes it,
neither that i knew
nor that i would have done that to him...
funny how these things get turned around
who ends up being the bad guy