Dying Bird

Labored breathing brings life and death.
Ariadne often kisses the dead at church, but I can see sadness in her eyes after she discovers a bird her cat, Peter, named after a saint, had caught and bitten. The bite is fatal.
“It’s quiet and it’s not moving,” Ariadne whispers to me as if someone hearing would blame her for what has happened. “I think she is dead.”