I need to pick up Kitty Girl's ashes from the veterinarian. Amy has expressed interest in waiting until Jinx dies so that their ashes can be spread together somewhere in San Francisco. The little coin from India that I found in the grass while waiting for the bus late February, that I've been setting in front of the totems that sit on my mantle, a totem for Jinx, for Kitty Girl, for other creatures that are important to me represented secretly in what looks like a random collection of objects; the coin representing a wish for good fortune, godless heathen that I am desperate for order and meaning cobbling together esoteric rituals from half remembered history lessons; I think I will put the coin with KG's ashes as a kind of payment to ferry boat man to get her across the river.

Amy told me that last Friday night, Kitty Girls previous owner, Amy's cousin, who took care of KG and Jinx from 1995 until 2006, without being told about what had happened, dreamt about KG. She woke up with a feeling of loss, and started looking at the SPCA website and found a cat that looked like her, and later that day, went to the SPCA to see if it was her (for some reason forgetting that she was in Indiana). It wasn't, but as she was sitting in her car getting ready to go Amy called her and told her that Kitty Girl died. Quote: "It was really weird because the cat I went to see sounded like her. I can't explain the feeling. I felt such a loss before I knew she was gone."

When I got back from the vet after putting KG to sleep, I was sitting at my dining room table, sitting there, and I heard an unusually loud chirping coming from the tree outside, and went out onto the porch to investigate, and there were a dozen little brown birds chirping, which I hadn't recalled ever seeing before en masse. I stood there for a while and watched and listened, and wondered if they knew something about the little brown cat who had moved on that morning. I thought about the swarm of black birds that showed up in the tree six months ago, right around when KG got sick (amongst other things), and wondered if all this was some kind bird-centric message from the gods. Opening and ending ceremonies.