"Twitch, why did you bring me to my house? I need to go to Aunt Rose's home for dinner."
"We need to discuss what happened right before we left the cave."
"I'm not sure I'm ready to discuss it." I slumped onto the sofa, leaned back and closed my eyes. I braced myself. I could feel Twitch was about to make me face this horror head-on.
"The village has nowhere to dispose of their dead within the cave system. Cremation fires would draw the attention of the forest service. It is too dangerous to try and bury bodies in the forest. If the bodies are uncovered by wildlife and found, or, if a ranger discovered a freshly dug grave, there would be an investigation. Twitch crawled into my lap and patted my face with her paw. "I know this seems gruesome to you, but Kitty is proving a necessary service."
"What happens after Kitty is gone? What am I supposed to do?"
Kitty is not the only critter to provide this service. Many of the scavengers help out. In the past the bodies were consumed outside the caves to avoid attracting flies and other small critters. This practice ended when one of the scavengers was observed dragging a dead body. The scavenger was captured, accused of killing the human, labeled a killer and euthanized. Nowadays, after the body is consumed in the cave, volunteers from the village scrub the area clean and the bones are ground up. The bone dust is scattered in the forest."
"Okay," I sighed. "I guess we can't have bodies decaying within the cave system. I get it. If I can think of a better solution though, Kitty is going to hear about it. Now, please take me to Aunt Rose's house."
"If you can come up with a better solution, Kitty would be grateful. She hates providing this service." Twitch swirled us away.
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