I told Teen Spirit about Opal’s death when he woke up. He pulled his quilt over his head and refused to come out. Later he called me in. "I don’t want to go to school, I want to stay home and sleep and be sad."

When I told The Oh So Fiesty One, she marched into the living room to look in Opal’s cage. "Why are her eyes open," she asked. I was amazed how fearless she was looking at the dead rabbit.

As the morning progressed, she tried on a variety of responses to the situation. "She’s in a better place," she said. Later she seemed excited: "Now we can get a puppy." Next I noticed her drawing a picture of a rabbit and these words: Opal. May 4, 2006.

OSFO found a drawing of Opal by our friend Nancy and created a make shift memorial. She place a sprig of lillac next to the cage. Later she whispered, "Do you think we took good care of her?"

Teen Spirit in the meantime was distant and blue. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. And when Beautiful Smile (babysitterandsomuchmore) called to console him he didn’t want to speak.

OSFO, in an effort to comfort Teen Spirit, said: "She’s going to see Serena." Serena was Teen Spirit’s guinea pig, who died when he was 6.

Walking to school she wondered what we were going to do with the body. "Daddy can figure that out," she reasoned.

Hepcat covered the cage with a green tablecloth. When he came home from work, he and OSFO took Opal down to the backyard (more like an alleyway, a place we rarely go) and buried her. "We buried her with her food and her cage bedding," OSFO said. Teen Spirit missed the actual burial because he was missing in action until about 8 p.m. tonight. Hepcat will probably take him downstairs tomorrow to see the burial site.

In the flurry of the day, I sometimes forgot that Opal was dead. But when I remembered it made me feel sad. I got the chills when I thought of her lying dead in her cage underneath the green tablecloth. I was relieved when Hepcat buried her downstairs.

Rest in peace, little rabbit.