please tell henry that i love him

When i heard that henry had died, I was sitting in Bob's café in Koh Kong, where I immediately burst into tears.

"You must be kind to your kitten," I sobbed to Bob's daughter, Nina. "They're only here for such a short while... you have no idea..."
Nina stared at me like I was a Martian. After all, she's only three.

Henry was my devoted friend & companion for nine years - longer than either of my husbands - and I'm still not certain he's actually gone... I keep expecting to run into him somewhere around the house.

But like lorrie moore says, what is grief over a lost pet, other than the mystery of interspecies love: human, animal, divine.