That day she was playing with her friend, a girl about her age, six or seven. After playing some time in the friend’s home they decided to go out to a little playground next to a parking lot of that apartment building. There were just the two of them, no adults or other kids.

While walking to the playground, the girls noticed a dead bird on the ground. It was quite small, perhaps a blue tit. She and her friend felt very sad about the bird and decided to bury it. They found a good place near the playground, a spot, where there was enough space to dig a whole. So, they dug a little grave for the bird and dropped its body into it. Then they covered it with soil. She felt relieved and satisfied that they had buried the bird and not just let it decay on the street. It would have been awful to not do anything about it.

Several days later, when the girl was playing again with her friend, they again found their way to the playground. They remembered the buried bird and became curious. She and her friend wanted to see what had happened to the bird so they went to the grave and opened it. The remains of the bird were still there but so were worms and other little creatures. She was completely taken by surprise. Even though she knew that something happens to the bodies of humans and animals after death, she had not expected to see what she saw. She felt that it was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. Little thin white worms were going around the bird’s body that had already broken into pieces. Various kinds of insects were crawling all over the bird’s body, coming from where its eyes used to be, escaping under the bird and wandering around what was left of its stomach. It was absolutely horrifying and churning. She could feel it in her stomach and almost threw up. At the same time, however, she thought that it was fascinating to explore how the body of the bird had started to decompose with the help of those little insects living underground.