I thought it would make it

I walked to my friends house yesterday morning and she showed me a very tiny kitten. She said she found it at night in her brother's gravel driveway not moving. It appeared to be only a couple of weeks old. My friend said she'd been feeding it coconut milk with a dropper. I asked her if I could take it with me so me and my daughter could have it. We'd been wanting a kitten. She said sure and I took it home.

I walked home with it and showed my daughter. She understood the emergency. We jumped in the truck and drove to town to buy kitten formula and whatever else we needed.

We fed it and kept it warm. It crawled and meowed a little. It appeared to have a respiratory infection which is common to orphaned kittens. I called some cat and kitten rescues for extra help, but they were limited in what they could do.

By afternoon it's breaths got faster and more shallow. Then all of a sudden it took a few big quick breaths, froze up and went rigid, then relaxed letting its breath out. It's chest didn't rise again and it's heart was still.

I really thought it was going to make it. I saw it in my head getting stronger, bigger, and growing up. It's life had just started and then it was, over? We buried it under the oak tree across the pasture. At least it wasn't alone when it died and it had someone holding it that cared about it when it went.