He came back on the third day, carrying the lillipup in his hands. They welcomed him home with eager arms, fed him and bathed him and clothed him and let him rest, before the hole was dug.
When it was time for the interment, it was he who lowered the puppy inside, along with its Pokeball. An old aunt muttered a prayer to the white dragon. His cousins shoveled dirt into the pit and stuck a stake into the soil to mark the place where the dog was buried.
The boy did not weep.