An ode to the gerbil

I had my hand in an inside out plastic bag and looked reluctantly towards the tank, I was grateful that the face was hidden by the wood shavings. The body was lying in an awkward position the upper half lying sideward, with the lower half on the back. In a grim yet morbidly humorous way the feet were actually sticking up in the air, I reached in and touched the body with the plastic bag an involuntary shudder spreading through my body. I lifted it as gently as I could, the soft velvetiness of its fur hiding the surprising hardness of its body. Rigor Mortis. Even the tail was rigid and immobile; it looked odd, tails aren’t supposed to be stiff. I was suddenly all the more appreciative of the bag which was between my hand and the body, thankful that I didn’t have to touch it. My arm left the tank, I turned the bag the right way so the body was now on the inside of the bag. I turned to see four pairs of eyes on the white plastic bag, a quite sombreness filled the room. The bag itself was not significantly heavier after receiving its load,
“Should I put it in the outside bin?” I inquired quietly to noone in particular.
“Well… there’s nothing else you can do with it now” my mum replied in an equally muted tone.
I headed for the back door and stepped outside, it did seem rather unceremonious to just dump it in the bin, but my mum was right there was nothing else we could do with it really. I lifted the green lid and put the bag inside, a second later a rather loud and unexpected thud startled me. It felt wrong to throw it away just like that, but what else could we do? I returned to the front room and looked in the tank, the other gerbil sniffed around the area where the body was lying, it then jumped in the pile of bedding dug itself inside, curled up and went to sleep.