8 lives left...

I pull up to the stop sign to cross 10th Ave on the way to drop M off at school this morning. I look to the right- and my heart stops for a second as I notice my beautiful long-haired black & white kitty MagPie dead in the middle of the road half a block up. I gasp, and then the questions come from M and I have to explain that I'm pretty sure our cat has been hit and killed by a car. Not fun. So on the way back home I stop to get MagPie- I can't look at his little face as there's clotted blood coming from his head somewhere. Awful. I take him home and bury him in the backyard, getting a little teary in the process but trying to console myself that he's had a good life since we adopted him as a tiny kitten (he had been dumped in the middle of the campground at a music festival and I couldn't resist taking him home). I'm really wishing C were home so he could do the whole burying thing, but he's in South Florida for a workshop. Today was the first time I've ever buried a pet. Then I go to Lowe's to pick up a couple things and I have the horrible thought that I might have buried the cat alive! B/c he was still limp and I didn't check for a pulse and maybe he was just unconscious! OMGoodness! And then I remember that I did (v. briefly, like for a second) peek at his head and his eyes were open, so I'm not a cat-killer, just a cat-bury-er. And then I run back to the school to pick up M & Z to take them to the Medieval Faire, but before heading there I have to run home to gather snacks, etc as my organizational skills went to pot with the whole discovering-my-little-cat-dead-in-the-road-incident. I leave the kids in the car and run inside, and am on the phone with a friend making plans of where to meet at the Faire and get the absolute fright of my life as I see a little black furry streak running past me in the living room. It's MagPie! I start blabbering to my friend about how MagPie is alive! He's alive! So exciting! ...and then realize that I've buried someone else's dead cat. Another cat that looked amazing like MagPie (at least from the neck down, as I really couldn't bring myself to look at his poor little bloody head for more than a split second). Poor cat, and I have no idea to whom he belonged.