Hide the bodies

For many years Ron and his family had raised cats, at least 5 at any time. This also meant that cats passed away , so they were buried in organised plots in the front garden. The back garden was all concrete , it had to be the front. Each time a plot was required the burial garden was neatly dug up, the cat placed in the hole and the burial took place. There was even a burial stone, also a few mounds of earth where earth was displaced.

After the latest funeral service it was decided to join up the lumps of earth and make a memorial garden. In fact , it was the day of creating the garden that the bad news arrived. The postman handed a plain brown envelope as he passed the house. It looked official , so he opened it. it stated that there had been a complaint from a neighbour about the cat burials, please remove them and dispose of them elsewhere. It was signed by the local council officer and it mentioned that officials would call to check on the removals in two weeks.

Ron winced, then immediately called a family meeting. Both his wife and daughter started with crying, followed by anger towards the nosey neighbour that reported them. They realised that there were a lot of cats buried, far too many to dig up. So Ron suggested a solution that might work. Don't removed the cats or the grave stone, hide the gravesite instead. They hoped the councillor involved hadn't seen the area and that the complainer hadn't sent a photo.

So it was decided, build the garden as planned, disguise anything that looked dodgy and tell a few lies when the council appeared. Also if the garden was well placed and some extras were added then the inspectors couldn't get close. They wrote down what decoration could be added to maintain the cover up. Natural plants in summer, then Halloween, Christmas, easter and back to summer. It would mean some decoration would be up early and down late , they all agreed it was worth the risk.

The one fly in the ointment was the nosey neighbour, would they be watching to make sure the cats were removed. To make the subterfuge work they had to give the illusion that they had removed cats, the plan said dig holes that didn't include cats, reach in with a black bag, pick up earth and pretend it was a cat. They took the bags round the back of the house, out of site they put the earth in a wheelbarrow and went back for more.

They remembered to look upset and occasionally angry, all hoping the reporter was observing them . They dug up 6 bags of earth, hoped that would satisfy everyone and then brought back the supposedly new earth. They had raided the nearest garden centre earlier that day, plants and trees were ready to be planted around the grave site. They wanted to make sure the gravestone was hidden and that there was no evidence of the true contents of the garden.

After a few days work the garden was ready, it was mid summer , so the plants would grow and help with the disguise. Of course it would take a while for them to grow properly , so extra cover was needed. It was too early for Halloween, so it was decided to put the bird table that stood in the back garden in the front. With all the attachments it covered a fair size gap. What they needed was for the council staff to see the garden, but not to get close enough to see details. The more things used, the harder it would be to get too close.

The final touch was to plant solar powered lights in any gaps, keeping the official eyes at a safe distance. They couldn't reveal the real purpose of the garden was . Everyone had a restless night before inspection day. The council officer arrived early, observed the garden and then came to the door. He knocked and once Ron had taken a deep breath he opened the door.

The officer kept to the matter in hand, checking the cats were gone and the garden wouldn't be used for that any more. Ron explained that they had dug up the cats, taken them to an animal funeral director and they were cremated. The officer thanked him and said there might be occasional checks but there wasn't going to be any official action. They had got away with it, at least for now.

By September the flowers had died back and the planted trees had lost their leaves. So although far too early it was time for the Halloween decorations to appear. He got some strange looks when he sprayed a few spider webs and planted a couple of skeletons. The initial decorations were fairly subtle, more were added over the next few weeks. The garden was fully decorated when Halloween arrived, it was left up as long as it could be. To keep the plan working they needed to hide the inner garden but to not make it obvious.

Then after removing the plastic skeletons it was still too long till Christmas. So more solar lights were added, then when December was still fresh the Christmas decorations appeared. They started subtle and kept adding, the electricity would be expensive, lights were everywhere.

The traditional day to remove Christmas decorations was around January 6th, after that was a long gap till Easter. So, it was time to raid the garden centre again, statues and bird baths were bought. They were arranged in the gaps between plants, almost a wall to dissuade viewers. Easter appeared and there were few decorations to add, the plants hadn't started flowering yet. The decorations were taken down when the trees and flowers were starting to show.

In no time it was the first anniversary of the deceit, a year they had survived unscathed. The only worry was what would happen when another cat passed away. They knew they had cover from most angles when they needed to bury one. The decision was to bury during the night, and then place a statue on top.

Then the second year of deceit began again.