© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
“Woof!”
Dorian Darkstone looks down in confusion.
“Woof?” he mutters incredulously.
“Woof!” the animal at his feet repeats and he can’t quite decided if he’s staring at the strangest-looking dog in Realmgard or just the strangest cat in Realmgard.
“Kat,” he calls. “I think your pet is broken.”
Kat comes storming in the room. “What did you do to my cat, Dad?” she asks angrily.
“Nothing,” he assures her. “But why is it—”
“Woof!”
“—doing that? What’s wrong with it? It’s a cat, isn’t it?”
Kat kneels down to scoop up the strange animal and cuddle with it.
“Nothing is wrong with him, Dad,” Kat insists. “He’s just a little different. His name is Wolf. He was orphaned as a kitten and raised by a mother dog. Isn’t he just perfect? I just love him so much!”
“Uh huh,” Dorian mutters skeptically.
“Arf!” Wolf happily… meows? barks? arfs?
“I adopted him from the cat café,” Kat explains.
“They don’t cook the cats, do they?” Dorian asks.
There’s a knock on the door. Wolf leaps down from Kat’s arms and runs off for the door, eager to perform its duties as a guard… dog? …cat? …animal.
Dorian groans. Trying to make sense of the weird little furball is making his head hurt.
He hears Wolf from the front hallway. “Arf! Arf! Arf!”
“Hello,” he hears the courier say. “I have a package here for — Gah!”
“Arf! Arf! Arf! Grrrrrrrrrrr!”
“Get it off! Get it off!”
“No! Bad Wolf! Down, boy!” Kat calls desperately. “That’s just the mailman. He’s not a bad guy. He’s nice!”
Dorian turns towards his wife as Estelle comes down the stairs.
“I think having a pet will be good for Kat,” Estelle muses. “I’ve never seen her like this before. She’s being so gentle and caring. That’s a good side of her to bring out.”
“I just don’t get it,” Dorian mutters.
Estelle grins. “Yes, what could Kat possibly have in common with a little misfit animal that doesn’t quite fit in wherever it goes and that everyone mocks because they don’t quite understand what makes it the way it is.”
“Ah,” Dorian says in a sudden flash of comprehension.
Kat comes back into the room, holding her dog-cat under one arm and a slightly-mangled parcel in the other.
“There’s uh, there’s a package for you, Mom,” she mutters.
“Kat,” Dorian says. “Can I hold him? I think I’d like to get to him better.”
“Sure. Just be careful, Dad.” Kat says, handing the strange little cat to him.
“Arf!” Wolf says, happily licking Dorian’s face.
Seizing her opportunity, Dunstana comes running down the stairs.
“Mom, Dad,” Dunstana says gravely. “Kat got a pet. I think it’s only far that I get one, too.”
“We can talk about it, dear,” Estelle says.
“I made a list,” Dunstana says, reaching into the pocket of her coat. “It’s a list of reasons I should have a pet. Annie helped.”
She unfurls the list, revealing a paper almost as long as she is tall.
“Reason number one: Sharks are awesome. Reason number two: But, seriously, sharks are just the best. Reason number three: I am clearly a responsible and—”
“Dunstana, honey,” Estelle interjects. “Could you maybe remind us just what sort of pet you want, exactly?”
The full list of my February 2022 Realmgard Short Scenes (plus two for January) is here.
The master list of all my Short Scenes is here.
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