I looked out of the window with an inexplicable panic swelling like a tumor in the pit of my belly. It was that feeling of anticipating something catastrophic, scouring the horizons for the signs of disaster. ‘This has happened before’, I thought, ‘at this exact point in time something will happen, but what was it that happened?” I couldn’t remember. Outside the window the world was composed of shades of blue trimmed with white. I found this strange; the brilliant acrylic glossiness of the sky and ocean, with no visible line of separation between the two, like a landscape painted by Willy Wonka’s grandchildren, and the way the snow gathered like clotted clouds, some of them pinned up against the blue of the sky and some of them tumbling amongst the waves. The sea had risen so high that morning that it lapped rhythmically at the walls of the house and tickled the window panes before being sucked back towards its churning epicenter. ‘It does seem very strange,” I thought, “I just can’t recall if it always was this way or not. I’m sure something is meant to happen right about now.” I couldn’t remember.
I thought life was getting a bit lonely, it was months since I’d seen any of my friends. The thought of them, at least the ones who were still here, living in this town, left a bad taste like bitter spinach in the back of my mouth, but still, life was getting a bit lonely. I thought I should go see them. Two of my friends I despised cholerically. Taking the back door to escape the high tide I made my way towards the house of Uma, who was more tolerable despite (or due to) her doormat way of being. As soon as I walked into her garden I regretted it, but the faces at the outdoor table had already turned in my direction and there they were, all three of them; Uma and the despised duo all sitting together as the worst possible combination of human characteristics imaginable. It made my stomach lurch. ‘Since when do they even know each other,’ I thought. ‘How long have I kept to myself?’ I couldn’t remember.
At the base of the garden, near the porch was a queue of miniature dogs, none of them any more than 6 centimeters high, standing like a row of soldiers awaiting orders. I made my way towards them with exaggerated exclamations about their adorability, my mouth spilling out any sounds to avoid a silence. A silence would call for conversation with the despised duo. I kneeled besides them, fondling them one by one, stoking their fur and cooing. I could feel eyes glaring at me, from the behind, burning holes into the back of me. I imagined the sneers on their faces; how I despised those two. I kept talking to the puppies, playing with one by one, moving down the line from left to right. My mind had stopped tuning in to what the girls were talking about at the table, it zoned out completely on anything exterior to the miniature dogs, how wonderful and small they were, how some of them were stiff and motionless and others rushed forward to play when it was their turn, and how after I petted the last one I would have no choice but to stand up and talk to my friends. “Do you want to come to the clubs with us tonight?” Uma asked, her invitation forced and hesitant. “No, certainly not.” I didn’t turn from the puppies, but I could see Uma redden from the corner of my eye. Maybe she had understood by my drawling rejection that I had sensed the friction, maybe she was embarrassed by the situation in general. She looked at the other two. They were snickering, I could hear them; how I despised those two.
3 dogs from the right, the tiniest of all, a black rattish creature not much bigger than my pinkie finger was particularly vigorous and friendly. It wriggled and squirmed in my hands, and then ran up my arm, its little toenails pressing into my skin. It got tangled in my hair and got frightened, its excitement curdling quickly to panic, and it thrashed around in my curls with little yelps of fear. I untangled it with difficulty and as soon as it was released, angered by the stress, it dug its front teeth into my hand. A few seconds later, when the pain seared through my arm and throbbed up to my shoulder, I realized with irritation that the puppy was not a puppy at all but a miniature badger, and it was refusing to detach itself from my hand, no matter how hard I shook it. I pulled at it, flicked at it, poked at it, but it kept its long teeth sunk into my flesh with extraordinary willpower. I considered smashing it against a stone, I would have but the girls were watching silently from their places at the table. Uma’s mother came and stood by my side, with a worried look on her. “Aah, these badgers’ she said. ‘They have jaws like plastic duckies. It wont budge. Unless.” She looked towards the sky abstractly. “They can’t resist boiled soya though. Put a plate of soya soup by its side and itl drop off you like a salted leech.
She took me behind the house, where I had left my raincoat. “Do you not like Uma anymore,” she asked me. “No, Uma’s alright. Its just when they all get together I cant stand any of them.” I was honest. I would come back later, maybe tomorrow, when Uma was alone. I walked home, looking at the acrylic sky. I was still waiting for something terrible to happen. Was I? I cant remember.