Caril
I woke up staring into the yellow eyes of a cat.
“Ah, you are finally alert,” he remarked in a hoarse, intelligent voice. Then as I simply stared, he amended himself. “Perchance not very alert, but awake at least.”
I sat up gingerly to take in my surroundings. I was in what looked like a basement, but the fluorescent lighting revealed medical equipment attached to the walls. At present, I was sitting on a cold metal table. The fact that I was wearing a small hospital gown didn’t make me feel any more comfortable.
Where am I, and what is going on? I tried to ask the cat, but I was unable to make any sound.
“Just as I feared. Your memory is suffering from the effects of being drugged. I shall try to keep the explanation brief.” The cat seemed perplexed for a moment. “Where shall I begin?” He frowned at me thoughtfully. “I suppose I will start by explaining why I am able to speak while you cannot. A man known to his peers asDoctor X-” (he paused to roll his eyes) “-and known to me simply as my human-procured you at a home for troubled girls. He slightly altered your genetic code - you probably don’t remember any of this. Unfortunately, my irresponsible human switched bits of my DNA for yours.”
The cat motioned for me to get up with his tail. I followed his small brown form to a flight of stairs leading from the basement but stumbled by the landing and had to steady myself with my tail.
Wait. I have a tail?
The feline ignored my confusion and continued speaking. “Therefore, you have many cat-like features. Any exchange of this sort most definitely degrades the cat and improves the human. You are now equipped with claws, ears, a tail, night vision, and an excellent sense of smell. And what do I receive in return? The ability to speak - oh, and improved color vision, if that even counts.” He sighed. “At least my human was able to grab a few spare parts off of the black market instead of lifting them off of me.”
“Mew?” I whispered confusedly. This was totally blowing my teenaged mind.
“Ah, you’re wondering about the doctor? He expired suddenly from a heart attack. It has been several days, and he is still sprawled out in the kitchen. Obviously, this is a good time to leave.” The cat wrinkled his nose.
By now we had reached the top of the stairs. I opened the door and found myself cringing against the bright sunlight. Then a multitude of distinctive smells and sounds bombarded my consciousness. I could tell instinctively that this was not how a normal person perceived the world.
“And how could I forget?!” the cat exclaimed, unaware of my astonishment. “My name, not surprisingly, is Felix. Yours is Caril, pronounced like Carol. Of course, it is the combination of cat and gi-“
I blocked the cat out and stepped from the sidewalk into the street, where a soft breeze blew interesting odors into my enhanced nose. I also looked at my surroundings, taking in the quiet, old-fashioned neighborhood around me. Even though brick houses bordered the street, I could catch whiffs of ocean air.
Felix interrupted my inspection of the area with a hoarse yowl. “Caril! Watch out!!”
I turned quickly and had only an instant to take in the car, which seemed to be going far too fast for the narrow street. My reaction, which surprised me greatly, was to spring into the air and land on the hood and windshield of the car. Only when it had stopped moving and I was gasping for breath did I realize what sort of car I was perched on…
“Run!” Felix screeched hysterically. “It’s the fuzz!”
I found myself staring through the glass at two petrified policemen - who were in turn staring at me. As my gaze refocused on my reflection on the windshield, I could see why. Not only was I still in a small green hospital gown, but I also had a long black and white tail, huge feline ears, striped hair, and, perhaps most alarmingly, several long black whiskers.
“Caril!” Felix’ second yell tore me away from my reflection and nudged me into motion. I hurled myself away from the car, and Felix and I sprinted away as fast as we could. Well, as fast as we thought we could. I think we might have increased our speed even more when we heard doors slam as the policemen exited their car to chase us through the labyrinth of ancient brick houses. I was slow due to lack of exercise, and for some time it seemed that the cops would catch up. Fortunately, Felix knew the entire repertoire of time-honored cat hiding tricks. We slipped into a dumpster and waited until the men’s voices faded into the distance. After a sufficient amount of time had passed, I opened the lid and Felix sprang out.
“How inexcusable!” he lectured me. “Why didn’t you hear that car?!”
How am I going to survive out here when people react to me like that? I wondered sadly.
“Definitely a problem,” Felix agreed. When I looked at him in surprise, he scoffed. “Certainly I’ve declined, but my feline ability to read minds is undiminished. Now let me think of a place where you will fit in.” He closed his eyes and contemplated for a minute. Then he hopped up. “Got it. Let us not waste time!” He began padding away with his tail waving in the air.
Wait! I thought. Where is a girl with cat ears and a huge tail ever going to fit in? Plus, I’m still in a hospital gown!
“We shall direct our steps to the very center of the unusual, the sanctum of the strange, the metropolis of which the motto is Keep our city weird-“
Please be brief, I thought, as I was becoming accustomed to my new friend’s idiosyncrasy of talking nonstop.
“I was getting there!” Felix told me huffily. “The lovely city of Portland , Oregon
I clawed my way out of the dumpster and hurried after the cat - my new mentor. 
No comments:
Post a Comment