Got the urge to write about this fine specimen I found on Pinterest 😈🥱
It had been days since I arrived in the desert. Days since I’ve had a bite to eat, a sip of water longer than a few drops, a wink of sleep, a moment of rest.
I had no clue where I was, only that it was a desert. I wasn’t sure how I got here, exactly, because I woke up here smack in the middle of a sand dune.
I know I won’t be able to survive here for long. How could I? It’s not like anything lived in the desert that would truly sustain me. Only small animals that I don’t have the heart to kill, cacti, and predators that I know would kill me before I could them, not like I would even attempt to. If I stopped for only a little bit for rest, everything would catch up to me and I would probably collapse. If I passed out, I wouldn’t be able to wake up in time to save myself from the blistering sun or the venomous snakes or whatever else wanted a quick daytime snack.
So the only option I had was to keep on trudging through the scalding hot sand, wishing upon whatever lied above that I would be able to find a way out.
I thought that I was hallucinating at first. That would be the only reasonable option, no? A green blob with something sitting on top of it was in the distance, waiting for me to approach. As I got closer, I heard the music. Was I in the stage of hysteria? Either that or something else was in the desert. Someone else, because they were playing music.
Even if it was a figment of my imagination, it would be nice to have someone to talk to. However, as I got close enough, I saw that it wasn’t a person.
A black cat sat in front of me on top of a fresh, plump, green watermelon. The cat had a sombrero on its head with two holes in the top to comfort its ears. It wore a mustache that was slightly hard to see amongst the midnight of its fur, but it was there for sure. It had a kazoo in its mouth, unsupported by any of its hands. I think it was playing a classical tune, but I couldn’t name the piece. Propped up against the watermelon was a cardboard sign that read: Donations will be rewarded greatly!
Donations? First of all, the cat was in the middle of the desert, so who would possibly be giving it a donation? The other creatures? Second of all, why was this cat here? Why was it wearing strange attire? Why was it on a watermelon? How did it learn kazoo? There was way too much to unpack.
However, since the entirety of it was way too weird, I decided to play into the weirdness. I searched myself for something that I could give to the cat. I couldn’t give any of my clothing, of course, since it protects me from the elements of the hot desert. Finally, I remembered that in my ears were two silver studs, from which I had gotten from my friend for my sixteenth birthday. While I loved them, what was I going to do with jewelry in the desert? I surely couldn’t eat them, that was evident.
I carefully placed the studs next to the cat, on top of the watermelon. I envied the cat’s hat, since I really could’ve used it. I probably got sun poisoning from the way the sun baked down on my bare face the past few days.
The cat abruptly stopped playing at the placement of the earrings. The kazoo dropped to the sandy floor, which must’ve sucked, since the sand probably got into it or even stuck to the saliva inside of it.
Then, the cat jumped at me. I braced for the impact, terrified about how badly the cat’s claws would feel against my maroon skin. But it never got the opportunity to stick a landing, because while I was focused on the cat, I was returned back to my living room, as if nothing ever happened. My clothing wasn’t torn, my skin was a perfectly normal color, somehow, even the exhaustion was drained from me. Only the hunger and thirst remained, which I adequately quenched as soon as I could get my hands on food and drink.
Was it all a dream? Something that occurred from a fever or drowsy medication? There’s no way I could’ve made that experience in my mind, the blinding pain and hunger that I felt, the feeling to actively dehydrate, the feeling of walking through burning hot areas of land, slowly letting your body cook under the daytime sun. But it had to be, because I never left the desert, so how would I have gotten home?
Then I saw a scratch on my arm, one to have been from a cat. And my earrings, too were missing.
theartofmadeline
dededos
origamiaround
kaledo-art
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear
