9:00 am and Faber was done earning money for the day. He made the usual notations in his daily work journal, switched off two computers and six monitors and left his home office to do his real work.
“Okay, Katy, time to feed the cat,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.
“I know that. I’m the one in charge of cat-feeding,” she laughed. She was standing at the counter wearing a a tank-top, her brown hair tousled, smiling and radiant. “You’re early today.”
“I have a set of rules I always follow. I’ve made enough for the day. I’m done.” He gave her a kiss. “I’m glad I got done in time for breakfast.”
“Me too. Bubbles will be glad to see you so early.” She handed the bowl to Faber and they walked through the yard together. The day was bright and the sun was just coming up over the hills to the east.
“Where’s my little kitty cat?” Faber called when he saw Bubbles. Bubbles gave him a disinterested look, cat fashion, and then gracefully got to his feet and paced around, anticipating breakfast. He was never allowed to go hungry, but he enjoyed the morning ritual all the same. 9:15 a.m. on the dot, every morning, 4:00 p.m. every afternoon, and if anyone who thought Bubbles couldn’t tell time was wrong, wrong, wrong. Usually it was Katy who came and talked to him and told him how beautiful he was, but if she was alone she’d never pet him, she’d just give him the food and that was that. If two humans came at breakfast, it meant there would be play time, and that was fun.
Faber walked through the second gate, put the bowl of food down and leaned against the fence to watch Bubbles eat. The big black cat naturally didn’t go directly the food dish. He walked around his enclosure pretending he didn’t notice the food or the man. Then he made a winding approach toward Faber and rubbed his flank against his leg, quickly marking him with his scent and proclaiming to all other cats that this big human was his. He purred as Faber reached down and scratched his neck. An unusual purr that only made a noise on the exhale. He rubbed his nose and whiskers against Faber’s hand in a more personal scent-marking gesture. Faber casually pulled his hand away as Bubbles started to lick it. Like all cats, Bubble’s tongue was designed to rasp flesh from bone. To be licked by a housecat is uncomfortable, but a friendly lick from a jaguar would cause instant road rash.
2 comments:
idea: introduce Faber, Katy, show he's a animal trainer but he has another source of income. He's a trader, no big secret, but no reason to get into details yet. More details later. His job as trader shows much about his unique nature. The job as animal trainer is more immediately interesting.
i need to describe the sanctuary more. in the desert, dusty, dry, clean. There are animal smells, but not bad smells. "He inhaled deeply. Animal smells, but not bad smells. Healthy smells. Everything was good." A nice idyllic morning, then he comes inside and smells fear and finds his mother in the living room, very afraid. Add a conversation with Katy. "Is my Mom back yet?" "No, she called earlier. Faber, Becky sounded upset." Hmm, careful. I need to show that Becky, Faber and Katy share a household. Becky and "Mom" are the same person. Holy smokes, it's 2:30 am, I'm and going to bed!
I'm lovin' it so far moonsong. And a jaguar? Tres cool.
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