Only Prompts - 31. Words of Prey

Words of Prey

Thursday (I no longer know the year or month)

The world is turned upside down. A sunny day is a rare thing. The world is a montage of storms and wind and thunder and lightning. What had been summer now brings snow and the winter, rare sun and more rain.

Humans are now a food group. We are hunted by larger beasts, for the large cats have regressed somehow to their sabre-tooth like ancestors. Don’t ask me for the science because I am no scientist. I am prey.

I am lonely as well. But there’s evidence of another here in the zoo, where I live. I’ve yet to see him or her but I hope to. Maybe we can band together and live more easily.

Friday

I got up as the darkness lessened. I recoated the ink ribbons for this damned old typewriter. Ink supplies are low, I need to forage for more. Paper too is scarce in the stores that had it. Making some is an option, I guess.

OH! As I walked to pick some veg and fruit, I saw him. The one whose footprints I’ve been seeing. Not wanting to scare him I called softly that I was a friend. He looked and then ran. We cannot speak too loudly lest the cats hear. Noise attracts them. Damn. I hope he comes again.

Though I was thorough, I could not find evidence he’s been at my garden. If we could meet, we could grow more. The zoo’s greenhouses and offices keep the plants and me safe.

Saturday

I have a small stash of new hand crank and shake em flashlights. The old flashlight I drag around is on its last legs, so to speak. It's been shaken often over the years. Maybe I'll leave it in the garden for emergency use.

Newsflash!! I spoke to him, the other, today. He’s handsome in a shabby and dirty way. Bathing is a luxury we can barely afford now. I usually just strip and stand out when it’s pouring, but I digress. He was digging up some old cabbages in the old outdoor garden when I came across him.

He seemed so frightened. I said my name is Jon. I won't hurt you. He ran, jumping over the broken fence before I could say more.

I really would not hurt him.

Tuesday

Had to skip writing on Sunday and Monday. Several cats were around, and I couldn't chance typing on this bloody machine. It sounds like a machine gun. Clack Clack Clack. They'd certainly hear that, and that's the last thing I need.

He was around again today. But he looked like he was waiting. I beckoned him to follow, and he did to the garden door. He would not come further. I begged him to wait and packed a few carrots and potatoes in a small sack.

I left them on the ground for him by the door. I went back to work the garden and clean up. My offering was gone when I returned.

I am hopeful.

Wednesday

He was by the garden doorway. He's frightened but didn't run away. I asked him in, and he came with me but remained at a distance.

I get it. I don't want a hug yet, either.

He helped me to weed the raised beds, and I showed him how to pollinate the flowers. I've not seen a bee in many years now. He learns quickly.

I showed him my little home.

He smells terrible. He needs fresh clothes and a shower.

I told him I have soap I make from clematis. It grows madly inside the zoo pavilions. It works, and I have an endless supply. I took him to where the roof is open but covered in wire so the cats can't get in. I suppose it was there so the birds that lived in the exhibit could not get out.

This is where I shower, I told him, in the rain. I rub the clematis soap on and rinse myself off.

I collect water in tubs and use it to wash my clothes by stomping on them for twenty minutes. It works well enough. It takes some time for things to dry due to the nearly constant rain.

He needs new clothes.

I’d need to leave the zoo to get them.

Thursday

He came again today. I asked him his name. His voice was like music, after only hearing myself and this silly old typewriter for so long.

He's got an accent it's a soft melodic one. His name is Parwez.

I made tea from mint and lemongrass. I grow much in my zoo. It's nice to share it.

He smiled as he sipped it.

I found him some clean overalls from the zoo’s supply of uniforms. As we were having a thundering rainstorm, we both showered. Neither of us watching the other. Though I wanted to badly.

Once we were clean, I cooked us a small soup. I have herbs but miss the salt.

When next I get the nerve, I’ll look for some when I leave the zoo to scavenge.

I asked him to stay and live here with me. He smiled, and for a moment, I thought he'd say yes … but he said no. I said all right, but I hope you'll come back.

He thanked me when he left.

Sunday

Cats, again. Damn them. They can smell me, I'm sure, so I could not write the past two days.

Parwez was waiting for me again today. He's been coming daily, and I feed him when he's helped me work. Thank God for work because there's nothing else. Or I'd thought that before Parwez arrived.

As we ate potatoes, beans and greens, he asked if I'd meant it about him coming here to live. I told him yes.

He said he would like to but that he wasn't alone. That he'd have to bring her, his kalb, he said. I said, of course, you must. I said it brightly, but I didn't feel bright or happy.

A woman? Damn it.

Monday .. morning

Parwez was waiting. I didn’t see a woman. When I reached him, I said, where is your kalb? I motioned a woman’s curvy figure. Parwez cocked his head and then shook it, saying no, when he realized what I was meaning.

He pointed down and said kalb. I looked behind him, and a scared dog was cowering just behind him. Some kind of mutt.

I won't lie my heart leapt. I pointed, kalb? Not a woman or a child. Kalb. A dog.

He smiled and said yes, kalb. Alsukar.

Ah, the penny dropped. Alsukar is the dog’s name. Kalb is dog.

What does Alsukar mean? Parwez smiled and he searched for the word. Sweet he said finally. Sugar.

When we were inside the zoo gates safely, Parwez released Alsukar from the rough rope. The animal ran off.

Where is she going?

She seeks for arnab … um um the rabbit, Parwez said. Eat … good to eat.

Meat? I'd not bothered with catching the wild rabbits before. If the dog could, well I guess we'd have the rabbit.

Sometime later, Alsukar returned with a rabbit. She’d brought it back dead but whole.

We decided to stew it with potatoes and leeks and we shared it with Alsukar.

It was rich and meaty. Delicious.

Monday .. night.

The rain was horrendous on this night. I told Parwez to stay. The temperature was falling, and it would hard going out there.

He agreed.

I have no sofa, only on a single bed. I said to Parwez we can share if we sleep back-to-back. He agreed to this too.

I lay down, facing the small living space.

Parwez settled his dog and approached. He knelt on the floor near the bed. He stroked my hair. He said, “You like men.”

I felt the colour in my face rise. “Yes.”

His large dark eyes were beautiful. "I like you, Jon." He leaned forward then and kissed me so softly I wasn't sure he had at all.

Moving to the end of the little bed, he crawled up, got beneath the blankets and spooned me. His arm came over me, and he held my hand and pulled my arm close to my body, and embraced me. "Now we sleep."

We did.

No Idea What the Day Is

It's weeks or months since my last banging out on the typewriter. Most of the ink is dried up.

Parwez lives here with me now. Alsukar is our wonderful dog. She brings us a rabbit once a week or so.

We continue to grow our garden together.

I don’t think I need to write anymore. I have all that I could want.

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