THE HUMAN IS LATE to FEED the CAT a Waiting Game

FUTURES SCIENCE FICTION THE HUMAN IS LATE TO FEED THE CAT A waiting game.

BY BETH CATO “I know, Sass.” The woman coughed and lick from the woman’s calves couldn’t even hacked. She pulled a towel from the rack and be smelled now. assafras was most displeased. The dragged it with her as she crawled down the The woman used the supply shelf to pry woman was late to return home. hallway. Sassafras was unsure what to make her body upright. The effort left her wheez- Sassafras positioned herself in the of this sort of progression, but at least the ing and coughing. “At least it’ll be fast for me, Shallway with a clear vantage point of both human was going the right way. The cat trot- Sass. That’s what the news was saying.” Her the front door and the laundry room that ted ahead to act as a guide, her tail like an laugh made her cough more. “To think, this contained her barren wet-food dish. exclamation point as they entered the laun- morning … I thought it would be an awful Her anxiety increased as the hours passed. dry room. day because I ran out of coffee.” She fully groomed herself The woman edged her five times over, and even way to the window. It took lapsed her guard duties long her several minutes of effort enough to eat some dry kib- to crank open the pane of ble; that dish was despair- glass. Fresh night air flowed ingly low as well. Her snack through the room. Sassa-

done, she resumed her fras’s whiskers flared out JACEY BY ILLUSTRATION watch. as she breathed in the fra- If Sassafras had to rise grance of trees and strange again, it would be for the cats and city. She started curtains to know her wrath. forward but the woman The front doorknob jos- wobbled and collapsed to tled. The cat hopped to her her knees, forcing the cat feet, fur like a puffy white back towards the doorway. cloud. The woman lurched “I used to hate it when inside and slammed the you hunted birds at our old door behind her. Without sparing a glance at The woman knocked the food box from place, remember? I would get so mad. But Sassafras — the nerve! — the woman dived the shelf and, after more delays, managed now …” She rolled to her side. Her shoul- through another doorway. With a dismayed to rip open a pouch. The glorious perfume ders racked as she coughed and choked. glance towards the laundry room, the cat of savoury tuna in gravy filled the room. It took her a minute to speak again. “The followed her. Sassafras purred like a motor and she settled tree branch goes right to the window. Good The woman was ill. She radiated sour- in at her food bowl. thing … landlord never had the landscapers ness, and the potency of it worsened as she The lights flickered again. Outside, car come. You can go in and out, Sass. If I can get leaned over the toilet. But Sassafras was the horns blared, followed by pop, pop, pop, and to the sink, I’ll …” very model of support and patience. She a prolonged scream. More sickness, more coughing. Unsure purred and marched back and forth in the “Oh God. The world’s gone to hell. What’s of the strange assault of smells, Sass stayed gap between woman and toilet, with brief going to happen, Sass?” back, ears flicking at the contrast of the pauses to groom the woman’s elbows. The cat felt the weight of the question and woman’s noises with the sounds from out- “No, Sassy.” The woman pushed her away. glanced up. She had just resumed eating side. The loudness there had frightened away Confused, the cat scrambled backwards. when the sound of the jostled dry-food bag the birds. The woman fell back on her haunches, made her freeze. The woman had dragged The woman’s racket faded to weak sobs. groaning. the large bag from between the washer That sound, the cat knew from nights when “People are coming down sick every- and dryer. She undid the clip at the top, she shared her bed with the woman. Sass where. Some virus. I heard the hospitals are then tipped the whole thing on its side. An took mincing steps around the foulness on full. I couldn’t take the train. On the bridge, I avalanche of kibble tumbled across the floor. the floor and stopped at the woman’s hands. saw someone …” She wiped her wrist against Sassafras stopped eating her beloved The fingers twitched and managed to rest on her mouth and shuddered. Sassafras smelled tuna. Why was her crunchy food all over the Sassafras’s sloped spine. blood. “I’m afraid … I don’t know … I tried floor? The woman knew Sassafras only ate The cat lowered and folded her body into calling my mom, but …” The electricity flick- dry kibble if it was in the appropriate bowl. a bread-loaf form. The woman’s hand grew ered like a pulse but stayed on. The woman smelled increasingly wrong, heavier on Sass’s back, and the cat purred. ■ Sassafras rubbed against the woman’s too. Her body was knees and prodded her towards the doorway. NATURE.COM too hot. It was rank. Beth Cato resides in Arizona. She is the The woman did move, but only to hover over Follow Futures: Sour. Unfamiliar. The author of the Clockwork Dagger steampunk the toilet again. The cat retreated a few steps @NatureFutures cocoa butter lotion fantasy series from Harper Voyager. Her with a despondent yowl. go.nature.com/mtoodm that the cat liked to website is BethCato.com.