In a dogs world, p.1
In a Dog's World, page 1
In a Dog's World
by
Mary E. Lowd
* * *
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2015 by Mary E. Lowd
www.marylowd.com
Cover art by Idess
* * *
For my mom.
She is amazing.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
About the Author
* * *
Chapter 1
The school day was almost over, and everyone in the class could feel it. The archeology teacher, a bloodhound with drooping jowls, pressed on gamely at the front of the room, but very few of the restless high school students listened to her. Mostly, tails wagged, whispers were woofed, and eyes turned to the clock. A few of the feline students still took studious notes about the importance of archeological study for uncovering the secrets of ancient human pre-history, but the dogs had trouble even staying in their seats.
Katasha's ears flattened at the sound of the bell. She'd been eager to rush home after school every day for weeks, always expecting the letter to have finally come. Today, she didn't feel like rushing home to disappointment. Her claws flexed as she gathered her books and papers up, though she carefully kept her fine, sharp claw tips from puncturing holes into anything important.
Katasha's classmates, a whole range of dogs of various breeds and the few other cats, rose from their rows of desks. The feline students waited quietly while their canine classmates jostled out of the room, boisterous and excited by the fine spring weather. Summer was approaching, and Katasha heard the other cats talk about how perfect the weather was for sunbathing at the beach, but while her fellow high school students thought about summer plans, all Katasha could think about was next year... and which college she'd attend.
Katasha stood and shouldered her backpack onto her slim-boned frame, twitching the tip of her tail ever so slightly. She followed the crowd down the school halls, past her locker, and into the sunny daylight outside. A few of the dogs, mostly boys, threw together a spontaneous scramball game to celebrate the end of the school day. Katasha watched them while waiting for her sister and brothers -- the rest of her littermates -- to find her. Yet, while her clear, blue Siamese eyes stared at the wrestling hounds and terriers, Katasha's mind was utterly focused on the vivid image of the plain white rectangular envelope that she both desperately hoped and fervently feared was waiting for her at home.
Maybe today. Maybe it would say yes...
"Hey, Tash," Dominic said, fast-walking up to her in his snazzy leather jacket. He was her only littermate who'd decided not to go to college next year. He could've had good grades if he wanted them, but he was happy working at Buck's Auto. He didn't see the value of school, since what interested him was auto mechanics, and he learned more of that at work. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I know you're eager to get home and check the mail again." He swished his tail, gleefully. He liked goading her, but Katasha didn't mind it from him.
Nonetheless, she spat a hiss at him for good measure. She wouldn't be rude like that to anyone else, but that's what littermates are for. "Doesn't matter," she said, twitching her own tail. "Corina and Dmitri will drag out leaving debate class as long as possible to torture me."
"They just don't want to see you go," Dominic said.
Katasha lashed her tail, but then Dominic added, "I can understand them. I don't want to see you go either. Any of you."
Katasha dipped her ears and couldn't meet her brother's eye. She would miss him too, but she didn't want to stay in this small town forever. She needed to go to college, and she wanted to go to Isleywood College of Science and Technology. Sure, it would be fun to go to the local state college with Corina and Dmitri. They could all get an apartment together, and Corina's Abyssinian boyfriend would probably move in with them. But... She didn't know how to be the cat she wanted to be around them. There was a niche she was expected to fill, a way she was supposed to be, and she was too embarrassed to admit that, maybe, she wanted to be something different.
For a moment, the pure image of a white envelope, cradling a joyous acceptance letter, melted out of Katasha's mind, and she found herself watching the scramball game. The senior class president had the ball -- he was a Siberian Husky, dressed in a jersey for the local state college's scramball team. Katasha's ears burned, watching him put one forepaw to the ground and launch himself forward, past the bull terrier blocking him. He was so large and strong, everything a cat was not.
"They're so noisy," Dominic complained, seeing her watch the scramball players. "And they're going to hurt someone, wrestling around the front lawn like that."
"Yeah," Katasha agreed without enthusiasm. That was one of the things she was embarrassed about. She didn't really mind dogs being big, loud, and rowdy. They couldn't help being like that anymore than she and her siblings could help being small, careful, and fastidious. Was it better for everyone to be like her? She knew she was supposed to think so.
"So," Corina mewed musically as she sidled up next to her sister and slipped one dark gloved paw around Katasha's arm. "Shall we go home and see if that dog college has finally turned you down?" The jangle of her earrings combined beautifully with the purr in her voice. Everything about Corina was beautiful from the silky balance of her milk-white body and her seal-black points to the colorful, stylishly buttoned tunics she chose to wear. Despite how much they looked alike, Katasha knew she could never really be like her sister. Maybe that's why she watched the dogs so longingly. Corina had raised the art of being a young, Siamese she-cat to the level of perfection. The only way Katasha could compete was to become completely different.
All the way home, Corina and Dmitri purred on about how great college was going to be. "There'll be so many more cats there!" Dmitri said. He'd made no secret of the fact that he was looking forward to all the girls he planned to meet and date in college.
Dimitri had the same blue eyes as his littermates, but he was the only one who'd gotten their mother's tabby stripes. Katasha was a tabby point Siamese with delicate stripes feathering the dark markings on her face and paws, but Dmitri was a full-fledged tabby.
"Yeah, I don't know how you think you'll ever find a boyfriend at a school like Isleywood," Corina said to Katasha, still holding her arm affectionately as the four of them walked the mile home. "There'll be even fewer cats there than here! And if you couldn't find a tom here..." She flicked her left ear, jangling the silver earrings again.
"I'm not looking for a tom," Katasha said, hoping that her littermates wouldn't realize how carefully she'd picked her words. She didn't think she could handle that level of teasing. She had trouble even admitting the idea that she might be looking for a boyfriend of... a different species... to herself. "And if I'm going to be an engineer," she said, "the education I'll get at Isleywood will be a lot better than Orrington State can offer me."
"I know, I know. You're too serious to waste time on dating," Corina said. "You know, I get good grades too! Erik and I study together, so it's not like he's just a distraction."
"That's why Tash doesn't think she needs a boyfriend," Dmitri threw in. "She doesn't need someone to study with."
"Yeah, well she might at a place like Isleywood, but there'll probably only be one other cat in the whole incoming class. Where'll she be then?"
Katasha listened to her siblings argue about their visions of her future, knowing that none of them saw it the way she did. Eventually, their arguments devolved into teasing each other about recent test scores and plans for prom dates. Katasha was relieved when they finally turned onto their own block. She saw their house ahead, a classic feline style ranch house, designed to be a smaller version of the ancient human houses that had been abandoned or converted into mansions in bigger cities. There weren't any historical relics like that here. All the houses were modern, recently built, and designed especially for feline and canine inhabitants. It was a nice neighborhood, but not a rich one.
Katasha's family lived in a dark brown house in the middle of the block. Right now, it looked like a giant box to Katasha, holding one small present inside. Her entire future could begin when she crossed through that door if the letter were waiting for her -- it was a heady thought -- or else, it would be one more interminably long day of waiting.
"Come on!" Corina mewed at her. "You're dragging your paws."
"Look," Dominic said, "If you don't get in to Isleywood, I'll take you for a ride in the Cherry Racer."
Corina flattened her ears, but then immediately raised them back up. It looked like it took her a concerted effort, but she managed to purr in an appeasing tone, "I thought you weren't done rebuilding it yet?" Corina had been dying for a ride in Dominic's pet project ever since he found it rusting in a junkyard, bought it for a song, and started rebuilding it almost a year ago.
"I put the final coat of pain t on last week. The chrome could use some touching up, but the engine's been waiting for a test drive almost a month."
"Thanks," Katasha said, catching Dominic's eye. She didn't care about cars nearly as much as he and Corina did, but the offer still helped.
"We'll drive over to the coast, and make all the surfer dogs jealous, okay?"
Katasha could tell that Dominic's suggestion made someone else jealous too, but Corina held her tongue. "Yeah, that sounds good," Katasha said.
Dmitri opened the door to their house, and Katasha lost her footing from nervousness. Her vision blacked out around the edges, and her ears sounded like they were underwater. Fortunately, Corina still had Katasha's arm, and, with her sister's support, Katasha made it into the house upright. "Geez, Tash," Corina said. "It's just a college. Nothing to faint about."
The tunnel vision didn't get any better when Katasha saw the letter lying on the floor. White, rectangular, exactly like she imagined. It had finally come. Corina reached down, grabbed the envelope and handed it to her.
"Open it," Dominic said.
Wordlessly, Katasha shook her head. She clutched the letter to her narrow chest. Her claws tensed, piercing the paper. She couldn't stop them. The worst would be if Isleywood had accepted her into the college but turned down her application for a scholarship. Katasha thought her heart might break if that happened. She knew her parents couldn't afford the full cost of admission for her. Mama wanted to try, but Papa put his paw down. The cost was too much. On top of that, if she did get in without the scholarship, Mama and Papa might start fighting about it again.
"Oh, come on, Tash!" Corina said. "You're making us all nervous now."
"Here," Dmitri said, holding a gray striped paw out for the envelope. "If you can't open it, I can." Katasha couldn't hand the letter to him, but Dmitri managed to carefully work it out from between her paws anyway. She stood still as a statue, filled with terror.
It'll be okay, she told herself, listening to an internal monologue she'd rehearsed hundreds and thousands of times. I'll go to Orrington State with Dmitri and Corina. I'll ace the engineering classes because they'll be so easy. Corina will make it her personal mission to find a tomcat for me, and maybe I'll even give in and go on some awkward dates. I'll get to hang out with my sister and brother. It'll be okay. Maybe I don't really want to go to Isleywood College anyway.
That's what would happen if she didn't get in. It would be okay.
Dmitri tore open the letter. "Congratulations, Katasha," he said, blue eyes still scanning over the text on the unfolded page in his paws. "You got in with a complete scholarship. You're going to be an Isleywood engineer."
Katasha could hardly breathe. Corina squeezed her arm, affectionately, and when Dmitri looked up from the acceptance letter he looked genuinely happy for her, albeit a little disappointed for himself and Corina.
"All right, cats and kittens," Dominic said. "Since the Cherry Racer won't be needed for a consolation prize tonight, I'm off to Buck's. Tell Ma I'll be home for dinner."
"You better be," Corina said. "I'm guessing it'll be a celebration feast tonight."
And, of course, it was. Mama hugged Katasha when she got home, and Papa said he was proud of her. They all went to Chang Thai for phad see salmon and crab rangoons, but Katasha could hardly experience it. The taste of her favorite food and the familiar twang of music at her favorite restaurant couldn't anchor her in reality when her imagination was flying so high. Would she be ready for Isleywood? Would it be everything she imagined? The rest of the day passed in a blur.
Katasha found herself perched on the steps up to the back door of her family's house in the quiet, dark of that late spring evening. Everyone else had gone to bed. School and work continued the same for all of them, even though her own, personal world was deeply changed. She had the single white sheet of paper -- her acceptance letter! -- in her paws, and she kept reading it over and over again.
The letter said she would be part of the largest incoming feline class that Isleywood College had ever known. Almost twenty percent feline! For her parents and littermates, that number sounded too small. For her, it was almost too large. She wasn't worried about feeling alone. She had her littermates and family to call if she found herself missing feline contact. What Katasha wanted was to be among the dogs. She wanted to walk right up to the dogs and be one of them -- a powerful force of nature, in control of her own life and the world around her.
Katasha knew that studies showed most cats did better at all cat schools. It's hard to be heard by the teacher when you're small and quiet, following the rules and raising your paw politely, when there's always some big dog barking the answer out before you're called on.
But Katasha could hold her own, and she knew it. She just needed a chance to prove it. Her parents and littermates were sweet to be worried, but it was their worry that held her back.
Sucking the chilled night air in under her whiskers, Katasha resolved to herself to try out a little bit of canine forthrightness herself in the morning. She folded her acceptance letter carefully back up, and slipped it into its envelope. She slept more soundly that night than she had in months knowing that the precious piece of correspondence had finally arrived and was stowed safely under her pillow.
Chapter 2
The next day, Katasha felt like a whole new cat. On the outside, she looked like the same angularly boned, strikingly colored, somberly dressed (the only colors Katasha wore were black and gray) Siamese cat, but on the inside she carried her secret -- her new identity, the future engineer who would attend Isleywood College and splash those dogs right out of the water. Metaphorically, speaking, of course. Literally, she had very little interest in water. She was a lot more interested in space, and she had every intention of taking that engineering degree and becoming one of the first cats in the space program.
At one level, Katasha had a lot in common with her brother Dominic. Only, while Dominic liked fixing up cars, Katasha had her sights set on designing spaceships. It was two sides of the same interest in vehicular mechanics. She found herself thinking about that as Dominic broke in his newly revamped and souped-up Cherry Racer by driving them all to school that morning.
"This car is a dream," Corina purred, exultantly sitting in the passenger side of the front seat. She'd won the competition for shotgun through a combination of sharp claws and pleading eyes. Katasha didn't care, but Dmitri grumbled about it. Even so, Corina clearly cared the most.
Dominic dropped his littermates off in front of the school and cruised off to find a parking space. "He shouldn't have too much trouble," Dmitri pointed out. "A car designed expressly for felines like that is a lot smaller than those massive dog caravans. Anyway, Katasha, do you want to come with us?"
"Where to?" Katasha asked, though she already knew she wouldn't go with them. If Corina and Dmitri were busy before the first bell that might be her only opportunity to slip away all day, and, though it petrified her, there was a dog she wanted to talk to. They wouldn't understand, so she needed to do it alone. Besides, if her courage failed her, she didn't want them to know she'd failed. Katasha might find feline pride ridiculous, but she still felt it.
"Our debate class is organizing an extracurricular debate about whether First Race doctrine should be taught in schools or whether idiotic dog theologies venerating extinct primates to the level of gods should be kept inside dog churches where they belong," Dominic said, leaving no doubt where he stood on the issue.
"Even though you're not in the class," Corina, "You'd be welcome to come."
Katasha skewed one ear to the side. Did they seriously think a religious debate would interest her? "You realize that I already got my college acceptance letter, right? I don't have to do random extracurricular things anymore."
Dmitri lashed his tail and said, "Suit yourself." Corina shrugged as if to say that she'd genuinely thought Katasha might find it fun. Then the two of them headed towards the cafeteria, leaving Katasha alone in front of the school.
It was early morning, and the sun hadn't melted all the mist away yet. Katasha could feel the dampness of the pavement under her paw pads. She scratched the ground with an extended claw, building up her courage. Then she set off for the scramball court. That's where the dogs on student council hung out before school, and that's where she knew she could find Hickory, the gorgeous Siberian Husky who was senior class president. He was also a dog who'd made a lot of noise about applying to Isleywood College. If she'd received her acceptance letter yesterday, then maybe he'd received his as well.
