An excerpt from In a Dog’s World. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead to the next chapter.
The end of Katasha’s high school career felt like a lingering death. Classes continued to assign homework and batter her with lectures even though she’d already completed all the credits she needed to impress Isleywood into accepting her. Classmates continued chattering and gossiping, acting as if their high school lives mattered even though they’d be gone from high school forever soon.
Corina, Dmitri, and Dominic were remarkably circumspect and understanding about the gossip Katasha had inspired by her passionate dancing with Howell at the prom. They let the comments fly right past them. It almost troubled Katasha how much they were okay with it. She got the sense that they saw her night with Howell as a passing phase. None of them seemed to realize how much she continued to think about him or how serious she was about breaking out of the invisible box that constrained most cats.
The one highlight of those last few weeks was when the prom pictures arrived. Mama was so proud of all her kittens, looking so grown up, she immediately had one of the larger prints framed and hung in the front hallway. Secretly, Katasha took one of the copies, fed it into the computer, and digitally edited it down to her and Howell, a simple portrait of the two of them looking like a couple. A mixed-species couple. Her delicate, angular face and pointed ears, barely reached the height of his broad shoulders and were completely counterbalanced by the wide, rough features of his face, and flopped ears. The image thrilled Katasha. She printed out a copy and kept it in her pocket. She was a little embarrassed about her silliness though, so she kept it hidden, only pulling it out to look at it when the last few days of high school were particularly intolerable. Even then, she cradled the picture in her paws, making sure no one else could see what she was looking at.
Katasha tried calling Howell a few times to thank him for taking her to the prom. She even sent him a digital copy of the prom photo. The unedited one. When one of her calls finally got through, Howell was polite, but he seemed terribly busy. It was finals week, and at Isleywood that meant stress and studying. In high school, it meant doodling tesseracts and rocket ships on the edges of the tests after finishing them almost an hour early. Katasha apologized for disturbing him. Howell said it was okay; maybe he’d give her a call sometime in the summer.
Katasha was sure that Howell’s distant tone was only about finals week stress. Well, pretty sure. They’d talk more when he called in the summer.
No one was surprised when the rank of valedictorian was awarded to Hickory instead of Katasha. Although Katasha had higher grades, Hickory’s activities in student government tipped the balance. Katasha didn’t care. She didn’t want to give a speech at graduation. Corina, however, was furious for her. Dmitri took the opposing stance: if Katasha had been serious about becoming valedictorian, she should have worked harder to be involved in extracurricular activities. Like debate club. He had a way of harping on debate club ever since he trounced the dog team in the debate on teaching First Race doctrine in the schools.
When summer finally arrived, Katasha found herself working a nine to five job like an adult, except Papa didn’t pay her. Katasha wasn’t sure how that was fair, but she’d be gone at the end of the summer. She just had to wait out those long, sunny summer days — glimpsed only through the window in Papa’s front office — then, she’d be free and at Isleywood.
Katasha did try calling Howell once during the summer. He hadn’t called her yet, but she hoped he wouldn’t mind her taking the initiative. He hadn’t minded her asking him to prom, and she desperately wanted to see his big, goofy grin again and remember how it felt when he was holding her. He didn’t answer the call, though. A week later she got a message from him explaining that he was building houses in Australia as part of a dingo outreach program. He had extremely limited computer access (thus the purely textual nature of the message — no video), but he was looking forward to seeing her in the fall.
Katasha felt a little hurt that he hadn’t called before leaving, but she reminded herself that he was terribly busy. And, right now, from his perspective, she was still a high school girl. Even if she would be an Isleywood girl when fall began.
Katasha didn’t want to wait that long.
When the Isleywood registration office sent her information about their two end-of-the-summer activities to ease new students into their first year, Katasha ignored the flier for the Pathways Program for Cats. Instead, she filled out the form to sign herself up for the Intro to Isleywood backpacking trip.
From the information provided, it sounded like there would be several groups of backpackers, each led by a different upperclassman. The forms asked applicants to provide a little information about themselves so that everyone could be grouped according to hiking style. “For instance,” the form suggested, “if you particularly enjoy mountain climbing or singing while you hike, mention that, and we’ll group people accordingly.”
Katasha remembered Howell enthusiastically singing along with every song while they danced at the prom. She wasn’t much of a singer herself, but she dared to write down in the box, “I’d love to be in a group with a lot of singing.” She didn’t know if her ploy worked or if it was just a coincidence, but when she got her registration material back, “Howell Walker” was listed as her group’s leader.
Papa let Katasha quit her job a week early to prepare for her move to Isleywood. Perhaps “let” is the wrong word. She’d been catnapping, dozing, and daydreaming a lot on the job. It was hard not to, next to that big sunny window, and, in all honesty, she was neither that interested in nor that good at the kind of secretarial tasks the job entailed. She knew her life would be changing drastically in a dwindling matter of days.
Papa probably shouldn’t have been surprised when she started making mistakes. First she double-booked his last appointment of the afternoon. The next day, she scheduled an hour and a half surgery in a twenty minute check-up slot.
The final straw was when she let two of the nurses schedule vacations on the same day. These were big mistakes, but they all got taken care of. What didn’t get fixed was Papa’s temper. He yelled at Katasha all through dinner the evening after neither of his nurses showed up. Katasha’s ears flattened lower and lower on her head, until they were completely clamped shut. Her whiskers drooped, and, when Papa finished, Katasha mumbled, “Fine then, I quit.” He didn’t like that much either
Papa told Katasha that she could either show up at work tomorrow, ready to do a better, more conscientious job, or she could move out of his house.
Quickly, Corina offered to take over the job in Katasha’s stead for the last two weeks of summer. Dmitri pointed out that Papa already had a replacement secretary lined up to start in two weeks. Why not give the replacement a call and see if he could start early?
Katasha simply said, “I’m sure Florabella or Erik’s family would let me crash with them for two weeks.”
Dominic nodded. “Florabella’d be happy to have you.”
Now Papa’s ears were flat against his skull too. He looked cornered, like he thought all his kittens had ganged up on him. Mama interceded saying, “We’re only going to have our whole family here, together, for another week.” She laid a striped paw gently on Papa’s arm. “Please, let’s not fight.”
Suddenly, Papa had a lot of paperwork to catch up on at the office.
Katasha didn’t see him again for a few days, but she heard that the replacement secretary was happy to have the extra work.
The last day before Katasha left, her family had a big party. Corina and Dmitri would be leaving for Orrington State in a week, so it was really a celebration for all of them, but Katasha felt like it was a party for just her.
Erik, Florabella, and even Renee came over. Katasha wasn’t sure if Renee and Dmitri were back together, but they hadn’t been fighting as much. That made everyone happier.
They all sat on the small porch in the backyard, feeling the summer on their fur, and picnicked. It was idyllic. It was pregnant with sadness, but no one talked about tomorrow and how the era of this litter’s kittenhood would finally end.
After all the food was eaten, dusk began to fall.
“Do you have everything you need packed?” Florabella asked Katasha.
Florabella had spent a lot of the last week in the Blake house, helping as Katasha and Corina packed up their kitteny belongings into bags and boxes, now stacked by the front door. She was really interested in the process that Katasha and Corina were going through, getting ready to leave for college. At first, Katasha thought it was a morbid interest in their room emptying out since she’d be living in the house soon. As the week went on, Katasha realized that Florabella, who was not going away to college, was simply intrigued by the glamour of Katasha and Corina moving away to be college girls.
“I think I have everything for college,” Katasha said. “I’m mostly worried about the hike beforehand.”
Katasha hadn’t been on a back-packing trip since she was a kitten. A few times, when she and her littermates were small, Mama and Papa took them camping in the woods. It had been a lot of fun. But she’d been a kitten, and everything was fun back then.
This time, she’d be… well.. an adult, kind of. She’d be responsible for carrying everything she needed for the weeklong hike. She’d have to keep up with the rest of the group. And there wouldn’t be any soft beds with cozy blankets and smooth sheets. “Laundry!” Katasha said, suddenly flattening her ears in panic. “I’m going to have to do my own laundry at college. How do you do that?”
Dominic laughed. “Seriously, Katasha, don’t you ever pay attention to everyday life?”
“Not our little, Tash,” Mama said, fondly. “Her head’s always in the clouds.”
“In outer space, more like,” Dmitri said.
“Come on,” Mama said, “I’ll teach you how to use the washing machine.” They went inside, and Katasha watched carefully as Mama walked her through the buttons and knobs on the washing machine. “They may be slightly different on the machines at college, but the basic principles are the same.”
Katasha nodded mutely. The simple mundaneness of the exercise grounded Katasha in the present, pushing away the gulfing chasm of the future that would be upon her tomorrow.
Mama poured in some detergent, closed the lid, and started the machine. “You’ll be fine,” she said. “If you have any trouble, just ask someone. I’m sure Howell, or one of the other students could help you.”
Mentioning Howell didn’t make Katasha feel any less nervous.
“Or you can call,” Dominic said from behind. Everyone else was still on the porch, but he’d followed them in. “I’m sure I could explain how to wash clothes to you over the phone, or Dmitri could put a little video together for you. You could play it any time you forget how a washing machine works.”
Katasha spat at her brother, a snake-like hiss. “Very funny.”
“My sister,” he said, shaking his head, “the engineer who can’t work a washing machine.”
“She’s just panicking because she’s going to be alone, completely away from her family for the first time tomorrow,” Mama said, putting her arms warmly around Katasha.
Katasha snuggled into the safe feel of her mama’s arms. She was excited to leave for college, but she could feel the approaching absence of her mother’s arms — and everything else familiar to her — like a black hole consuming her entire life. Everything beyond the event horizon was out of sight. When she passed that invisible line…
She’d be gone.
That night, Corina crept into bed with Katasha and the two of them slept, cuddled together, like they had as tiny kittens. Neither of them said a word about it. They barely spoke to each other in the morning when Katasha walked out to the Cherry Racer with Dominic. All of her hiking gear was packed in the trunk. Dominic had promised to drive the rest out to Isleywood after the end of the week long camping trip.
Mama, Papa, and Dmitri said goodbye. Corina just stared at her sister with giant blue eyes that mirrored what Katasha was feeling. They didn’t always get along, but Katasha and Corina had invented themselves in the reflections the other one cast. When they differed, it was rebellion. When they coincided, it was sisterly love. Either way, they were reacting to each other always.
And now that mirror would be gone.
Or, at least, removed. Katasha would have to function alone, like she had wanted to for so long. It was scary and wonderful.
Katasha and Dominic climbed into the Cherry Racer. He revved the engine, and they pulled away. Katasha could see the rest of her family through the window, standing by the side of the street, waving goodbye. They grew smaller as the car drove away.
“You’re shaking,” Dominic said, looking over at his sister.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, repeating the words her mama had said to her the night before.
Continue on to Chapter 10…