Aaron Walters had it all; lived very comfortably in an expansive luxury penthouse atop one of those desirable downtown glitzy condo towers, possessed the right education credentials to get to know influential people who willingly opened those invisi...
Shortly after 11:00 p.m. and having moved very cautiously through each room, from just outside the kitchen doorway I reached around and flipped up all the light switches.
That open box in the center of the floor was indeed empty and Tiny was gone... as I had expected all along would happen but had hoped might not. After all, what intelligent creature incarcerated against its will wouldn't have fled to freedom through an unguarded prison door left wide open?
Slowly I tip-toed into the now well illuminated kitchen to close up for the night, doing so gingerly in case Tiny was concealed beside something on the floor. I absolutely didn't want to inadvertently step on her and cause another injury or step threateningly too near to her and provoke another defensive bite.
For the first time since my inglorious fall from that pinnacle of glittering hedonistic business success I had begun to care for something else other than myself. Rather than resenting the little creature for actually leaving, I was genuinely hoping she'd recover her health and survive out there in her natural habitat, wherever that might be.
True, I freely chose to unconditionally let her go but involuntarily surfacing feelings of a sense of loss were bothering me; I was feeling rejected and abandoned. Nothing and no one had ever touched me this way before. This unsettling new experience definitely wasn't the same as fighting tooth and nail to prevent having everything stripped away by force.
Of course! I was the always callous, impervious, certifiably cynical Aaron Walters, and slipping up by showing any sign of weakness whatsoever had to be avoided at all costs all the time. The hardened impervious armour surrounding my heart had no chinks, dents or scratches and any possibility of being softened or hurt didn't exist in my persona. These shortcomings were inconceivable and could never be tolerated; the hardships and sufferings of others were never my concern... but that strange little creature had defeated me and I didn't know how or understand why.
As I continued to stare mindlessly at that empty container and the wide open kitchen doors to outside, that sense of loss struck me hard and I felt a few tears trickle down.
"Impossible!" I fought back.
In my entire adult life nothing like this had ever happened to me before, and I was embarrassed because of my weakness in spite of being alone.
As a deliberate distraction I picked up the uninhabited reptile carrier and emptied the entire contents into the garbage container. Foolishly thinking I could ever have persuaded her to linger a little, I'd promised Tiny that I would never again place her in this or any box, but now that was all meaninglessly moot anyway.
"What was I doing? Only an idiot would've tried to have a conversation with something that looks like a snake." berating myself aloud so I'd feel better after having been coldly awakened from my delusions.
I placed the empty box on the counter beside the sink. I'd wash it out in the morning while waiting for the coffee to boil. On my next trip into town, most likely in a few days, I'd return the container to Dr. Tse and give her my final update about Tiny.
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