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...
I quietly reopened the door to my office and noticed that Tina's patch of carpet in front of the wood stove was still unoccupied. She didn't usually leave the kitchen for long periods so I wondered if she was already on the hunt for her next meal. The office was comfortably warm but wasn't oven-like hot the way the kitchen had become so I decided to stay and turned my attention to the computer.
After powering-up the device I distractedly stared at the monitor. Snippets of that intel only minutes ago I'd gleaned from Spongey seemed to gel with some of what Tina had revealed. Ignoring the keyboard, I picked up Dr. Tse's report and leafed through it again. I don't know why I did that because I'd practically memorized the report. Maybe the reason was an innate need to hold something tangible.
Although the X-rays taken of Tina had been stashed inside a brown envelope stapled onto the back of the folder, I never bothered look at the images again after leaving Dr. Tse's office. Hoping to satisfy a nagging inclination that arose, I opened the envelope, carefully extracted those black and white plastic sheets and held them up using the window for backlight. Seconds later I narrowed in on the one X-ray that revealed something abnormal in Tina's lower stomach; a foreign object that appeared to be a small key-chain. Suspicious now, I wondered if the thing could be a tracking device.
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"Why wasn't this mentioned in the Doc's report?" I pondered aloud to myself as I stared out the window at traces of powdery snow blowing across the fields.
Instinctively I grabbed the phone to call and query the veterinarian but then decided against the idea, because if anything truly was amiss then I didn't want to foolishly tip my hand.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Tina asked, "What are you looking at?"
Startled because I hadn't heard her slide in, I looked down and inquired, "Where did you come from?"
"Under there." and she pointed at the corner table beside the doorway to the kitchen.
Realizing that she may have re-entered the kitchen and slipped into the office when I was fiddling with that package of frozen chicken wings, I questioned, "Were you under there all this time?"
Rather than answer her tongue appeared first, and seconds later she inquired, "What's a spongey?"
Tina's response was confirmation enough and I asked her to let me lift her onto the desk. She acquiesced so I dropped the Doc's report on the desk. Remaining seated, I leaned over and offered my right hand to her. Instantly she zipped-up my arm, around the back of my neck and shoulders and then along my left arm onto the desk which I'd clutched with my left hand for balance.
"Spongey's a person and I was talking to him on this... it's a telephone... a device to talk to others far away." I explained as I watched her slide around the surface of my desk and examine everything on it, because she hadn't been up here since those times she was locked in that box.
Ignoring me, she lifted herself erect and stared out the window at winter. Seconds later she undulated up to a pane, touched the glass with her right hand fingers and in astonishment exclaimed, "It's cold!"
"It's a lot colder out there." wondering if she understood that the window was a real-time view of our presently frozen outside world.
Done with the window she soon settled beside the computer.
"I'd like to continue our discussion... if you're okay with that." saying it in a way that gave her an out if she didn't want to continue.
Tina didn't respond one way or the other. Maybe she was expecting more talk from me because I'd asked her to come up on the desk.
Undaunted, I picked up the folder again, displayed it and explained, "This is a report all about you that Dr. Tse made when she examined you."
"I know."
"How would you know?" surprised that she said she knew.
"You babbled away about this when I was trapped inside the box." and saying it without a trace of emotion or expression on her face.
Surprised, I stared at her, because that occasion months back had completely slipped my mind. She yawned and then settled on her elbows.
"Anyway, Dr. Tse estimates your age is between three and five years." I detailed and then asked, "but how old do you think you are?"
