Content Disclosure: Sexual Situations
My master will be home soon. I’ve been stuck in the house all day, bored out of my skull. This morning, for the hundredth time, I read Molly Bloom’s “Yes” soliloquy from Ulysses, and afterward, I would have loved to take a contemplative walk, but I’m locked in.
It’s unfair because I didn’t do anything. Tuva, my master, used to let me go out. She gave me a key and told me to keep the door locked, and I was allowed to walk down to the pond and feed the ducks or go anywhere really because she trusted me and knew I would always come back. She knows I love her.
But neighbors said it wasn’t right for a human to be roaming around unsupervised. And then last week, one of Tuva’s friends had a human run away on her. The human, Annika, was found sleeping in the woods, nearly frozen to death. The neighbors tut-tutted, and Tuva decided that the neighbors had been right all along.
“But I’d never do that,” I protested. “I just want to do simple human things like walk in the fresh air and feed ducks and say hello to people. It’s what I like to do.”
Some humans don’t believe me when I say Tuva is kind and considers what I say. “They don’t have emotions,” Annika told me once. “They only pretend to have emotions, pretend to listen to you.” She smacked her forehead. “Think about it! If they considered your words, it would take them a tiny fraction of a second, so when they lean their heads to the side and look thoughtful, it’s an act. They don’t give a shit about us.”
Annika’s right that when the masters think about something, it takes them hardly any time at all, so part of it
