fact or fiction
Is it fact or merely fiction? Fact or Fiction explores the myths and beliefs we hold about our pets, like why dogs wag their tails and cats purr.
From Felines to Foxes
Sylvia always seemed to have luck on her side. With auburn elbow length hair and eyes that never managed to stay one color, her innate luck fostered an unshakable confidence. Except when it came to romance—a subject for another story. Unbeknownst to her (as our psyche tends to forget that we are a soul in a body), Sylvia incarnated into this life to catalyze social change. It was an influence that came with an entourage of spiritual protection and some other added advantages . . . like luck. Were you assuming that luck is something that happens at random? I’ll let you in on a secret—luck is contracted before birth. When the contracts are signed legally (and not sold on the black market), they are signed in Lucknow, India—Luck’s Headquarters, and are allocated out based on merit and requirement. Divine Law grants a fixed amount of luck to the human population each year and the vetting process is thorough.
By Marnie O'Farrell 5 years ago in Petlife
It's Piggy Time
My brain won’t shut off. It feels like a thousand thoughts are on their own rollercoaster ride throughout my head. I read about meditation, but I can’t do it. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to shut it off. How am I supposed to think about nothing? If I close my eyes and think about nothing, and I see nothing, then I start to wonder what nothing is. Is nothing something? I see a sea of black when I close my eyes, so that is something. If I were to see nothing, what would that look like? That is just a little insight into how my brain works.
By Angie Gorr5 years ago in Petlife
I am a Red Fox
This is an excerpt from a collection of essays by a good friend of mine who is a red fox. Imagine that you come home from work to find a letter stuck to your door with a knife - This is my house now. The Vixen’s scent outside my den meant as much. Some of you might not think it so bad to be followed by a female of your own species, but you should probably read the first line again. The Vixen stood a head taller than me and liked fighting a lot more than I did. Every change of season she got tired of my old territory and came to take my new one.
By Samuel Leeman-Munk5 years ago in Petlife
Where the Lilies Grow
I will never get used to losing pet. You want them to live forever and you do everything to show them you love them. But what can we do? That's life! We'll all leave this life one day. I just wish I could have prevented my poor Brairy from passing so suddenly. It hit me like a ton of bricks. He was playing one day, then the next day he fell ill. He was gone within a week. I always thought I would cremate him so he would always be with me. But I decided to bury him somewhere on my family's land.
By Kennett Taft5 years ago in Petlife
P.U.G.
In the deep dark hours of early morning, just a short time before the sun would begin its ascent into the sky a train cut through the gloom. The machine, once a gleaming vision of polished steel and svelte lines now reduced to a grimy holdover of a bygone age, rumbled along the tracks lurching, and jolting over every minor imperfection of the worn rails. Within, a man dozed fitfully while sitting upright in his cramped seat with a roller style luggage case perched precariously in the rack above him. With every bump the suitcase above inched ever closer to tipping free of its confines. Suddenly a large shudder rippled through the train car as it heaved itself painfully over some minimal debris on the tracks. With the jostling carriage the luggage burst jubilantly free, arcing away from its temporary prison and connecting, wheels first, with the poor man’s head below. A loud crack rang out through the rail car and the man’s eyes shot open, first with shock then filling with the pain which radiated downward from the top of his head. The man looked in fury at the offending item, now laying harmlessly, demurely even, in the aisle beside him. He then glared around the carriage searching for the party responsible for the grievous offence, but there was no one. The man was alone in this miserable rail car trudging through the deep black of night. He was left alone to contemplate his sad plight and wonder at what sort of confounded luck had led to this tragedy. There was no one to blame… unless could he? Could he blame the suitcase itself? Had it become possessed of a singular volition to spring forth and bludgeon him to an early grave? No, he couldn’t do that… Against his better judgement he did anyways.
By Patrick Callaghan5 years ago in Petlife
Soddit the Cat
His paws led him on many paths, wondrous and fantastic. Through hillsides and farmlands and a car park or two, and even a river at one point; he’d always known the Great Open Country would be like that, but he’d never imagined that three days into his journey he would already feel free, completely the owner of his own self… If there could only be someone to scratch his belly, then he would be in paradise! Granted, the weather was still quite cold, so he’d found himself daydreaming more than once of a blazing fire or a warm radiator in a lounge; the fuzzy blankets would be a cliché. And the cushion, too. And the plate of mouth-watering sardines or chicken left-overs… Or the bowl of milk – but then he remembered that milk made him gassy and that was why he had been sent away from his own home in the first place, so he pushed the bowl of milk aside in his mind and focused on the cushions and the hearty meals, and maybe a cosy lap. It was so good to have left Pilton and be free now, his own cat in his own land, yes sir!
By Sandra Tena5 years ago in Petlife
Puppy Luck
Here I am. Brand new at real estate. Well, not entirely because I’ve done it in the past but I’ve never really had the time to invest into it. My kids are finally back to school and the pandemic is nearing the end. Now is a good a time as any to start preparing for our futures. We are more financially stable than we have ever been so if it doesn’t work out, no big deal. I’ll just go back to doing what I used to do, customer service. Real Estate is just Face to Face customer service after all, isn’t it?
By Tanya Lewis5 years ago in Petlife
It is a dream. Is it a dream?
As she looked across the grassy field just under the mountains, a young girl stood at the edge of a little town. On the very edge of the Great Mountains that run along the left side of Turtle Island, a young world just about to evolve into a new age. A bright cloudless sky was the one thing that made this day so much braver. She knew in some way or another, she had to ascend the mountains. The town folks had found out her secret, and they were getting rallied up and wanting to kill. This wasn't good especially for her new friends who she could hardly wait to go back to, It was all she could think of and she only met them two days ago.
By Pamela Nina Blanchard5 years ago in Petlife
Verduga
Growing up, we always had a cow. Usually, we just rented one from someone who had a lot of cows in exchange for raising the calf. Generally speaking, cows are docile and calm, but one year we got a cow named Verduga: the executioner, the hangman, the tyrant. Instead of coming out of her head and curving gently towards her front, the horns came out and twisted wildly as if they had been hit by a tornado. Instead of a gentle mooing, she made a sound more like the roar of an injured lion. Most cows are very protective of their calves for the first couple of weeks, but as the calf gets older the cow loses interest and soon a person can do just about anything they want to the calf without causing a scene. Verduga’s calf was almost a year old a time when most cows have already stopped nursing their calves, but still she protected him more fiercely than even the most devoted new mother.
By Robert Porter5 years ago in Petlife
