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was hairy and big . . . he seemed to have changed overnight. He left his clothes in a scattered heap. |
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The warm night air seemed to accelerate him. He dashed into the woods, barely aware of twigs gouging his feet or branches whipping his face. Guided by a radar keenness, he made sharp turns around trees, leaping over scrub. He did not slow down for footing; he could see his way clearly. Night vision, Dr. Tojian called it. |
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The wind at his back rustled the treetops. He stopped for a moment. The place hummed with creature life. Insects, moles, toads, bats. And larger, musty things. Rabbits. Possums, Skunks. They hid but he could feel them, and like the raccoon, he could smell their fear. He thought about finding them but decided to move on. |
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He was slick with sweat when he reached TopTree, and the noise in his head was now a roar. Hand over hand he went up the tree. He lay flat out on the pillow listening to the blood music in his head. He could not remember such crazy urges taking him over like this. Or his own vague fright. He closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing, hoping the fog would clear. |
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In time the slick of perspiration cooled like skin tightening. He had no idea how long since he had gone through the woods or lain here. Ten minutes, twenty, an hour. He had no sense of time, nor recollection of why he had come. But he knew he should head back, that he should put his clothes on and go home. His mother was expecting him. She was probably worried and calling around. He really should. |
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He opened his eyes and through the little cutout could see stars in the leaves, bright pinpricks. He reached over and found Daisy Too. It was musty damp. He thought about Daisy Onethe way she curled around his feet in the morning when he fed her; the way she kneaded his belly with her paws; how rough her tongue felt on his face. And then he thought about how she was scared of him . . . and how he liked her being scared of him. |
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Someplace voices murmured. |
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Through the trees he saw the light; and he remembered, and the red fog was back. But now the fear had given way to a rampant excitement. |
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He got up. His body was pulsing again. His eyes fixed on the tiny |
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