1 The Nose

The Nose had been getting into things her whole life: trouble, sticky situations, even the occasional rumpus. The world was just so interesting, and there were so many things to investigate! Something new always waited around the next corner!

She'd been stuck with the moniker Nose by her loving but often exasperated family when she was still quite small. They liked to tell each other ridiculous stories about how, even when she was very little, she tended to stick her nose into everything. The Nose was pretty sure that there was some exaggeration involved.

She searched beneath the pile of letters that belonged to someone else. The owner was obviously a person who wasn't very punctual about old fashioned correspondence, but she was sure… Ah, her search had not been in vain. There was something of interest hidden here.

She carefully withdrew the scrap of paper, paying no heed to the avalanche of destruction that took place mere moments after her departure. Her conscience was clear, if anyone was at fault, it was the person who had so carelessly misplaced such an important item.

The Nose made her way silently down the hall, every step placed as lightly as a drifting feather. Some people (like her insufferable family members) might say that she was getting a bit… plump, but the Nose eyed her square shouldered shadow on the wall with satisfaction. Her body was efficient and muscular, and no skinny lightweight like her sister would be able to shove open the heavy door into the storage room ahead.

She approached the door cautiously, but to all outer appearances in a quite casual manner. If anyone else had chanced to step into this long hall and seen her moving along it, they would hardly have noted her, because her posture said, "I belong."

She slid her toes into place, in a maneuver practiced hundreds of times, and shoved the heavy door open as easily as you might open your closet. The room beyond the gap that she gently glided through might have resembled your closet too. Piles of boxes towered precariously above the Nose as she deftly wound her way through the labyrinthine path.

Each of the boxes called out to her curiosity, but she resisted, for now. Someday she might return and delve into their hearts to unravel their mysteries, but for now, she had one goal, the window. The window with the torn screen, the hole in the security barrier around this residence.

Someone's careless mistake, or lazy indifference was going to grease the rail, so to speak, of her success. She could see it above her as she approached the wall and she smiled to herself in satisfaction. She quietly rubbed her shoulder against the large crate that supported the dangerous looking tower that leaned conveniently close to that exit. It stood firm against her weight.

The Nose leapt suddenly, and caught the edge she was aiming for, even as her foot slipped where she hadn't quite cleared the jump cleanly. The whole tower wobbled, but the heavy crate at the bottom stood firm and the pile settled again. She stepped lightly forward and stuck her head through just enough to look around.

The ground was not far below her, as the large storage area was partially buried in the earth. The grass was thick and untrimmed. Another sign of carelessness or indifference. No one was in sight.

She gripped her prize between her teeth and stuck her whole head through the tear. The edges scratched at her ears, but she ignored the sensation and worked her shoulders through next. Once she was leaning far enough out that she could curl her forelimb through along her chest, she did. She stretched, reaching out toward the ground. The weight of her hips pulled the tear in the heavy screen a little wider, but she reached down and gripped the grass to pull herself free.

A moment later she was free, and she crouched in the tall grass and listened. Only the sounds of distant vehicles and the background clutter of urban civilization reached her ears. She stood and trotted lightly away, not hurrying, not loitering. Just another citizen going about her business, moving from one place to another.

A day followed, and then another day after that, each one often more interesting than the last. Life was pretty good. No matter how many discoveries you made during it, no matter how many mysteries were solved, there was always another one waiting. Always.

She got older with time. Everyone does. Mystery and adventure always danced temptingly ahead of the Nose. Eventually she became quite old. Everyone doesn't.

The occasional niggle of curiosity still called to her, even after she became "a sedate old lady." She wasn't worried about what people thought of her though, in that respect, she'd never changed. When she was curious, she investigated.

Lately the Nose was becoming really curious about the mystery waiting beyond the "last breath". The older she got, the more people talked about it, usually with fear or resignation. But even with every technological advancement since her birth, with every great mind at work, no one really knew anything about this thing that everyone eventually experienced.

The Nose licked her paw and groomed her ear thoughtfully. Her whiskers twitched. It was the mystery to end all mysteries. The Nose… was really curious.