Second semester starts

Suspect, by Kate Purr

Sudden as a whisper,

the fairest of the skies,

will bring the heaviest

showers of pouring rain.

How am I to believe,

in the shine of a crystal

when it shatters with

a more agile singer?

It is all too clear to me

sounding too transparent,

lucid and clean indeed.

I know not what,

I'd dare not suggest

still can't help to suspect!

The new semester started. I leave home still ``early'' at a quarter past eight, having ``breakfast'' with my parents. Of course the other side of the story would have to be: ``Our daughter had time to dine with us, night classes take a toll.'' But I guess the difference is mostly in the sun, that insists in being on their side and hides like a star-sized frightened kitty. About classes I found with great surprise that things were back in place and which is more, revealing that this would be their pace. I would choose a chair in the back, Akita would complain because he couldn't mangle with estrogen this way and the Dark Knight about not hearing as well as dogs, but to me a timid smile was drawn by the thankful wish to have these moments stretch forever.

One night during gym class, I was following my prey, whose scent I had acquired and therefore became my main body trainer, a regular costumer. After a few talks I found she was not all bad. She was indeed the stereotypical felinae, so with a major ego and a natural teasing she engaged this rhythmic chaise as fearless as ever. I was more acute now; I could sense larger distances and pinpoint the source more accurately. Now and then I would even try opening my eyes, although I could still taste the aromas in the air, it was harder to find their orientation. This resulted in an improved avoidance of the obstacles at the cost of worst and slower readings of my prey, a trade I considered not consistently positive.

Her fur touched the air emanating sweat contours. She danced over the branches, jumping and swirling to escape some and find stable ones to land on, as though the whole movement was choreographed in her genes by a skilled modern ballet performer. Underneath, with my bare feet on dirt and fresh grass my movements were heavier and straighter. I wouldn't swirl my body to land on my feet, but my hands would feel the ground guiding my movement, rotating my body during the jumps when a different direction showed less obstruction. I wasn't dancing and could hurt from most areas of my body, due to brief contacts with scarce unseen, unscented and unheard branches.

Still there was something amazing about the way my body guided itself, the way it knew what to do before I understood the why... the way my fur tingled with the breeze an object caused long before there was any impact... the way my whiskers unfolded the colors of the wind along the different directions... the way my muscles found strength in awkward movements I did not recognize ahead and learned to embrace... the way my body healed and sensed and reacted faster than I could think as though I had two brains working in parallel, one faster and the other wiser. Yet, a lot of small branches made their sneaky way to my covered skin, cutting and teaching my wiser neurons to recognize the detections of my spread out hair.

She was giggling in a playful irritating way only cats know. She may look sassy, but she endured me as a hunter, because she dreaded the idea of her tail ending up in a guy's mouth, the way it had accidentally ended up in mine, once upon a time. For this same reason, I was neither found of chasing males and possibly ending up spiting their tail hairs for a week. Furthermore she might talk loud, but she is just as modest as practical and proud, so if she could she would never have to endure such abuse from a male dog. She knew how to make me want to bite her and crush her hard, the way a dog longs to teach a cat its place on the streets, in the roof tops hiding from the friend bouncing and barking beneath.

I thrust deeper in to my race, following her close, controlled by my most basic instincts. We had already run so far and so long I had lost the track of time and space, keeping in mind only my goal and my thirst to lower this cat's self-credit. In this moment my senses rose from whatever they had been so far to connect me directly with my perception and I could see everything so clearly. I could map different catmen and wolfmen behind us increasing their distance... I could tell my prey was getting tired and feeling trapped as I closed down on her... I could taste her frustration and her hunger and thirst. I could hear her pulse raising even from under the tree, her breath I could almost follow to her lungs. I could palp so deeply the freshness of the grass that rose beneath my feet and the flavor of the leaves each tree surrounded us with. Although this was overwhelming something else made me stop.

She stopped right above me, turned to face me. - ``You're right! we should probably had back to the gym. I don't think anyone comes this far and the class probably already ended. Though I always enjoy pushing you to your limit, you loud pincher.''.

I was static. I couldn't move, frozen by this unbearable feeling I could recognize too well. It was all gone now, but I could swear there was a lot of frustration coming from... a big group of batmen ahead of us... human blood and adrenaline. I must have lost it, I never felt something so overpowering as today and my paranoid mind is most certainly playing a trick on me. On the other hand I would never sleep today without knowing for sure.

-``Are you even listening to me? I don't know why I even bother, you know. Maybe of all the mutts you are not that dirty, but still... couldn't you act a little normal?'' - She brought me from my wonder, though I was not letting go.

-``You go ahead, I know you need the rest and I just want to stay a little longer.''

-``Yea, I know I'm the cat and you the dog, but I am still not letting you all alone here just because you need to catch your breath.'' - Her breath was still uneasy and I could still hear her heart bombing. I felt my chest with my hand and found a strong but steady beat. I can be over-focused and lose the notion of my own state, but this was not the case. As we trained I have gotten stronger and faster and I could smell deeper into the forest. In her case, she could stretch faster and longer, see better in the night and fight harder, but her long distance has not improved as much since our first head-on-tail.

-``Don't worry about me, if you have to catch your breath just stay a while, I am just going to check something.'' - she looked frustrated, the moon light reflected on the pouting of her cheeks.