01/01/2024
Walking through my house, I start to see my cat in places that don't make
sense compared to where I saw her earlier - it's as if she's suddenly
appearing in different locations rather than walking from one to the next.
Eventually, I develop a hunch for what's happening and pick her up, taking
her with me. Returning to the common area, I find another, completely
identical cat sitting there. Suddenly I realize that for years, I've
actually had two entirely identical cats and never realized because they
were never in the same place at the same time. I try to give one a purple
collar and the other a magenta collar to differentiate them.
21/01/2024
Laying around an economical hotel room with a handsome man. The room is
spacious, but old-fashioned and sparse. The bed we occupy is a
metal-framed bed with a cheap, lumpy mattress. He doesn't talk much and I
get the sense that if I move too far from him, he will vanish.
We are interrupted by a knocking at the door. I get up to answer. A
middle-aged woman with light, reddish hair introduces herself as Helena.
She tells me she has been seeking after a "Dr. Harold Hubert" for months,
but has been unable to find or call out to him. She tells me that I am
uniquely capable of finding him due to my talent for "diving". Somewhat
begrudgingly, I tell her I will assist. When I look behind me before
leaving, the man I laid with is gone.
The hotel's main foyer is the exact same out-of-date decor as the room. A
woman at the front desk wearing a red uniform intuits my purpose and tells
me to head to the office behind her and speak to the administrator there.
The administrator is a harbor seal, laying on a square floor pillow in an
otherwise unremarkable, typical office. It has a plastic rotary telephone
beside it, old enough that the off-white plastic casing is severely
yellowed. I pick up the phone and instinctively seem to know what number
to dial.
A female voice answers me and it's Dr. Harold Hubert's secretary. I can
faintly hear him in the background, trying to inform his employee of
something. In her strident tone the secretary begins to launch into what
sounds like a series of screening questions, the first being some variant
of "are you a member of (some organization) and do you attend our biannual
general meetings?".
I tell her I'm not going to waste time answering her questions, because my
task is simple, just a message for the doctor: A woman named Helena has
been looking for him, desperately, and has failed every attempt to contact
him. He should respect the lengths she has gone to and find a way to get
in touch with her as soon as possible. The secretary huffs in irritation
as I hang up.
I return the phone to the administrator and thank him for allowing me use
of it. He has rolled onto his back cutely.