When I wake up the world is new. The bus slows down as it enters the town lim­its and we stop just out side the Stu­dent Union build­ing at the town University.

I used to work in this build­ing and I still have a key that grants me access to any room within. It is past five, and I decide to go in and play with my key. I go upstairs to the offices and check my email on one of the com­put­ers. I play with somebody’s wooden snake. I write a mys­te­ri­ous love note and leave it on a staff member’s desk. The Worm Acid is won­der­ful and filled with con­fi­dence boost­ing chemicals.

I find a Prime Time cig­a­r­illo in the drawer of someone’s desk and I take it. I leave the build­ing and start walk­ing up Hawthorne street, a long hill that leads towards the apart­ment of the cats.

The Prime Time is extra deli­cious and I hold its smoke in longer than I nor­mally would a cig­a­r­illo. I smile at a man in a tur­ban. He looks like an exchange stu­dent and I want him to feel wel­come in this coun­try, espe­cially amongst the druggies.

It is a warm July night and the Worm Acid makes it warmer. I am sweat­ing by the time I reach the top of the hill. I sit on a stone stair­way just out­side my friend’s apart­ment build­ing. I haven’t hal­lu­ci­nated yet, but some of the clouds above me are strange lit­tle colors.

I go inside and find the key to my friend’s apart­ment. It is under­neath a pic­ture of a pur­ple owl. It is a car­toony Owl and a lit­tle thought bub­ble is com­ing out beside its head that says “Doot”.

I open the door to the apart­ment and scram­ble in. I pre­tend I am being chased by hit men and I pre­tend they are shoot­ing at the door. I start to believe this is actu­ally hap­pen­ing and I lock the door for good measure.

Sit­ting on the floor, lean­ing against the door I cross my legs. Two cats appear from dif­fer­ent shad­ows in the room. One of them is white and one of them is black. They are equally beau­ti­ful and very small. The black one finds its way over to me and thrusts its head onto my knee in plea­sure. The white one is more hes­i­tant. I get onto my knees and start thump­ing on my chest like King-Kong.

“I am the dom­i­nant mam­mal,” I say as I thump. “You will obey me.” I walk on my knuck­les and move towards the white cat. We stare at each other and I grunt from my nos­trils. The cat begins to purr. “That’s right bitch,” I say and wink at the pussy.

Every­thing feels right as I get to my feet and stand up for the first time since enter­ing the apart­ment. I sway from side to side as I enter the liv­ing room and find the CD player. I find an Amy Mann CD and throw it on. The music feels like bathing in a bunch of pol­ished stones and I feel clean and right.

I make my way to the kitchen and find a note on the counter top. I read it:

Hey Frank! Thanx sooo much for doing this! I just had to get out of town or else I was going to go crazy! Food’s under the sink, feed twice a day. There’s some left­over wine in the fridge and a lit­tle present in the orange box. I’ll be home on Sun­day!
Love, Sara B xooo

All the excla­ma­tion points in the let­ter really hit me in a lit­eral way, and I feel a heavy rush so I sit down on a kitchen chair. I start look­ing around for the orange box, but I see noth­ing in the kitchen. My head begins to feel blurry and I start rub­bing at my face. I love the feel of my nose and my lips. My nose is the tip of a pre­cious dinosaur skele­ton. My lips are two rare insect lar­vae, they are pack­ets of jelly, they are tram­po­lines for my fingertips.