by Mikki Aronoff and Kathryn Silver-Hajo
And she’s whole again. Sassy. Play with me! Play! Poppy’s lying at my feet, splaying her front paws out on the rug, mouth stretched wide, tongue lolling. Is she laughing? Overjoyed at her return, I fly to the kitchen, Poppy at my heels, reach for the cookie jar I keep on top of the fridge, still filled with her favorite freeze-dried chicken treats. She used to tornado into a frenzied dance-down-sit-shake blur as soon as she saw me reach for the lid.
But now when I hold up my palm to signal wait, she rises onto her hind legs, stretches up and slaps a paw over my mouth, growls, Oh no you don’t. I’m done obeying your dumb commands—Roll over! Stay! Fetch! Same way you jerked Julius around. Well, no one bosses us up there. I frown. Us? Up where? Has she been snuggling with my dear departed hubby on some puffy pink cloud-bed? Does he still skritch that place at the base of her tail that makes her flop on her side and wiggle like an S in ecstasy? Tear around some ethereal dog park with her, doing their special dodge and dart? I can just see Julius smearing peanut butter on his cheek, grinning as he lets Poppy lick and lick and lick, smirking down at me, taunting. Who does Poppy love best, huh? I want to scream, It’s me, it’s always been me!
Poppy pulls back her lips, flashing her gums. Have her canines grown? She trots off without a backwards glance, that beautiful bushy tail waving farewell. I stare ‘til she’s a speck in the distance, slump over to the mantelpiece. I smear the wet off my face, take down the two cloisonné urns, one huge, one tiny, dust and buff them with the sleeve of my raggedy sweater. I move them to the highest shelf in the hallway closet, consider the merits of goldfish.
Mikki Aronoff lives in New Mexico, where she writes tiny stories and advocates for animals. She has stories in Best Microfiction 2024/2025 and Best Small Fictions 2024 and upcoming in Best Small Fictions 2025. More at https://www.facebook.com/mikki.aronoff/.
Kathryn Silver-Hajo’s work appears in Atticus Review, Centaur, CRAFT, Emerge Literary, Ghost Parachute, Gone Lawn, Milk Candy Review, New Flash Fiction Review, Pithead Chapel, Ruby Literary, The Phare, and others. Her award-winning books include flash collection, Wolfsong, and YA novel, Roots of The Banyan Tree. kathrynsilverhajo.com; facebook.com/kathryn.silverhajo
Emerge Literary Journal 