Dog Day, Cat Night

 Dog Day, Cat Night

 

The sun rises, and the day bounds into the light. The day barks and wags its tail. It yelps, “Oh boy oh boy oh boy, what fun we’ll have, old pal! Get up, get up, get up!”

The day pushes me out of bed. It herds me through my morning routine. Bathroom, shower, dry, dress, breakfast, and clean the night’s litterbox. The day pants, “Good boy, good boy, good boy, good job, you do so much already!”

The day dances, prances, and leads me outside to my car. We get in. I drive. The day sits next to me. It pants, its tongue lolls. It gazes at me sidelong. I glance back at my best-friend-forever, and I smile. I caress the day’s golden fur. It croons.

We run our rounds and do our work, the day and I. Then we play catch. I throw away the world, the day races after the world, leaps, catches the world in its jaws, and proudly carries it back to me. I throw the slobber-covered world away again, and the day fetches it again.

This goes on and on. But the sun sinks low and the shadows grow long. The day says, “Night soon.”

I say, “Play dead.”

The day howls, “Ah wuff oooo.”

I say, “I know.”

The day slinks into the shadows, and the sun sets.

 

The sun set, and the night slinked out of the shadows. The night crept out from behind, and up from under. The night wrapped itself around me. It rubbed me with its soft black fur, it pet me with its tail. The night said, “Mine.”

The night led me to my bed. I lay down; the night leapt up to join me. We slept together, the night and I. Its purr and its fur comforted me.

But soon the night got up, shook itself, and glared at me with yellow slit eyes. “Me out,” the night ordered. “Prowl. Now!”

In a dream, I got up. I opened a dream window. The night flew into the sky, and I flew after. In flight in pursuit of the night, I saw it caress the streets and buildings of the city. The night said, “Mine.” The night marked the hills, the mountains, the forests, the sea and the sky. The night claimed the moon, the planets, the stars and the galaxies. The night said, “Mine.”

The night led me to a high place. I looked down, and I saw night on Earth. The night said, “Mine.”

But then I saw the eastern horizon glow the same golden hue as the night’s slit eyes. And then I was back in my room, back in bed with the night. A light not yet day gleamed through the window.

I said, “Day soon.”

The night said, “Wake up.”

I blurted, “I love you.”

The night purred, “I know.”

The night glided out of the light, and the sun rose.