Morte (2 page)

It wasn’t until the neighbor was saying goodbye that the dog finally spotted Sebastian. She cocked her head, trying to figure out what this little creature was. The man yanked her collar one more time, and she left with him.

Her name was Sheba. A few sunrises later, the man and the dog performed an odd ritual in their yard. He tossed a fluorescent green ball, which the dog would chase down and return to him, over and over. Both of them seemed so pleased when the task was completed that Sebastian again wondered if the dog somehow ruled over the man. But then the man dangled a piece of food until she sat and waited for it.

Sebastian once dreamt of the dog invading his house and taking his family from him. He saw himself on the other side of the window, in the forbidding cold, while the dog stared at him from his spot in the living room.

Some time later, the Martinis invited another stranger to the house. A teenage girl named Tanya. The couple dressed up in new clothes—Janet in a long silvery dress, her sandy hair tied in a bun, and Daniel in a jacket and tie. They kissed the
children goodbye and left the house together for the first time since Delia had arrived. Tanya sat on the couch watching television. She smelled weird, like candy, flowers, and mint. Every once in a while, she would go upstairs and check on the children. Sebastian kept his distance, spying on her from behind a chair or underneath a table.

Something had happened to the family. Tanya had split them up somehow. She was clever. She said hello the way all guests did, with a smile and a gentle hand. Sebastian ran away from her. She could not be trusted. A predator was in his house. Sebastian was on his own. He had to protect this place by himself.

Each time Tanya visited the children’s room, Sebastian stayed on her tail while still remaining far enough away, in case she pounced on him. In case she had claws. It went on several more times until he could barely stand it.

She went in once more, and he waited in the hall. He could hear the girl speaking softly, her palms sliding down the fabric of the sheets. The lights dimmed. Something was happening.

Furious, Sebastian charged, butting the door with his head. The sound of the collision was like an explosion. Tanya was the first to scream. Sebastian began screeching as he never had before. He pawed at the door. Inside the room, both children were crying. Tanya whispered in response, trying to soothe them. Sebastian would have none of it. She was trying to trick them, the same way she had tricked the Martinis.
Don’t believe her
, he tried to say.
I am here to protect you
.

Eventually, the Martinis’ car pulled into the driveway. Sebastian stopped yelling, relieved that he was able to summon them so quickly. While the children continued to cry, the babysitter stuck her head out the window and called to the Martinis for help. She was loud enough to get Sheba barking from next door. Janet arrived first. Sebastian let her walk by, proud that he had
held off the intruder long enough for his masters to see. She tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside. She banged on it for a few times before Tanya let her in. The girl’s face was slick with tears, her eyes red and raw. Janet hugged her, then went to the children’s cribs and rocked them to sleep. Defeated, the girl sat in a chair and wept.

Sebastian walked downstairs, where he found Daniel leaning against a wall. The man’s tie was undone, his skin yellow and wet. Sebastian noticed a new scent on him, a putrid version of Janet’s perfume. Daniel stared at himself in the great mirror, a line of drool hanging from his bottom lip. Sebastian went to him, hoping for some kind of explanation, but the man nudged him away with his foot. Sebastian stood there, stunned. Meanwhile, Janet walked the traumatized girl to the door. She and Daniel exchanged angry words. Years later, Mort(e) imagined her saying something to the effect of, “Your cat showed more concern for your children than you did.” And then she must have said something about his drinking. She ignored his angry reply. Tripping on the first step, Daniel managed to drag himself to his room, where he promptly fell asleep.

The house fell silent. Sebastian was alone to contemplate what had happened. It was he who was the enemy, the intruder. He was a prop for this house, not to mention its prisoner. They had mutilated him so that he could guard the house in name only. He pictured the days stretching endlessly before him. He realized that he would die alone in this place.

When the moment passed, he wandered over to the window. Tanya was gone, and Janet stood in the driveway speaking to the neighbor again. The dog was with him. This time, Sebastian did not have to wait for the dog to make eye contact. She stared at him, her tail wagging. Dogs seemed incapable of controlling their tails. Minutes later, the neighbor and the woman sat at
the kitchen table sipping tea and laughing the way the Martinis used to years earlier. Sebastian did not have the energy to stand up to yet another stranger. Besides, he was content to stay by the window. Sheba remained in the driveway, her leash tied to the doorknob.

The glass separated them. Sebastian drew closer. Sheba pressed her paw to the window and licked the glass in a vain attempt to get to his face. Sebastian sniffed the trails of saliva but could smell nothing. This continued into the night, while the two humans shared stories and jokes. It was not long until all the evening’s events were forgotten, replaced with Sheba’s warm brown eyes and lapping tongue.

A NEW RITUAL
began. Several nights a week, Daniel left for night classes at the local community college. Janet would put the children to bed. And then the neighbor would sneak across the yard, Sheba in tow, sometimes mere seconds after Daniel’s car pulled out of the driveway. Janet would greet them in the kitchen—first the dog with a pat on the head, and then the neighbor with a passionate, longing kiss. One time, they went at it for so long that Sheba barked at them. After exchanging small talk, they would retire to the master bedroom.

Sebastian observed from a perch on top of the cabinet. Up close, the neighbor was so different from Daniel. Whereas the master was short and stout, with a growing bald spot, this man was tall and lean. He had a darker complexion, and he wore his hair in long strands, almost like rope. The neighbor’s name was Tristan, and he was a literature professor at a nearby college. Sebastian did not understand why such a man would be the object of Janet’s affections when her husband was clearly the protector of the house.

Tristan tied Sheba’s leash to the leg of the kitchen table and
headed off with Janet. Sheba moaned a bit, and the man returned to soothe her. The woman hooked her finger through Tristan’s belt loop and pulled him toward the stairs, trying to distract him from his whining pet. This dog couldn’t be left alone, Sebastian realized. She depended on her master too much. And Janet must have refused to meet at Tristan’s house. Leaving behind the children would have been even worse than having the dog around.

Sebastian heard movement on the second floor. Sheba stared at the ceiling. Sebastian was unsure of what to do next—the window had provided a safe barrier between them, and he was not ready to get close to this stranger without it, no matter how fascinating she may have been. He had to settle for watching from afar until Tristan returned and walked her out.

The next time Sheba visited, she urinated all over the kitchen floor. Janet screamed when she found the mess, pulling her hair in frustration as the puddle crept onto the rug by the door. Tristan tried to calm her down. He stepped outside, which made Sheba howl in agony. It sounded like a child. The shrieks made Sebastian’s ears turn. No wonder her master had to tow her along on his visits. She would have alerted the entire neighborhood to what was going on. Tristan returned with a roll of paper towels in one hand, a plastic bottle of green, foamy liquid in the other, a pair of rubber gloves in his pocket, and a mop under his arm. He removed the rug and cleaned everything so ruthlessly that even Sebastian could no longer smell what had happened. The next night, a new rug greeted Daniel when he came home from work.

After that, Tristan put Sheba in the basement. If she had another accident, at least it would be easier to clean and hide. Sebastian waited for Tristan and Janet to start making their noises in the bedroom. Then he visited Sheba. She stared at him as he paced the floor. When he was within range, she sniffed
his head. He wondered what her tongue would feel like, and then the next thing he knew, she was licking him from his eyes along his skull to the back of his neck. Sebastian retreated. Sheba stepped toward him, but the leash restrained her. Sebastian rubbed his head with his paws until it was dry. When he went back to her, she licked him again, more gently this time. He nuzzled against her, feeling her fur mingle with his own, and hearing her heart thud against her chest, the breath going in and out. Within minutes, they were huddled together and dozing off as though they were animals in the wild groping for warmth from other members of their pack.

SEBASTIAN HAD NEVER
known what happiness was. Now that Sheba visited, he had someone in his life who understood. Someone who forgave him for who he was.

Because he was neutered, with no exposure to cats since his birth, cuddling with Sheba was the closest Sebastian had ever come to experiencing physical intimacy. But it was more than enough. The simple act of determining the positions in which they slept became a profound, almost sacred, act, every bit as complex as outright mating. Typically, Sheba preferred to be the big spoon, since Sebastian was so much smaller. Throughout their sessions, they would have to shift in order to facilitate breathing or circulation. Sometimes they were content to merely touch foreheads, or for Sebastian to rest the crown of his head on the middle of Sheba’s back. If it had been a particularly long day, they would face each other in an embrace, their legs overlapping. Sheba, being the more fidgety of the two, would normally be the first to break the pose. Sometimes Tristan and Janet would have to wake them up. The couple seemed happy to see their pets so friendly with each other.

After some convincing, Sheba joined Sebastian on his regular
patrols of the house. They explored the basement together, sniffing around the old tools and sports equipment. Once, when Tristan failed to secure the leash properly, Sheba broke free and followed Sebastian upstairs, through the many rooms of the second floor, under tables, behind shelves, into closets that had been left open. Sebastian led her past his masters’ bedroom and into the far reaches of the forbidden attic. Though Sheba was scared at first, she soon found the place as irresistible as he did. It was their secret world, a conquered land. Her presence made it seem new again.

There was a moment as the summer sun was going down when Sebastian remembered that terrible thought he had had so long ago: that one day, he would die in this place. If he had shoulders, he would have shrugged. It no longer mattered if he died here, whether it was in another ten years or that very instant. Sheba’s breath was heavy on his neck. His head rested on her outstretched legs. Everything was now, in the present moment, and it was perfect.

SEBASTIAN LEARNED TO
recognize the sound of Sheba’s feet hitting the grass when she played in Tristan’s backyard. There was a large tree, its branches humming with beehives, and its trunk choked by a pack of slithering vines. It may have been Sheba’s favorite place in the world. When she was there, she did not always notice Sebastian. If she did, she would bark a few times to say hello. The stray cats occasionally teased her, but she chased them away before they could unsheathe their claws.

One day Sebastian was surprised to see Hank, the dog from across the street, in the Martinis’ driveway. He walked slowly, exhausted. Sensing something was terribly wrong, Sebastian scanned the backyard for Sheba. He spotted her reclining in the shade of the tree. Hank trotted off, his eyes fixed on Sebastian.
The dog’s expression suggested that he had gotten away with something.

IN A WAY,
Sebastian was fortunate to not yet understand that nothing lasted forever. He was unaware of the war that was brewing while he and Sheba held each other. And when Sheba began to act differently, he failed to notice at first. After a while, it seemed that all she did was sleep. They no longer performed their cuddling ritual. Sebastian would often find her already passed out, and he would have to creep up next to her. More than once, she woke up and irritably pushed him away. He ignored it, repositioned himself, and fell asleep again.

There were other things going wrong. Whenever Janet was alone, she would huddle by the television and watch the ghostly people on the screen. It was always the same: a river of text flowed beneath explosions, people running, buildings on fire, green trucks rolling along highways, men and women with helmets marching, building bridges, demolishing things, using flamethrowers to burn massive hills of dirt. And in between all the images were videos of creatures that Sebastian had seen crawling in the grass outside the window: ants. They were always on the television, always marching in a line, sometimes covering entire fields and picking apart dead farm animals. Sebastian saw people running away from ants the size of the Martinis’ car. The monsters could walk on their hind legs, and their jaws were strong enough to lift a human at the waist. This footage went on for a few days until Daniel came home and switched it off while his wife was watching. They yelled at each other, and when they were done, Janet sat in the room by herself, crying. After that, she turned on the television only when her husband was out of the house.

By then, Michael was walking on his own. One time, he
refused to go to sleep, and she agreed to let him watch. All the channels were playing the same thing now. Nothing but ants and fires. But this time, there was footage of a new creature. A pack of wolves, walking on their hind legs, approaching the camera. One of them carried a club in his hands the same way Daniel would hold a hammer. This was followed by a choppy clip of a group of animals marching alongside the giant ants. Sebastian could hear people screaming. Michael cried when he saw it. Janet shut off the television and cradled the child until he quieted down.