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Furry House Guest Incoming

This week’s excitement around here is that we’re getting ready to host our first house guest since the Before Times. Oh, and she’s a cat. See, friends of ours are traveling out of province (they’re less risk-averse than I am, and case numbers are still low across Canada even with Delta), and for various reasons it wasn’t practical to cat-sit at their place. So she’s coming to stay with us during their trip. Making things extra interesting is that nobody in my household has ever had a cat, dog, or rodent for a pet. I’ve certainly interacted with plenty of cats, courtesy of many friends and family members who have them, but I’ve never taken care of one. Thankfully, the folks I know who do have cats have been happy to give advice. So we’ve been cleaning under all the furniture and securing our one houseplant and taking stock of breakables. My home office is still a mess, but less so than usual (as I make glacial headway on the piles), and anyway I’m told that having lots of potential hiding places is actually a good thing. My husband is excited; he’s hoping this experience will be a gateway for him to talk me into permanent pet-ownership. (Not with this particular cat, of course. I rather think our friends’ little boy would like her back.) My in-laws are skeptical; they grew up in India, where cats live on the street and get fed if you’re feeling generous. I’m anxious, but…

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It’s All About the Floor Space

The first bedroom I remember was the smallest in our house then, so I always thought of it as small. Having seen some postage-stamp bedrooms since, on the other hand… But the room was small-ish. And then, as now, I wanted all the things, all the choices, all the options, and so it was full. Very full. I’m talking path to the bed and the rest of the floor covered maybe a foot deep, full. I don’t remember how long it was like that. I do remember once throwing a pillow to cover the face of a doll who was face-up and staring at me from a corner I couldn’t reach. That pillow stayed there a long time. After my mom passed, my dad rearranged things, giving himself the smallest bedroom. My brothers, who shared, moved up to the biggest, and I got the middle-sized, more than twice the size of my first room, and the only one with a closet. A huge closet, since some wise person had seen a room with no closet and simply built a wall across one end. Ta-da! But to get that room, I had to move my stuff. All my stuff, including more than a foot of sediment from the past few years. I remember lying across my bed, with a “move this” bag on one side and a garbage bag on the other, and picking up one thing after another. I had to do it, so I did. It took forever. Once…

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The Princess, the Pie, and the Sorceress

The Princess, the Pie, and the Sorceress by Kit Campbell   “Uh, my dark queen? There’s a princess at the door.” Morgwyn, sorceress, looked up from where she was spreading models of her minions across a map of the countryside to find one of her dwarves standing in the entrance of the hall, hat clutched in his hands. “What?” The dwarf swallowed. “There’s a princess at the door.” There was, indeed, a princess at the door. She was beautiful, of course, dark hair curled and twisted into an elegant updo, and she wore a thick cloak of the finest wool over what was, no doubt, a ridiculous gown. Behind her was a large traveling trunk that she could have in no way carried herself. Morgwyn could just make out the backs of a couple of attendants as they fled down the mountain pass. Morgwyn almost asked if she could help her, but caught herself in time. “Yes?” The princess sighed and rubbed one temple. “I’m dreadfully sorry about all this.” ‘All this’ seemed to be the princess and the trunk, though that didn’t clear anything up. “And?” “None of this was my idea. You may rightly tell me to go away, and I shall do so.” With what non-existent attendants, Morgwyn wanted to ask. “I’m afraid I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” Should she have cursed her by now? Probably, but it had been a long day of plotting, and she could use a distraction. The princess…

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