iarpo

Cats and cobbles

I'm at work in the skatepark, the car park's been replaced with a cobbled courtyard. Outside it's night, some of the regulars are dressed as boy scouts, all crowded round a tall campfire. They've set up a tight rope over the fire, each taking it in turns to walk the rope and do tricks; somersaults and spins. As the fire spreads to the rope's support the line droops, becoming a slack line. The boys carry on, using it to add variation to their tricks, swinging in and out of the flames.

Nearby are some talent scouts who've temporarily moved into the park, watching the guys on the rope, head hunting for the next big thing in skateboarding. I think I slept with one of them (women in skateboarding tend to come in two varieties:sour faced and stuck up or bubbly, busty and game)

I start to have a look round and see the cobbled street extends further back, tall tudor houses with flower boxes line each side. Bright white plaster and painted black wood set an idyllic scene, the sun now high in the sky, locals milling around a market, a few tourists dotted amongst them.

From one of the doors steps three clay animals, no more than a foot tall. Cartoon-esque, grey all over, one cat and two others I don’t remember. After milling about the market the cat was adopted by Quagmire from family guy. However he already had a bitch of a girlfriend and another cat creature, more advanced, futuristic and sleek, filled with servos and wires.

[fragment missing]

Quagmire’s house is pretty impressive, modern and expensive inside. In this particular room was the gym. The floor had a large raised area with wide french windows that looked out over the town. No need for curtains, the room was high enough to be hidden from view of the street. Exotic pot plants were dotted around between mini bars and modern sculptures. The lower section had state of the art gym equipment, chrome treadmills, weights, crosstrainers and a large mirror that led onto a steam room no doubt. In the night however, the room muted blue as moonlight streamed in through the large windows, the bitch girlfriend decided to try off the cat. She lunged for it, throwing it onto the tread mill. As it sailed through the air in slow motion the camera swooped low framing the cat in a close up and the woman, psychotic, in the background. To their surprise though, especially the cat’s, a single small sturdy dagger thunked out of each paw in place of claws. It landed on the treadmill and kept upright, maintaining purchase with it’s claws as it ran, thunk, thunk, thunk. In keeping up with the treadmill it survived, growing stronger and survived the night.