The Beloved Pet Ch3
#7 of The Beloved Pet (Abandoned)
The Lonely and so far nameless protagonist finds a kindred spirit.
Posted to DA on 6/13/08
Posted to FA on 5/28/09
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"Misery Lacks Company"
As time passed, I observed the occurrences noting as many details as I could mostly out of boredom. The most common visitors to this hall were dressed like the avian who welcomed me during my first meal there. They wore scrubs with what looked like name tags and as such I assumed them to be vets. Occasionally they would remove one of my hall mates in a sedated state placing them on one of the exam tables. Once finished they would return them to room they came from, still sleeping of course. More rare were visitors who wore finely decorated robes and had the appearance of various anthro species. Whenever they visited they carefully scrutinized the occupant of each room. I was the recipient of this on several occasions, each of which was an unnerving experience. After this several occupants would be removed with out being sedated and after some time returned. Occasionally one would be removed again, this time out cold, and put through a through exam before leaving in the embrace of the visitor. With this I realized that I was in a pet shop as well as the vets office.
With little to do in the bare rooms I attempted communicate with my hall mate next door. Like the observations I had made, boredom was the major motivator in this action and, while I'm know for my solitary demeanor, my loneliness eased my apprehension over introducing myself to a complete stranger. When a knock on the bedside wall was returned with a "Hey there" I was overjoyed. My talking with him confirmed my early observations. This was indeed a pet shop, and we were the dogs in the window. Still better than torture porn or slavery. I also found out much to my surprise, the fellow I was talking to, was not actually from earth. He was from the Centuri Star cluster, specifically an earth like planet orbiting Alpha Centuri. He talked in detail about how his species had spread throughout the Centuri Cluster with the use of primitive FTL star-ships and had even visited the planets of the my solar system, with the exception of Earth. It was from the many radio and television broadcasts that his civilization knew about Earth and the languages spoken there. His race had decided to hold off on first contact until my species had grown beyond dividing itself over foolish social constructs, an assessment I agreed with whole heartedly. My newfound friend learned English mostly out of interest in Terran Culture, and in a strange Irony he got to speak to a first hand source while being marketed in a pet shop. His interest in my accounts of Terran Culture easily equaled my interest in his accounts of the Centuri and we spent many hours in very interesting conversations. Perhaps not surprisingly our keepers took note of our correspondence and on several occasions brought my newfound friend over to my room so we could talk face to face. The first time was a little awkward, as he had the same physical form as the wolf-like "customers". However the fact that he was the same height as me, combined with our many previous conversations, made our first face-to-face meeting a little easer. With all the time we spent together we quickly became very close friends. In all the boredom of waiting for next inexorable change of scenery, the times I spent in the company of someone who had a similar outlook on life was an enjoyment I never took for granted. I guess nothing unites like uncertainty.