Jilly Boo, the author's cat
Photo by Natalie Wolf
When I Told My Cat He Couldn’t Go Outside
Natalie Wolf
When I told my cat he couldn’t go outside, he:
said fuck you
grew wings and flew out the chimney
called in an army of feral cats to perform a showstopping Broadway number, which distracted me while he picked the lock
killed me and used my flaccid corpse as a battering ram
designed a stellar PowerPoint presentation, which convinced me to open the door for him
believed strongly enough that he could walk through the door, and did
hypnotized the door into opening for him
designed a pair of prosthetic opposable thumbs and opened it himself
dug up my MySpace posts from 2008 and convinced the internet to cancel me and my door
found an old man to sell him LSD and hallucinated that he was outside
found a wormhole under the loveseat, which conveniently transported him to just outside the door
time traveled back to before the door existed, leaving me to deal with the Butterfly Effect
ran for president, won, and issued an executive order declaring all doors illegal
TNT. That is all.
framed me for tax evasion, edited my will to make himself my next of kin, and took possession of the house when I was sent to prison (thus giving him full control over the door)
started to dig a hole under the door, but then met a group of underground mole-cats, married one of them, and became fully integrated into their society
realized that our own reality is merely a simulation, and he’d actually been outside this entire time
stared at me for thirteen seconds, gave his crotch a nice long lick, and walked away.
Natalie Wolf is a writer and educator from Kansas City. She is a co-founder and co-editor of Spark to Flame Journal and an editor for Ambidextrous Bloodhound Press. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Popshot Quarterly, Pink Panther Magazine, Unbroken, Right Hand Pointing, I-70 Review, and Live Ideas Journal.
Website: https://nwolfmeep.wixsite.com/nmwolf