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It had been a slow day so far. As slow as a day at a shelter full of rambunctious animals could be anyways. Cherry was given front desk duty, which was the opposite reason why they had chosen to get their volunteer hours at an animal shelter. They wanted to spend time walking the dogs and petting the rabbits. They did not want to be sitting at a desk shuffling around the same papers wishing they had brought their holo-pad with them.
“I am bored out of my mind,” they gestured to the desk’s holo-screen. “Also, I am literally not needed.” They complained to Terry who had just walked in. Terry was an alright guy, probably spent too much time at the shelter. But that would be hypocritical of Cherry considering they spend all their time at the shelter and are only a volunteer, while Terry got his salary from being there.
“Don’t be silly, people love to see a real face and not just a screen.”
“Uh huh.”
“Well if you’re going to have that attitude-”
“Terrance!” Someone else called out interrupting him. Terry gave a ”we’ll finish this later” look and disappeared into the back. The back, where literally anything enriching happens.
“Ugh.” Cherry slumped back into their seat, they couldn’t even see over the top of the stupid desk. It was like being trapped in a lame version of the Colosseum. No matter how high they put the ancient office chair, the desk obscured their vision. So when a voice came out of nowhere Cherry startled and fell, hitting their head on the chair on the way down.
“Are you okay?” What sounded like a concerned woman asked.
“Yep, never better.” They grunted. Cherry stood all the way up, their platform boots thankfully making it so their head was past the desk.
“How can I help you?” Cherry asked, people weren’t exactly their strong suit but they’d take anything to break the monotony right now.
“I am looking to adopt a cat!” She said gleefully.
“Yeah, sure, just scan your ID.” Cherry pointed towards the holo-screen at the front of the desk.
“Oh uh…” The women looked slightly panicked. Cherry raised an eyebrow.
“Yes an, um, my ID! Which I totally have!” She smiled with all teeth and no eyes before rummaging around in her tote bag.
“There it is!” She said, slapping it onto the desk counter.
“That’s a drivers license.” Cherry said while picking it up and looking at it.
“Which is an ID?”
“It says it expires in 2027.”
“So..?”
“Lady not to be rude but you do know it’s the year 3069, right?” Cherry asked, suddenly very much missing shuffling the same papers over and over again. There was an awkward silence.
“Oh, hello miss, how may we help you?” It was Terry coming back to finish their talk, but now his button up shirt looked like it went through a battle, dirt streaked all over with little paw prints.
“She wants to adopt a cat.”
“Oh how wonderful, how about you show her the kitties Cherry?”
“Ter-”
“What, I thought you were bored out of your mind?” He asked while fruitlessly wiping his shirt with a tissue from the desk.
“Fine.”
“Righty-o.” Terry said and started to walk away. “I hope someone will find their furr-ever home.”
“Boooooo!” Cherry yelled at him. The crazy lady, because of course she did, actually laughed at the pun.
“Follow me.” Cherry said emerging from behind the desk, hoping that they weren’t about to be murdered.
While some cats were still in crates they did have a room where the ones that were allowed to mingle could do exactly that. It was a place for the cats to get entertainment (Unlike the front desk Cherry bemused) and interact. It also served as a place where patrons could come in and chill with the cats and see if they connected with one.
“Oh precious!” The woman exclaimed, her voice already rising several octaves. It was like this for a bit. The lady would ask about a cat and Cherry would answer, the routine let them let their guard down. Feeling less and less likely to end up in a casket. The presence of the cats also might have helped a bit with that. They were both sitting on the floor, a gray tabby named Hercules sprawled across Cherry’s legs. The lady sat crisscrossed with a ginger cat on her.
“So what’s your name?”
“That one is Pickles.”
“Ah, no I meant,” the lady turned to face them. “I meant your name.”
“Cherry.”
“Ah I see, I thought the guy said Larry and you just don’t give me Larry vibes.”
“Is it the hair?” Cherry joked pointing at their dreads that are dyed a bright Cherry red.
“Nah, it’s your eyes, they’re the window to the soul.”
“Cool.” Cherry said, petting Hercules.
“I’m Gloria by the way.” She said before cooing at a cat who made its way over to them.
“Thanks, now I can call you something other than a crazy lady in my head. Cherry said making Gloria snort.
“I just wanted to say thanks for not calling me out back there.” Gloria said, leaning back against the wall and unfolding her legs.
“It’s hard to sneak out and get a cat especially when you're not born in this century.”
“Oh c’mon you’re not that old.” Cherry said.
“Hah, thanks.”
Cherry, deciding to ignore the century comment, asked “You had to sneak out?”
“Oh yeah, one of my friends, his name is Caspar, is determined not to get a cat, he says it’ll hate him.” Gloria chuckled.
“He’s a dog person then?”
“More like a pet rock person.” Cherry laughed so hard that it spooked the cats away. Except the ginger one who stayed curled up in Gloria’s lap.
After perusing the cats in cages Gloria started to look a little anxious.
“Hey, if you're worrying about making a choice we can put one on hold for you.” Cherry offered.
“That’s sweet of you but I am afraid I have to,” Gloria pulled out a pocket watch and squinted at it, “make a decision in four hours.”
“Um, okay.” Cherry said too bewildered by the pocket watch Gloria had pulled out to check on the time limit she apparently had.
“My friend though, uh Leif, he’s the one I told you helped me sneak out, he’s going to be here soon and he’ll help me choose.” True to Gloria’s word, five minutes of looking at rabbits later a guy wearing an apron showed up looking disheveled.
“Caspar is onto our bullshit so hard we have to act fast.”
“Well let me tell you who I’ve found!” Gloria said already tugging Leif away toward the cats before Cherry could even unlock the door for them. Cherry sort of hovered around the two once they started talking. It was like watching professional ping pong as they talked through Gloria’s line up of felines.
“But this guy?” Gloria said with a fondness in her voice that caught Cherry’s attention. She picked up a ginger cat who didn’t even bat an eye at being lifted into the air.
“Is Pickles, it says he used to be an outdoor cat so I think that would also help him handle the diner.”
“Diner?” Cherry asked at the same time Leif exclaimed “Seriously?!”
“Hey,” Gloria said offensively, pulling Pickles closer to her chest “we could change the name, no need to be so harsh on the gatito.”
“Gloria, that’s not a cat,” Leif looked at Cherry, “how did it even get in here?” Cherry startled a little, realizing Leif was asking them.
“We got him, like, last week, some lady dropped him off, said it was a gift because we gave her a map of the city, she was nice but weird.”
“Oh my God.” Gloria said.
“What are the fucking odds?” Leif asked.
“What’s happening?”
“Uh, nothing at all, it’s just a small world is all, I think we know her.” Leif hurriedly explained. While Cherry could tell it wasn’t a lie, they could also tell there was a lot more hiding behind those words.
“Should I be worried?”
“No!”
“Eh.”
Cherry looked over the two of them critically.
“…Okay then, I guess you’re getting the Not-a-cat cat?”
“Oh absolutely.”
“Definitely.”
Back at the desk Cherry was tip toeing in their boots to lean over the desk and point at what Gloria was supposed to click. Cherry didn’t blame her, the legal jargon also got to them too.
“I’ll need that ID again to scan.” Cherry said. The dread filled Gloria’s eyes again like the first time.
“I got ya covered.” Leif said and then loudly slammed an ID onto the desk. Cherry took it and sure enough it was a proper Saleieinsport City ID.
“Huh.” Both Cherry and Gloria said at the same time. The rest of the process went smoothly. Cherry being thankful they were finally eighteen so they didn’t have to get “a legal adult” to sign off on everything. Now that they actually thought about it…
“Hey, Gloria, you're my first adoption.”
“Awe, really?”
“Well, officially anyways, it just felt like something to say.” Cherry said leaning on the back of their heels.
“Of course you should say it, that’s awesome!” Gloria exclaimed.
“Yeah, congrats!” Leif agreed. Cherry could feel their cheeks blushing.
“Let’s go get your Not-a-cat cat already.” Cherry said, ducking their head down to hide their face.
Not-a-cat cat eagerly got into the travel crate when they set it down which made Cherry do a double take.
“Did you guys open the crate?”
“No?”
“No, I told you that thing is not normal.”
“Leif don’t call gatito a thing!”
“No, I’m sorry Gloria but I agree with Leif here.” Cherry said while pointing their thumb at him. Gloria huffed and picked up the carrier, which the door to was also somehow closed. The walk to the parking lot felt forlorn to Cherry.
“Well it was nice meeting you guys.”
“Same to you Cherry.” Gloria beamed. Not-a-cat cat meowed.
“Oh no, Gloria!”
“What is it, Leif?” They both turned to look at Leif who was glaring at the hover-bus schedule.
“It says the next bus doesn’t come for three hours!”
“Three hours?!” Gloria’s face sagged. “We don’t have that kind of time!”
“Do you guys want a ride?” Both heads whipped towards Cherry.
“You’d do that?” Leif asked.
“I mean sure, my time ends in five minutes anyways.” Cherry fiddled with the hem of their violet sweater, “and you guys have been pretty nice.”
“Alright then let’s hitchhike!” Gloria exclaimed.
“I think it’s carpooling.” Cherry chuckled.
“Nah, hitchhiking sounds cooler anyways,” she brought the carrier up to her face “Isn't that right Pickles?”
“Oh we’re definitely changing the name.” Leif said. Gloria scoffed.
“I think it’s cute!”
“Where's your ride?” Leif asked, rolling his eyes at Gloria.
“It’s that one.”
“Oh.”
Gloria hung onto Leif for dear life.
“Isn’t this illegal?!” Gloria yelled.
“What?!” Leif yelled back. Cherry couldn’t even hear Gloria from the back of the hover-moped.
“We don’t have helmets!” She tried to explain. But the wind and the hum of the magnets that made traffic airborne was louder than Gloria. That’s not even mentioning the honking that was happening as Cherry swerved around other cars.
The Not-a-cat’s carrier was secured safely in the side cart. Which left the three adults to have to squeeze onto a single seat.
Leif took the middle so he could guide Cherry to Midnight Burger. It was interesting trying to explain to Cherry why their Star Trek looking GPS wouldn’t work, but their urgency to get back before “closing” seemed to push aside any questions. At some point on the ride Gloria squeezed her eyes shut, so once they were safely parked in front of Midnight Burger she didn’t even realize it.
“We’re here!” Leif said, prying Gloria’s hands off of him. “That’s going to bruise.”
“Oh thank God!” A voice yelled from the door. “Do you know how hard it is to keep him distracted? I had to lock him inside the pantry! Get your asses in here!”
“We’re coming, just hold on!” Gloria exclaimed, tumbling off the bike. Leif grabbed Pickles and booked it towards the diner, the diner that Cherry was looking at in fascination.
“How long has this been here?” They asked Gloria.
“This morning.” She repsonded sheepishly.
“What-”
“Thank you for all the help Cherry.” Cherry was about to repsond when someone else interrupted.
“Gloria!” The woman from earlier yelled. Gloria turned and cupped her face.
“Geez-hold on Ava!” She looked back at Cherry with a big grin, her smile lines visible. Not fake like the one had been back at the animal shelter.
“You’re a lifesaver.” She gave Cherry a bone crushing hug. Gloria let go and then started mad dashing for the diner, slamming against the door as she slid inside. Cherry simply stared, their chest feeling warm. When was the last time someone hugged them like that? They however didn’t get to ruminate on it for long. A loud warping sound started to fill the air. A bubbly fizz seeped into Cherry’s blood. The wind rustled. The negative space yawned like a cat. Then the diner was gone. Everything snapped back into place in less than a second. The sounds of the road magnets and a park nearby suddenly coming back into existence, they hadn’t even realized those sounds had left. Cherry dropped their helmet.
“What the fuck.”