Cat & Dog People

[Teresa]

Barely conscious, Ryan Lang left his apartment each morning at 6:00 am with a Mel's plastic bag in hand, glanced at Katrina De Luca's door on his way to take Max for a walk around the block and past Bob's Exotic Flowers where the dog routinely had a bowel movement.  

 

Ryan knew Katrina only from chance encounters at the mail boxes in their building, Mel's sandwich shop where they self-consciously waved, and from watching when she was unaware; he watched her water and sing to the tiny basil garden on her balcony, her casual stroll home from work dressed in purposely torn stockings and vintage dresses and like every other person with eyes in New York, he was in love with her.  

 

He had once gotten her mail by mistake and met Duke, a large chocolate-faced Balinese who was rubbing Katrina's bare ankles, dragging his whiskers along her black-painted toenails where Ryan longed to begin his journey, his study of her body as he would her native Italian, to meditate on the fray of her cutoffs, the taut cotton of her faded tshirt, the loose black nest piled casually on top of her head.  He quickly assessed her apartment instead with walls painted red and framed posters of Paris and Marilyn, then he slowly inhaled the popcorn and patchouli, a world so unlike his plain rooms and Elements of Software textbooks, his bungling bulldog and dirty socks. 

 

When he found Katrina on Facebook he gathered a rare bolt of courage to Friend her which she accepted immediately, and her 574 Friend count did not dampen his enthusiasm as he scrolled past her job at Turntables selling used CDs, vinyl records and posters, through fifty pictures of Duke and many more of Katrina in stage makeup and various costumes at Castinets Playhouse.  He slumped in the black swivel chair his dad bought him his freshman year at MIT and wondered what Katrina might find attractive about his life, about a dog who loved routine, roast beef and exotic beauty.

[Russo Lewis]

Thanks Teresa. I enjoyed that very much,  I liked that you said so much more than what was written through your awesome talent at detail.  Your art allowed my imagination license to roam through contrasts, dog's and exotic scents, socks and textbooks,  ankles and whiskers, torn stockings and sandwich shops,  yum...and of course, the bitter sweet palette  of love's desires.  Thanks again for a most satisfying appetizer. 

[Mike Handley]

I don't know that I agree with the others, except in their assessment of your wonderful imagery. The relationship works so well here because she's the untouchable, perhaps unattainable fruit of his imagination.

[Jamie Hogan]

The scene in the apartment, him studying her and her space...that's when I felt like Grey - I want her for him. I know I've said this before, but I'd like to see and hear what you see and hear when you're writing, just once. The details (it's a basil garden and the toenails are black and what in the hell is patchouli says the slightly hick boy from central NC) blow my mind.

[Bill Floyd]

I kind of want them to get together, too, but I don't see it lasting.  The brief collision could still be exquisite.  Dats and Cogs just don't mix.

[Gita]

I get a teeny whiff of Dharma and Greg, but much more. I want her for him, too, because he needs her free spirit and she needs his steadiness. I want him to go from "her black-painted toenails where Ryan longed to begin his journey, his study of her body as he would her native Italian, to meditate on the fray of her cutoffs, the taut cotton of her faded tshirt, the loose black nest piled casually on top of her head."

[Angela]

This was so aching.  I want her for him.  The world is so incredibly full of this, in one form or another.  I cannot pinpoint any particular one of the details that did me in, exactly - it is usually one or two that make or break a piece of writing for me.  Your details were so warmly precise and unified that I read this with some jealousy.  Superior in style and grace.

[Robert Crisman]

I wonder what she'd think about bear people...

[Sandra Davies]

If ever Ryan find the answer please tell me ... I know someone who might benefit from the information, sort of.

[bolton carley]

Teresa, I love this. Something so telling of how attraction works in this generation. And his mit ed with her marilyn walls. Your details are everything.

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

No one knows what ingredients go into attraction.  But perhaps that mystery is best left unsolved.