Piecemeal June by Jordan Krall Page B

and the object dropped to the floor. It was an ankle. Or at least a reasonable facsimile of one. Kevins eyes widened, immediately thinking that his cat 10 Piecemeal June had stumbled upon a dismembered body and brought back a gruesome souvenir. The absence of blood or gore, however, put his mind at ease. Mithra gave the ankle a lick and meowed. Where the hell did you get this? Kevin rubbed his fur and then picked up what the cat had dragged in. He caressed it and found that it was made of some form of latex or rubber; he couldnt tell the difference. It was also moist. Eww, what is this? Sweat? Kevin grabbed an already dirty shirt that was lying on the floor and wiped the ankle free of moisture. Mithra walked over to the tarot card that he had dropped and fell onto it, rolling and meowing as if the card itself was made of catnip. Kevin rubbed the cats belly and stood up. He turned the television volume up and turned off the stereo. As he went to sit down on the couch he noticed something strange. The ankle looked wet again. He bent down and felt it. What is it? Sweating? Normally, any unknown wetness would have grossed him out but this time Kevin was oddly intrigued. This piece of strange jetsam was the color of lightly tanned flesh and reminded him of the ankle of every woman hed ever dated. With that thought in mind, he put his face to it and inhaled. His nostrils were filled with the musky scent of girl-sweat. Jesus H. Christ. Kevin walked away from the sweaty piece of rubber-latex and ran his hands through his hair. Shaking his head in both disbelief and self-doubt, he picked up the lone piece of faux flesh and brought it to the trash can. He dropped it on top of an empty box of donuts and watched it land in a chunky dollop of raspberry jelly. 11 CHAPTER TWO Kevin was used to Mithra bringing things from outside into to the apartment: dead mice, Twinkie wrappers, donut scraps, houseplants, and the occasional rabbit head. He didnt even allow Mithra to go outside but he always found a way out. Though the cat had yet to be hurt, Kevin had the underlying fear that Mithra would get injured either by accident or by an intentional act. Luck, however, always seemed to be on Mithras side. Mithra would sometimes stalk downstairs in the porn shop, looking for something interesting to play with. The owner, and Kevins landlord, Mr. Gregory Garglestock, would playfully chase the cat away with a pair of furry handcuffs. Gregory wasnt so much annoyed at the cat as he was worried that one of the perverts who frequented the store would take out their sexual urges on the animal. On Saturday morning, he was startled awake by the sound of scratching at the bathroom door. Mithra, what the hell you lock yourself in? Jesus, he mumbled as he walked zombie-like to let the cat out. There was more scratching and then a meow. Im coming, Im coming. Kevin scratched his underside of his balls and walked down the hall. When he opened the door the cat shot out and ran between his legs, almost causing Kevin to fall backwards. The bathroom smelt like cat shit. Kevin looked in the toilet and saw that Mithra had used it several times during the course 12 Piecemeal June of the night. The feces didnt look like it came from the cat, though. It was longer and thicker than any piece of shit that he ever scooped out of the litter box. What the fuck? Then something caught his eye. There was something small and white stuck in the feces. Kevin wrapped his hand in toilet paper and carefully got the object from the shit. It was an eyeball. It was made of glass and resembled a marble albeit a large one. He washed it in the sink and laid it on the windowsill. It stared at him but then again, how could it not? Kevin had the feeling that the eye was a prisoner without a choice. He could force it to watch him do anything. Though it wasnt a real human eyeball, Kevin sensed its personality. Bending over and putting his own eyes inches away from it, he had the distinct feeling