The Book of Dog by Lark Benobi

Author:Lark Benobi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vegetablian Books

Chapter Nineteen

Making Friends in Time of Turmoil

Mary Mbwembwe’s car was barely pasted together. The muffler dragged along on the ground. Inside the car it sounded as if they were trapped inside a tin can being banged on with a spoon. But somehow everything Mary Mbwembwe said made Stella relax a little more. The cat slept peacefully in the L.L. Bean tote bag and Stella felt her worries drift away and she was happy again.

“What is the name of your cat?”

“It doesn’t have a name,” Stella said.

“You’re right about that,” Mary Mbwembwe said. “Cats know who they are, all right.”

They were traveling in that vast and vacant part of California where the only things to see out the car windows were scrubby bushes the color of lichen and dirt, plus an endless graveyard of mothballed military planes, parked for good and rusting in the desert.

They traveled west, following the setting sun.

MARY MBWEMBWE WILL BETRAY THE BEAST, the baby said.

Her baby had been quiet for some time, and the way it piped up now, flooding Stella’s mind with useless information, startled her and made her sit up straight.

“What is it, what is it?” Mary Mbwembwe said. “Are you feeling some contraction or another?”

“My baby just told me something,” Stella said.

“Look, girl,” Mary Mbwembwe said. “You know your baby can’t talk to you, right?”

Stella didn’t answer. They rode on without saying anything, until they got to a narrow, curving road and turned north.

“Look, girl,” Mary Mbwembwe said again, and Stella decided it must be Mary Mbwembwe’s way of saying “hey,” or “listen to this.”

“Look, girl, there are a lot of birds up there, hey?”

“Yeah,” said Stella. She didn’t look though. She was feeling sleepy.

“Maybe some music is just the ticket,” Mary Mbwembwe said, and she turned on the radio. A man with a robust voice came on. He was shouting through the speakers.

AMERICA USED TO BE A WHITE, CHRISTIAN, DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY. IT WAS OUR CREATION, IT WAS OUR INHERITANCE, BUT WHITE CIVILIZATION IS GONE, MY FELLOW AMERICANS. THE ANIMALS ARE WINNING.

“Do you mind if I change the station?” Stella said.

“Oh? Sure. What is this one saying? I can’t really understand when they talk so fast.”

“Same old stuff.”

Stella pushed the ‘scan’ button and watched the digital numbers flash by until they came back to the same station once more.

THE PRESIDENT WARNED OF THIS, THE PRESIDENT EXPOSED IT, WE ARE ABOUT TO PLUNGE INTO ABSOLUTE, RAZOR-SHARP, TOTAL EVIL. IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD, MY FRIENDS

“He sounds very angry indeed,” Mary Mbwembwe said.

“Maybe something big is happening,” Stella said. “Maybe it’s the end of the world. Where is all the traffic, anyway? Have you even seen a plane today?”

“Well isn’t that the silliest thing I ever heard,” Mary Mbwembwe said. “These radio people talk this way all the live-long day. How could it be the end of the world when there is a new baby on the way? Hmm? I’m sure there is very rarely traffic on this road. We have taken a back way.”

Mary Mbwembwe turned the radio off.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.