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IT WAS ALMOST noon by the tirand name for a sgregated in a large plaza formed by an old mall I stopped there a couple of tia Also, Komatsu Grocery was hands down the best Asian e selection and their seaweed salad was delicious Whenever I went, I’d buy a two-pound tub of it and then pig out as soon as I got home

I parked Pooki on a remote street, stepped out ofthat August’s fa to speak to outsiders They would go to great lengths to avoid attracting attention And I was about to Cause a Scene

My panties were off I crouched and scratched a nalasses on the passenger’s seat, locked the car, dropped the keys behind the left wheel, and took a deep breath

The world dissolved, swirling into a thousand bokeh, blurry little lights in every color of the rainbow

Pretty colors

Ooooh, so pretty

Mmm, pretty, pretty

So many scents I liked that one, and this one, and this other one was kind of disgusting, and this one ood

The bokeh slowly ca in a street Hmmm I knew this street This was South Asia

Why was I here?

I looked down On the pavele word: Jim

Jim My handsome, awesome, scary Jim Rawr I smiled and sniffed the name It didn’t smell like Ji: Jiust I caust had disappeared for twenty-four hours

I rose and padded around the corner The ht leamed People stopped and stared They kneho I was; I had coic, too, because it rolled off me with every step

I walked over to the door of Komatsu Grocery and lay down in theat the door

People looked at ht, look what big teeth I have I kneas a vegetarian, but aside from Jim and a few friends, nobody else did Besides, just because I didn’t eatfor the store decided they had better places to be

After fifteen ust’s second cousin, who liked to call herself Jackie, stuck her head out the door I releasedscratches on the paveine the conversation inside: "She’s lying in front of our store!" "In front of our store? In the street where everyone can see?" "Yes!" "Oh no"

Minutes passed by A little blue butterfly landed onyellow butterfly gently floated over and landed on my paw Soon a whole swarm of them floated up and down around me, like a swirl of multicolored petals It happened in h Butterflies were sic sensitive For soravitated to net They ruined e, but you’d have to be a complete beast to swat butterflies

If a baby deer frolicked out fro to cuddle up, I would roar I wouldn’t bite it, but I would roar I had my limits

I flickedclose to the forty-five- an argument, but if nobody came to say hello in the next few nore a er on their doorstep It just wasn’t done

The door opened and August’s auntie bowed and held it open "Please, coe outside August’s auntie led randmother, his uncle, and his mother sat The entire Koust’s white father Their faces looked ashen