Meditation was something Sondo knew he had to do but he sometimes forgot. He decided he needed to do it today or his body would begin to rot. He drove to a different park from the day before and sat Indian style atop a yoga mat he carried around in his car trunk over the grass. He rested his arms across his legs and focused on his breath. His mind fell into a limbic nebula soon after.
The therap pup plodded around on the soft blue carpet inside the house. He had awoken from a nap and his body needed to stretch. Voices he associated with love and care sounded through the halls and rooms around him. The outside was calling for him so he squirmed in a circle and began to go towards the glowing orange light closest to him. His baby claws tapped the titles and his small tail brushed unconsciously on them in the foyer. The front door was open. Despite being a little scared, he slowly descended the stone steps. Crisp 1983 October weather, leaves littering the streets, and a large Sol face grinning above a balcony on the other side of the front yard. Clicking and hooting shrillbeak sounds laced his ear drums as he crawled to the grass. Somewhere around the town, Talking Heads’s Burning Down The House was playing on someone’s cd in a car stereo. The pup looked upwards at the giant tree by the house and saw one of his teen cousins holding onto the equally large branch. She smiled at him, her fangs showing and her blue eyes glistening behind her glasses. Behind the house stood a beast stable and grunts from the hippogoros cut through the air. One looked over the fence towards the pup and shook its ears. Purple eyes peered back at his own light blues that would slowly turn green with maturity. The animal, while big, appeared even more large than it really did to his little mind. Tears started to form in his orbits, his tail grew stiff, a tiny whimper escaped his mouth, and he plodded away towards the back of the house. The world, while welcoming, still had scary things and if he couldn’t see them, they couldn’t get him. One of his other cousins, also a teen, who was also playing in the yard picked him up and carried him over past where he wanted to go. At least his cousin held him and plopped him down gently by the river bank. The water ran sinuously and small dinosaurs (birds) chirped along the sand. His cousins and older sibling ran to the water, splashing and wrestling with each other. But something a few feet beyond the bank startled the pup and his tears returned. Something that didn’t bother his family but wanted him attacked his soul. He couldn’t see it but this time, he didn’t feel safe. However, something clicked inside him next and a growl uttered in his throat. He didn’t know it but his mind had gone Permian. But it didn’t last long as his uncle scooped him up in his powerful hands away from whatever was going to hurt him.
Sondo’s adult mind returned to his skull with crashing realization and his whole body shook before he regained his composure. “Uncle…”, Sondo muttered to himself. “What was uncle trying to protect me from?” He had to know. Even if the drive was 50 minutes away, he would still go. Phones would hurt his ears now.