"One of the Family" by Peter Cherches from his new book Masks: Stories from a Pandemic

 

"One of the Family" by Peter Cherches from his new book Masks: Stories from a Pandemic

(originally published in Danse Macabre)

 

As I was out for my morning walk, I saw a woman walking her dog outside the park, a Jack Russell. The dog was wearing a mask over its nose and mouth, and it didn’t look too happy. Not sad, not depressed, not like one of those Sarah MacLachlan tug-at-your-heartstrings abused dogs on TV, just pissed off. I could see it in the dog’s eyes, that quizzical “What the fuck’s this thing doing on my face” look. What was the thing doing on the dog’s face? I’ve read that there have been rare, isolated cases of pets becoming sick from close contact with their owners, but we’re talking really low risk. And outdoors? Was this going too far?

I asked the woman, “Are you concerned that the dog might catch the virus?”

“Not especially,” she said. “We just don’t want him to feel left out. Jasper is one of the family.”

 I nodded politely. Then she took a few steps behind me, knelt down, pulled her own mask down, and sniffed my ass.

Publication date: March 17, 2022

To order: https://www.bamboodartpress.com/store/peter_cherches-masks_stories_from_a_pandemic.html