The Line Goes Quiet.

The line goes quiet.

You pull the phone away from your head to make sure it didn’t disconnect, which causes you to miss the first part of the Oriole’s response.

“-want me to do with this information. It doesn’t really change anything, does it?”

“I mean, not really,” you hesitate, “I just... I think maybe I was hoping you would have an opinion on it, that you would tell me you suspected or it surprised you or something. Does that make sense?” The note of pleading in your voice betrays how uncertain you are about the entire situation.

“I guess...” the voice on the other end responds, painfully unconvinced. “But you have to remember I never got to meet Jules, so I have no idea how you two got along. And you’ve posted what, half a dozen times on facebook since I left for school? Maybe if you were less of a shut-in recluse I might have been able to offer something worthy of consideration, here.”

You say nothing, the age-old accusation from your closest friend made all the more pointed in the years since they accepted a full-ride scholarship from out-of-state and left, immediately after going to ████████ without you. A fear grips your heart, that you are ossifying into a relic of the past, remembered fondly but not often thought of. This feeling is only strengthened as the Oriole continues:

“Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you were looking for but I gotta go, I’ve got stuff that needs checking on at the lab. Talk later!” she promises, but you know both that she will forget and you won’t work up the courage to call again.

“Goodbye.” you respond.

You hang up.

Renowned the world over for their preternaturally calm demeanour, Capybaras are often assigned as companion dogs to people with anxiety disorders. While there have been no formal studies as to the efficacy of these chilled-out canine assistants, anecdotal evidence suggests they have a fairly significant anxiolytic effect. Above, a Capybara companion sits and waits with their assigned human (a backpacker with agoraphobia) while they tie their shoelaces.

no bird today

i just watched the Transformers: The Last Knight movie in a theater where i paid actual real human money dollars to see it and there is nothing left. i am a husk, an empty shell where once a person stood, now eternally hollow as testament to a woman’s hubris, her sheer disbelief that it could not possibly be worse than Age of Extinction.

Rainbow land crabs are the official mascots of Pride Month! These clever crustaceans were chosen for their many similarities to members of the gender and sexual minority alliance, like: a bisexual’s ability to dig comfortable homes in moist soil, a bright blue carapace common to so many nonbinary genders, and very obviously the glistening red maxillipeds sported by both gays and lesbians.

A relic from a bygone era, Polish Chickens were specially bred for their large and fluffy feathers. Adept at collecting dirt and dust while gently wiping away smudges, these birds would often be used to clean and ‘put a shine on’ a large variety of objects. While they have largely been replaced by synthetic feather dusters in the modern era, they can still be found in the employ of people who truly appreciate vintage biotechnology.

Unfortunate victims of a bio-engineering programme gone horribly wrong, Surf Scoters live every moment of their life with a whole dinosaur skull in place of a bill. Fortunately for these malformed Melanitta the skull's mouth and nostrils are connected to the Scoter’s digestive and respiratory systems, but control of the skullmouth is retained entirely by the restless spirit of the long-dead dinosaur. 

Above, a Scoter grapples with the terrifying reality it is forced to endure while the grafted skull enjoys a tasty snack.