Boiled Cat

[uranian_poet]

I had a horrible dream last night. I dreamt that my cat was swimming around in a little aquarium. I noticed that the water was cold, and since she couldn't get out of the tank on her own, I turned a dial that made the water warmer. Then, someone dragged me away, started to talk to me; I struggled and finally pulled free, running back to the tank. The water was boiling hot and my cat was lying on the bottom, lumpy and hairless like a piece of chicken meat, half of her body melded to the aquarium's surface by the heat. I thought she was dead, either burned or drowned, but as I looked more closely, I saw that her eye - the one not meshed to the bottom of the tank - was open and following my movements. I realized that this was probably a fate worse than death, and that there was no way she could ultimately survive. I pumped the water out of of the tank. Vaguely, a great deal of time passed, during which I seemed to be rehabilitating her. Just before I woke up, my cat was sitting in my lap, purring and healthy despite being all smushed on one side and having lost most of her fur, one of her eyes, and her whiskers.

I often wonder if all nightmares could have relatively happy endings - if only we could stay asleep for the last few minutes. Needless to say, this morning I gave my cat a long snuggle.

(I also just realized how reminiscent of the Joker's transformation of Harvery Dent that entire thing was. I guilt trip in weird, weird ways.)