The spine terminates in two closely related and largely interchangeable objects. The pelvis and the skull physically resemble each other closely, especially in the early stages of formation, nerve bundles connecting the brain and the reproductive organs, the input and the output of the organism, the sky and the earth. As above, so below.
She stirred her coffee. He was late. He was always late. Being a surgeon was important, she supposed, more important than meeting your wife for brunch. She felt selfish, then indignant. Brunch wasn’t a matter of life or death, it was more important than that. She had news to impart – life changing news, about the dog they had planned to adopt. It had been kidnapped.
The rescue shelter had called her the previous evening, in distress, apologetic. This kind of thing just never happened, they said – security was as tight as you might expect for a building full of free dogs. They implored Sheila to come and visit again, select another animal, they even had another Sharpei just like Bruce, but he had a squint.
The teaspoon slipped out of her well-moisturised grasp and clattered onto the cafe table, giving her a start. At the exact same moment, the lights in the cafe flickered off and back on again. Nobody else seemed to notice. Then he was here. David, flustered and raw-handed, handsome apologies and hair flicking. He sat down, eyes searching for a waiter.
Sheila told David about Bruce. David didn’t look concerned, or really even interested. He would be, if he knew this was the fifth time this exact scenario had happened to her. Prince, Tigger, Petal, Shadow, Bruce. All taken, from different shelters, over the last ten years, the evening before she was due to collect.
David was talking now, about his new shoes. They were full-grain leather, he said. A woman needed a bypass – presumably heart not road, but he didn’t specify – his pager beeped, the waiter arrived as David was putting his jacket back on. More apologies, hair flicking, the cafe door swung shut.
Sheila checked her email. Another town, another rescue centre, another dog. Another David.