Stray

The moment the door opened I knew an asskicking was inevitable. Whether I'd be giving it or receiving it was still a bit of a mystery. The smell hit me as I left the airconditioned comfort of the language building for the heat of another northcentral Texas summer, tugging my backpack higher on my shoulder as I squinted into the sunset. A step behind me, my roommate, Sammi, was ranting about the guest lecturer's discriminatory view of women's contributions to nineteenthcentury literature. I'd been about to play devil's advocate, just for the hell of it, when a shift in the evening breeze stopped me where I stood, on the top step of the narrow front porch. My argument forgotten, I froze, scanning the shadowy quad for the source of the unmistakable scent. Visually, nothing was out of the ordinary: just small groups of summer students talking on their way to and from the dorms. Human students. But what I smelled wasn't human. It wasn't even close. Absorbed in her rant, Sammi didn't realize I'd stopped. She walked right into me, cursing loud enough to draw stares when her binder fell out of her hand and popped open on the ground, littering the steps with looseleaf paper. "I could use a little notice next time you plan on zoning out, Faythe," she snapped, bending to gather up her notes. Grunts and more colorful words issued from behind her, where our fellow grad students were stalled by our pedestrian traffic jam. Lit majors are not known for watching where they're going; most of us walk with our eyes in a book instead of on the path ahead. "Sorry." I knelt to help her, snatching a sheet of paper from the concrete before the student behind me could stomp on it. Standing, I took the steps two at a time, following Sammi to a brick half wall jutting from the porch. Still talking, she set her binder on the ledge and began methodically reorganizing her notes, completely oblivious to the scent, as humans always were. I barely heard her incessant chatter as she worked. My nostrils flared slightly to take in more of the smell as I turned my face into the breeze.There. Across the quad, in the alley between the physics building and Curry Hall. My fist clenched around the strap of my backpack and my teeth ground together. He wasn't supposed to be here.Noneof them were supposed to be here. My father had promised. I'd always known they were watching me, in spite of my father's agreement not to interfere in my life. On occasion, I'd spot a toobright eye in the crowd at a football game, or notice a familiar profile in line at the food court. And rarelyonly twice before in five yearsI caught a distinctive scent on the air, like the taste of my childhood, sweet and familiar, but with a bitter aftertaste. The smell was faint and tauntingly intimate. And completely unwelcome. They were subtle, all those glimpses, those hints that my life wasn't as private as we all pretended. Daddy's spies faded silently into crowds and shadows because they wanted to be seen no more than I wanted to see them. But this one was different. He wanted me to see him. Even worsehe wasn't one of Daddy's. "...that her ideas are somehow less important because she had ovaries instead of testes is beyond chauvinistic. It's barbaric. Someone should...Faythe?" Sammi nudged me with her newly restored notebook. "You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost." No, I hadn't seen a ghost. I'd smelled a cat. "I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach." I grimaced only long enough to be convincing. "I'm going to go lie down. Will you apologize to the group for me?" She frowned. "Faythe, this wasyouridea." "I know." I nodded, thinking of the four other M.A. candidates already gathered around their copies ofLove's Labours Lostin the library. "Tell everyone I'll be there nexVincent, Rachel is the author of 'Stray ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780778324218 and ISBN 0778324214.