Cute little Pogo

I drove over to Amy’s place with a lab bag and some tools. When she answered the door she had her pet companion Pogo under one arm. It had short fur which looked light blue in daylight, purple in shadows. It’s face had a mixture of cute and confusingly sad, like a pug. I didn’t like looking in its big eyes, so I aimed my gaze elsewhere.

Amy placed it on the floor while she put the kettle on, made small talk about my lab job. The pet companion looked from her to me, licked its lips and tilted its head, twitched an ear in puzzlement. I think it had doubled in size since the first time I met it.

Amy droned on about the myriad of cute things Pogo did. One of them that had her in hysterics was that Pogo sneezed. That was the whole story. I know some people change when they become pet owners, but for Amy this was too soon, too much. I wanted to get a sample of this thing’s fur, run some tests. I wasn’t sure if it was a dog or cat or mini capybara or what.

“So you think you can track down Pogo’s litter?” Amy asked. “I’d love to reunite him with his siblings.” I held the bag open while she took the tongs and plucked a large wad of fur from its back. I felt its eyes on me and I avoided its gaze. The first time I met Pogo and I looked in its deep round eyes, I began to feel a lovely calming euphoria, but a suspicious one like I had been drugged.

“Don’t you want to pet him?” Amy held him right in my face. I sneaked a quick glance in its eyes as if to test myself and that warm drugged glow pricked up, so I shut my eyes and faked a sneeze.

Amy set it down, grabbed the tissue box, held it out to me. “Oh, I hope you’re not allergic!” I had some words to say but they all dropped when I saw Amy’s hand around the box. Her ring finger and pinkie were missing, shoddily bandaged.

“Amy, what happened?”

She sat and rubbed her finger stumps. “Oh, you know. Just kind of an…accident. I was petting Pogo and making dinner and I guess I must have had sauce on them or something because he….nibbled them….and he was so cute…..he kept nibbling…..it didn’t even hurt….I guess he was just really hungry.”

A cold darkness settled in my guts as I drove to the lab. This creature, whatever it was, and wherever it came from, it was dangerous and up to no good.

The lab results were quick. The fur had an oil composition similar to cannabinoids mixed with painkillers. Petting it made you happy, agreeable, and free of pain. Addictive combo. I surmised its eyes must have some hypnotic quality. Might also be pheromones involved. Pogo was a threat.

I raced back to Amy’s. Whatever I had to do, it had to be quick. I kicked open the door and dropped the crowbar I was carrying. Pogo had grown again. It hulked over the kitchen table. It was swallowing Amy up to the neck and her face turned to me, a wide smile. “It’s ok. I guess he’s just really hungry.”