It's Still Life

A Tenderness for Lost Things the old woman with no catsweeps the loft. she hums to broken spectacles,buttons without coats,spoons that remember mouthsnow gone. there’s a box of keyswith no ambition left—just quiet, rusted loyaltyto doors that no longer exist. she crochets warmtharound fractured teacups.she stitches silenceinto the hem of a baby’s sockfound behind the…

The Old Woman and the Suspiciously Quiet Cash Register the cash register hasn’t made a cha-ching in three days. not a beep. not a rattle. just—the silence of a thousand unpaid invoices. the old woman leans in, whispers:“you owe me.”the register exhales a single, sad receipt:error: charisma not found. the cat (now a forensic accountant)paws…

The Old Woman Considers the Weight of Absence the old woman with no cathas no cat to call her own,but her neighbour’s cathas claimed her as its own. she watches the cat and feelsthe weight of absence,and how it settles quietin the hollow of a room. the old woman remembersthe heft of a living thing,…

The Old Woman & the Cat Apply for the Code-Breaker Job the interview:the co-op manager scans the old woman’s résumé:“deciphered the neighbour’s wifi password?”“cracked the meaning of the crow’s suspicious silences?”she shrugs.“semiotics is practically cryptography.”the cat, meanwhile, presents a grease-stained napkin.“this is a one-time pad.”(the napkin reads: buy tuna or else.) the test:the manager slides…