FEEDING TIME
The fish were long since passed, but she felt it helpful to have the reminder to feed. She was old, older than she ever thought she could be. Her joints creaked, her mind wandered, and none of her functions seemed to be as they should. The gurgling tank provided a soothing ambience and the sign reminded her that she needed to feed.
Twice a day, always on the sixes; that seemed to be enough to keep her going. The clock ticked slowly on the wall, the seconds falling away one after another: tick, tick, tick, tick. The inevitability was not frightening in the least. She had lived through more horror, and seen more terrible things to be afraid of the passage of time.
So long as she remembered her twice-daily feeding, all would persist anon.
She wiped her bony talons together and ran her slender tongue across her pinched lips. It was nearly time. The minute hand nudged another step closer to the twelve, the hour hand imperceptibly drifting towards the six. Two minutes to go.
She scuttled into the kitchen and lifted the lid on the pot, a wash of delicious steam gusting up towards her salivating mouth. She relished these moments more than any other. Sometimes she wished that she could feed at all hours of the day, but she knew that wasn’t how this worked. Some might say she had lived a life of sin, but avarice wasn’t one of them.
She placed her bowl next to the stove and brought a big wooden spoon and dirty cloth napkin out to the small dining room table. She paused briefly to examine the colourful material, sunshines and rainbows covered in greasy smears of dinner. It had been a nice shirt not too long ago.
She remembered the young boy fondly, a shock of curly brown hair, clear blue eyes, and a smile that radiated innocence. He was so sweet.
She returned to the kitchen and ladled three large spoonfuls of stew into her bowl, then returned to the dining room where she stared up at the clock expectantly. Tick, tick, tick, tock, the hour rolled to six o’clock.
She licked her lips and raised a large spoonful to her mouth. He was such a sweet, sweet boy.
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