EP601: Wet Fur

[eytanz]

Escape Pod 601: Wet Fur

AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tolbert
NARRATOR: Adam Pracht
HOST: Tina Connolly

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You can tell the dog owners when they board the plane; they see the black cloud hovering in the first row and their eyes widen in shock, then narrow in fear, followed by a glimmer of a smile, a hope as they glance at so many occupied seats. A hopeful smile that seems to say: “not for me. Not for mine.”

Unease settles over the plane, like a heavy, acrid scent. A few passengers throw suspicious glances at you, and one elderly woman even stops for a moment beside you, opens her mouth as if to speak. You hold your breath. She closes her mouth and shuffles toward the rear of the plane

You breathe again. You try to ignore the man seated next to you. You focus on the safety talk.

When the flight attendant buckles her fake belt, she glances at the cloud off her shoulder, then smiles apologetically at her audience. Like it’s her fault, or perhaps the airline’s? There’s nothing she can do, or anyone else.

You sniff. You smell damp fur. You frown, wondering, perhaps, how that could be? You don’t know what strange links lie between memory and nose, but we do.

Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!

[adrianh]

No, your you're crying.

<sniff>

Good story. 12/10 Brent.

[acpracht]

No, your crying.

<sniff>

Good story. 12/10 Brent.

Take that feeling, weep, then realize it's your own speaking voice making you sob, laugh at yourself, then cry again. :/

That was my Thursday.

Jeremiah wrote a fantastic story here.

-Adam

[irishlazz]

This didn't have any affect on my tear ducts, but I did like the story quite a lot.

[Jethro's belt]

Multiple stories and mysteries here, glad I stayed past the early confusion and to be fair there was a steady stream of reveals. Ghost pack in the sky it was good.

[DerangedMind]

I'm not quite sure what to say about this story...  I was engaged, it made me think, narration was great.  I started off confused as to what was going on, but the story was great with the reveals.

Did I love it?  No.  But I liked it a lot. 

[skeletondragon]

As someone with an intense dread of airplane conversations becoming more personal than I'm comfortable with, I thought this story did a good job of anchoring the fantastic with the commonplace and relatable.

[Katzentatzen]

I listened to this one twice to make sure I got it. I always love Adam’s narrations, this one was really lovely, detached but wistful. We don’t deserve dogs.

[Katzentatzen]

And I’m going to add a tiny bit of fan fiction here: one day when Christina is on her deathbed, Daisy will visit her owner to welcome her into the pack.

[acpracht]

I listened to this one twice to make sure I got it. I always love Adam’s narrations, this one was really lovely, detached but wistful. We don’t deserve dogs.

Aw, thanks. This made my day.

-Adam

[cwthree]

This made me want to go home and pet my dog.

[CryptoMe]

I did enjoy the story, but found the beginning too confusing. Somewhere in the middle, I just went back to the beginning and started again, because I was so confused. I would have appreciated a bit more clarity in the beginning.

[VTDorchester]

I enjoyed this story, and I worried about my tear ducts, although fortunately, they remained in control. I found a quiet bit of description within sufficiently inspiring that I wrote it down with hopes to use the idea it expressed in one of my current works-in-progress. (Although obviously, I will not plagiarize, because that would make me a jerk.) 

[cwthree]

Funny to see this thread become active again. This story just popped up on the Drabblecast.