affame_le_geant_suspicion_and_recognition fyn gula couge oktuber, wiping his hands of pig's blood, walked down his snow-covered driveway upon a compressed path that he had formed from daily trips to the shed. it had been a week since he last saw his brother, twinkletoes, and his lovely wife, thora. as one of his bordercollies temporarily woke from its afternoon nap and barked weakly, he told it to hush, noticing the mandrill still sitting in the cardboard cart. he loved surprises, especially meeting new people. everyone came with a message. the key was finding out what it was. twinkletoes took a few steps in the four inches of loose snow, although his paper shoes were worn thin at the treads, and like doc marten boots that needed replaced every year, he had planned on getting a new pair. he slipped a bit for it was nothing but a sheet of ice underneath. so he stopped and waited until couge came down. " hey dude...what are you up to?" twinkletoes called out. he could hear praayli's cheerful voice behind him as she affectionately greeted thora. "oh, you know, same old shit." couge chuckled. "slammin' pigs. gottta make that extra green, know what i mean, jelly bean?" "oh yeah," twinkletoes said, shaking his head. he hugged his brother. there was a familiar scent of hay and vanilla about him. and just a hint of blood. "who is that in the cart?" couge asked, and they both turned in the direction. the mandrill was stepping down, holding on to thora's right hand and praayli's left. she was careful not to touch the bandaged area. "to tell you the truth, i'm not really sure," twinkletoes said. "thora met her this morning. she has a bad cut on her hand and a secret in her heart. we were wondering if you could sew a few stitches." couge watched the girls walk into the farmhouse. one of the indoor cats, a siamese, escaped momentarily but as soon as it got a feel of the frigid air it turned tail and hopped back in. "what is this secret?" couge asked. even though 'let us eat lettuce farm' was sequesterd in the far reaches of montlapine, an outskirt town of the bianca strada, news of the revolution that will not be televised and proina's efforts to stop it were on everyone's mind. secrets, lies, movements in the dark, the sudden appearance of strangers, all of it had to be considered as suspicious and potentially dangerous. troubled times required intelligent awareness. "well, i guess it's my fault i don't know more. you know how thora is, always wanting to help. there was just this incident where she seemed to stumble when thora asked her what her name was. we think she made one up." "hmmm." couge squinted his eyes, deep in thought. he combed back his small black and white ears. "she' s a mandrill isn't she?" "yes." twinkletoes said. "why?" just then, thora stuck her head out the screendoor. "come on, you two, lunch is ready!" "we'll be right there, darling!" couge called out. "how are you, love?" "great!" thora chirped. "it's nice to see you." "same here." couge reponded. thora went back inside. the brothers began walking towards the porch of the farmhouse. snow clouds were moving fast in the watercolor skies above them and bits of blue and flashes of sun appeared, making shadows of the century old twisted limbs of the english walnut trees on areas of virgin snow. "you didn't answer my question," twinkletoes said. "why is her being a mandrill an apprehensive concern of yours?" "well," couge began, and the two of them came to the porch, its red painted floor with lime-green polka dots were barely visible with the blowing snow that had recently settled. a scruffy white outdoor cat was asleep on a cushy wicker chair. "mandrills are notoriously known in the kemulyan medical field as borsaneristas, you know, black-marketers. they remove fucking body parts and sell them. some of them can even separate flesh from bone without removing the soul." "fuck!" twinkletoes said. his paper eyebrows lifted as though pulled by strings. "you don't think this one is caught up in shit like that?" "let's get her drunk. that will make her talk." couge said. he opened the door to the enticing smells of praayli's sumptuous cooking. "hey now!" couge called out. "smells like heaven!" he hugged thora who had rushed into his arms, one eye catching the gaze of the mandrill, who had her wool coat off and was sitting at the table sipping a glass of wine. immediately, he recognized her. 030119 what's it to you? who go blather from