​If You’re Looking for Love and Devotion, Magick Yourself a Dog, by Mikki Aronoff

​If You’re Looking for Love and Devotion, Magick Yourself a Dog

after L’Atelier de la Lune, by Agnès Boulloche (France) contemporary
http://agnes.boulloche.free.fr/oeuvres-recentes.html
 
Never at her best in daytime, Owl in her scuffed slippers stumbles into the kitchen, grumbling at the task ahead. There are always loaves of bread to bake. Owl ruffles her feathers and gathers her dreams, kneading and punching them into the dough as if they were the lovers who had left her. Puts it aside to rise. Opens a dusty bottle from the depths of the cupboard. Sips a dose of moonshine. Then another and another. Wobbles as needs and memories surface. Shakes her head to forget. Forgets. Hobbles to the cooler, snatches the days-old raisin-studded dessert from behind the years-old wedge of Stilton, sets it on a stool on the porch. Her claws wiggle an alakazam! over the shivery pudding, grunts “This one better work!”
 
Soon, tremors and jerks. Polka dot legs, a tail and a snout peek out from the velvety sweet. Bits of custard fly from the newly formed creature’s back. Its long, pink tongue licks off everything that doesn’t belong to itself.
 
As soon as she sees the animal is whole, is Dog, Owl crows. Hands him a bone and a luxury of paint. A pipe and beret. “Draw!” she commands. Conjures a name, swirls it around in her brain.
 
It’s been too long since a warm-blooded mammal mellowed her heart, thawed the freeze of her bed. Owl returns to her breadmaking. Ponders currant pie. Scones. Stokes the fire in the woodstove. Chuckles at sparks arcing in all directions. 
 
Already canine-constant and true, Spot carries on with his art, his wagging tail fanning an appreciative audience of mice and mistress. He sketches and sketches and sketches. Fetches the moon for Owl. 

Mikki Aronoff

Mikki Aronoff lives in New Mexico, where she writes tiny stories and advocates for animals. She has stories in Best Microfiction 2024, 2025 and 2026 and Best Small Fictions 2024 and 2025. She is a co-author of the book, Neverafters. More at https://www.facebook.com/mikki.aronoff/.