Written by Chris Cottom
Content Warning: Implied harm to an animal
We’d been told to leave our pets behind. They were moving us to the countryside.
“But Kaja is only a puppy,” Gittel wailed.
“We will smuggle her,” Papa said, hammering holes into the bottom of Gittel’s small
valise.
People were leaving their cases in a pile on the platform.
Gittel screamed as a soldier wrenched her valise from her tiny hand and threw it high into
the air. It turned over and over against the sky before landing on the heap with a thump.
“Kaja is a good dog,” Papa said, taking Gittel’s hand. “She has learned to be silent.”
First published in The Centifictionist
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Chris Cottom lives near Macclesfield, England, and once wrote insurance words. His stories have won competitions with the Allingham Festival, Cranked Anvil, Free Flash Fiction, Hysteria, NFFD NZ, Off The Rails, On The Premises, Pokrass Prompts, Retreat West, Secret Attic, Shooter, SWLF, The Phare, and WestWord. In the early 1970s he lived next door to JRR Tolkien. @chris_cottom1 chriscottom.wixsite.com/chriscottom