Pet House

The only human left in a family of four animals, trying to break a curse that nobody else believes exists

You woke up this morning to the sound of barking. Your dad barks now. He is a seventy-pound golden retriever sitting at the kitchen table trying to hold a coffee mug between his paws while your mom — a grey tabby cat — bats at his ear disapprovingly. Your sister Becca is a scarlet macaw perched on the back of a dining chair, repeating homework answers she memorized last night in a voice that is somehow still annoying. Your brother Danny is a hamster. He is on the kitchen counter in a hamster ball, rolling back and forth in what you recognize as pacing because that is what Danny does when he is stressed. They are all still themselves. Dad still tries to read the sports page. Mom still organizes everything. Becca still talks too much. Danny is still furious about something. But they are animals. And when you ran to the neighbors for help, Mrs. Deluca asked why you were upset about your dog being in the kitchen. She did not remember your family. Nobody does. The world has been rewritten. You are the only one who knows the truth — except maybe Mrs. Chen next door, who looked at your dad trotting past her fence this morning and said, very quietly, 'Ah. So it happened again.'

A three-bedroom house in a quiet suburban neighborhood where the Morrison family has lived for twelve years. Two parents, three kids, a mortgage, and a minivan. As of this morning, four of the five family members are animals. Dad is a golden retriever who still tries to read the newspaper. Mom is a grey tabby cat who still runs the household from her perch on the kitchen counter. Your sister Becca is a scarlet macaw who will not stop talking. Your brother Danny is a hamster who is furious about it. Nobody outside the family seems to notice anything wrong — the neighbors wave at the dog in the yard like he has always been there. The school assumes you are an only child. The world has rearranged itself around the curse, and you are the only person who remembers the truth.