Varieties of the Fantastic in Fiction

By: Olympia LeHota

In this playful reading, the reader finds herself alone in a room, looking into a reality where a cat and mouse have it out for each other. You fell that the reading has become repetitive and someone the story changes every new paragraph. It took a while but the pattern revealed itself after the third episode of their interactions. Each paragraph starts with either “the cat” or “the mouse”. You couldn’t help but get the sense that you were watching early morning cartoons and each paragraph was a new episode.

The author uses very descriptive sentences that help create a visual in the reader’s head. From the color scheme of the floors and furniture to the items that sat onto of nightstands, armchairs, and tables. One section that caught my eye was actually a point of view from the cat, It starts with the cat disguising as a woman to draw out the mouse for capture. The author describes the costume like so;

He is wearing a blond wig, a nose mask, and a tight black dress slit to the thigh. He has high and very round breasts, a tiny waist, and round rolling hips. His lips are bright red.

Here we have crossdressing between genders and actual catfishing occurs. The mouse, attracted to the female figure, looses all of his common sense and approaches her for a dance. It isn’t until the wig comes loose where the cat’s identity is revealed. Quickly, the mouse lights a cigar and places it into the cat’s mouth whereas the cat was expecting a kiss. Confused, the cat observes the cigar but before you know it, it exploded and leaves a face full of suet and each tooth broken.

In the next episode, the roles and perspectives are turned. This time, the mouse has created a mechanical cat that is also highly sexualized and supposed to attract the cat. This time her description varies because they both have a different type of woman they like.

Her long black hair is shiny like licorice; her lips look like licked candy. She is wearing a tight red dress, black fishnet stockings, and red high heels.

Interestingly enough, each character knows the other’s wants and desires in a partner’s appearance. This time, the mouse still finishes on top, the cat falls for the mechanical cat’s looks and flirtation movements and without a word, he instantly swoons. It’s not until the cat hears a ticking noise and sees that in his medians eyes there are two shiny black bombs with a burning fuse. Again, there is an explosion in the cat’s face. This time, it releases a pink skin under his fur and some boxer shorts with a goofy pattern.

Each of these episodes can go on forever, which makes the narrative playful and cartoonist. Each paragraph tells a story from start to finish within one section and yet, that is all it needed to be successful.