I was subjected to yet another odd dream a few days ago. This time, I went into my attic and it had transformed into a large warehouse lined with doors. I went through one of the doors and ended up in a gigantic mall. At first, I was angry that no one told me they were making my attic into the storage room for this new creation. Then, I realized the handiness of having an entire mall waiting for me on the other side of an attic door. The Architect aptly titled this dream, “Abercrombie, Fitch, and the Wardrobe.”

On drearier fronts, I took the two ‘kittens’ to the vet yesterday for their first year’s wellness check. Sid Vicious is fine, but Minister has a heart murmur and has to go to a cardiologist next week for an echocardiogram (that’s him in the photo above, helping me work out plot issues this past winter). This is all too familiar territory for me. Three years ago our oldest, Elwood, developed a murmur. That turned into restrictive cardiomyopathy, and he was gone in less than six months. He died in misery. Thinking that this might just happen again–and with a virtual kitten, no less–well, let’s just say I’m not happy.

Since we live in a rural area, I have to drive the little guy all the way to Annapolis for this appointment. It’ll be the first extended period away from his brother for him. And they’re like glue. I just hope it’s not the beginning of a larger, more permanent trend of separation. I found myself thinking yesterday if it might have been better had we never adopted them at all, rather than possibly go through the nightmare of shoving pills down reluctant throats and eventually watching a helpless being die in terrible pain yet again. But, then I told myself to get a hold of myself–which I promptly and firmly did–and wait to see what the doctor has to say.

On the vague front, still no word from the agent. The days are quickly winding down to the end of the two month’s response time stated in their submission guidelines. As I’ve said before, no news means no rejection, but I’m still getting a little tired of the stasis of it all. I suppose I should just get used to it, because it’s most likely going to happen some more.

Today will be about plot outlining, avoiding thinking about and endlessly Googling potential diagnoses for Minister, and also avoiding going outside, because it’s crazy hot out.