“Oy yoy yoy! Another cat and doggy day. I can’t believe it. Our home is going to be destroyed in about a week when we have another cat and doggy day!” Jaz was ranting again. Her brother, Josh, always listened to her. That was the problem with Josh. He was too submissive. And Jaz was way too talkative and extroverted. The siblings were complete opposites, yet they were the only friends each of them had.

“Well, that would be longer than the last one,” Josh said.

“Josh, why do you always look on the bright side even when there is none? All the pencils we’ve been in have lasted longer than the last but still not long enough. I hope one day we will have enough money to finally move into a mechanical pencil. Those things last forever. Once you’re there, you pretty much have a spot there for the next one or two years. Sometimes they do get damaged, but they’re always okay in the end.” Jaz leaned forward in her seat, daydreaming about mechanical pencils. Doing so, she exposed herself to the falling cats and dogs outside and quickly leaned back in with the dreamy look still on her face.

It was Sage PM, which meant it was two hours until the glowing point went down in the sky. When the glowing point went down in the sky, everybody had to be inside their homes. That was when the greater forces controlling the pencil tried to wipe everybody away. They might succeed if you aren’t inside, but ever since Steven, people have been less against that rule.

Jaz and Josh’s favorite part of the city was their small deck. They put up a small tarp, so they could sit on it even when it was raining alligators or it was cat and doggy out. The weather in this pencil was especially bad. They have been in warm pencils, cold pencils, humid pencils, and dark pencils. But they had never been in a pencil with this much bad animal weather.

“I have to get to the kitchen. My shift starts in 20 minutes,” Jaz said.

Jaz worked at an alligator restaurant. Every time it rained alligators, they got a whole new batch of food to cook. Everyone loved it, and it was a good way to get rid of the extra alligators roaming the streets. Jaz was the best alligator chef the restaurant had.

“Okay, just come right home. You don’t want to be stuck outside when the glowing point goes down,” Josh said.

“I know, I know,” Jaz said. “Why is it that we’re the same age, but you are always telling me to be safe and come home on time. You’re not my parent. I know what to do.”

Jaz winked at Josh before grabbing her cat and doggy-proof umbrella and coat and walking out of the tarp. Josh sat there, waiting for his sister to come home. Little did he know he would never see her again.