Deaf Mascots (July 4th)

On the glare of red and other primary colors

In the course of human events there are other animals, quadrupeds, mammalians, carnivora encountered, but usually not on such an evening, at least not running free, not with all these celebratory detonations, colorful bombs and rockets, going off at peak frequency. But there might be, unexpected, a shop cat still visible, mascot for some pet related business, some groomer or a specialist veterinarian, very fluffy this cat, cartoonishly fluffy in its integument, mascotlike, white or black or some other solid color, laying in front of its designated shop window, appointed with a bed and various cartoon plush toys, indifferent, but not terrified, of the patriotic spectacle outside. A taped-up sign, printed on normal printer paper, nothing fancy, informational, provides the missing context, a name, yes, but also a descriptor, deafness on the part of the cat, the context for its lack of terror, its simple indifference simply catlike, not in need of any additional explanation.

From the center of the street, semiarterial, cleared for celebration, salvos of rockets are launched, not against any concrete enemy, at least not explicitly, at least not explicitly against housepets and droughted forests, though they do pose a hazard to them, but in pure celebration, the celebrants without any pesky scruples for housepets or droughted forests or the injustices (historical and contemporary) visited upon the powerless of this country by the powerful, listing them all would be tedious, as even those pointedly not celebrating, those pointedly boycotting the celebration, might even admit. But the shop cat is merely indifferent. Everything outside is mute spectacle. A rocket is launched into the air. It explodes in primary patriotic color (yes, a color plural, all the customary ones) a color mirrored in the eyes, briefly, before the cat turns over for sleep.