THE PROFESSOR'S DIRTY CLAIM
against my ear like a brand.
By day eight, the small flares had become something sharper.
We were in the courtyard at dusk. Lanterns lit. Air thick with orange blossom. I was reading, old paperback of Camus he’d found in a stall, when the riad’s cat, a lean gray tom with one notched ear, jumped onto my lap.
I laughed, soft, surprised, and scratched behind its ears.
The cat purred. Loud. Content.
Damian watched from the arched doorway.