Unserious postmodern paintings.

The donkey had been told, long ago, that it was neither the best nor the worst at anything. It accepted this. Each…

The puma had watched the documentary every Tuesday for seventeen years, not because it remembered the jungle, but because the narrator’s voice…

The halibut has been immortal since Tuesday. It does not remember how, nor does it care. It watches the steam rise from…

The tyrannulet had been sold for three dollars at a roadside stall marked 'Birds & Bargains,' its price tag still faintly visible…

The mayfly had been told, in a memo it could not read, that today was the day it would be radiantly average.…

The firecrest had been waiting for the kettle to boil for seventeen minutes, though it did not know why. It had watched…

The bulbul had been told, by a passing sparrow with questionable authority, that today was the day it would witness something astronomically…

The salamander had been mid for exactly seventeen minutes when the librarian knocked. It did not move. It had been practicing stillness…

The goldfish had been declared a hero by the neighborhood children after it refused to eat the flake food offered on Tuesdays,…

The waterbuck had been translucent for exactly three days, and no one had noticed until the janitor, mopping the floor at 4:17…

The redwing had been practicing politeness for seventeen years, ever since the teapot whispered it was rude to flap without asking. Today,…

The guinea pig had not asked to be haunted. It had only wanted a quiet nap after eating too much clover. Now,…