The flyer that came through the door stood out amongst the piles of unopened letters from broadband companies, Chinese takeaways, and threatening missives from the TV Licensing people.
It stood out because it was made up of cut-out letters from a newspaper, like the reminder of an IOU from an irate Mafia boss, and it stood out because of its original take on the spelling of English words:
GONE MISSIN. BELOVVED FAMILY PET. CAT. GINJER WIT WHITE MARKINS. ANSWERS T NAME OF FLUFY. LAST SIN NR MARKIT. PLEZE CALL 07766....
Jason Tipler looked at the note for a couple of seconds, and then put it on the table with all the other unsolicited junk. Cats were always going missing in this part of Yorkshire - they'd not got a chance on the main road that led out of town and towards civilisation.
That's just how it is, thought Jason Tipler, an unsentimental man in his early forties. You go out into the road, and you get eaten by a car. Or a van. Doesn't matter whether you're a cat, or a man - if you take a step too far, you're done for. He yawned, stretching his arms towards the sky, and considered some more how this is the one rule of the universe - horses for courses. And cats for roads. Or not.
This part of the world, whose boundaries consist of four corners in a rough parallelogram, respectively: the post office, which opened for business when the local youth weren't burning its innards out for fun; the convenience store owned by the wizened and sunken old Ken; a green expanse for recreation (and recreation, as far as we are concerned, involves shooting up, with the competitive part entailing not being caught); and the road out of here that leads elsewhere; yes, this part of the world, they make them tough and unsympathetic.
There used to be more markers here, and in years gone by we could've described the shape of the world in different terms. It was never Buckingham bloody Palace, but there was at least a garage, and a pet shop, and even what you might have almost called a supermarket. Not anymore, though. Most people had taken their business elsewhere long ago.... downsizing, they called it, or upscaling, but the outcome was the same for those who live here.
