Oh, oh, I just remembered. I’ve never told anyone this, but I remember when I was a kid, there was this dog on my street, named Big. Big was friendly, and always came up and jumped on me when I was walking to and from school the next block over. Contrary to the name, he wasn’t actually a huge dog, I think he was a beagle? So I wasn’t knocked over or anything. I liked Big, and always looked forward to seeing him.

But, one day, I saw a lump on the ground. Coming closer, I realized it was Big’s back half lying on the ground. Like, it wasn’t bleeding or anything, it was just, lying there, you know? I was morbidly curious, and I carefully walked up to it. And then… it got up. I jumped back, startled, as it walked towards me. It was a perfect cross-section of Big, like you’d see in a museum: guts, bones and everything, cut down around where the rib cage ends. And it was walking excitedly towards me; not like, as something that had two legs, but like the whole dog would walk… just, without the front half, so it looked unbalanced. It kind of, like, jumped up on me. Like Big normally would. But… only the back half. Somehow, though, I could still feel his front paws on my chest. I was too mortified to do much of anything, really, so I just stood there until he left, and continued on to school, trying to pretend nothing happened.

The next day, in the same spot, I saw… Big’s front half, lying on the ground resting his head on his paws. He saw me, and got up. Just like yesterday, he walked around like a normal dog, but just the front half instead. He jumped up on me again, but the back half was missing, so Big like, floated, I think? I gave his head an awkward pet, and he trotted off. Or, half-trotted, I guess. A “tr”.

I never saw Big again after that, but I will never forget those two days. I mean, how could I?