Ursula had not been alone during New Years. She had been allowed to take her cousin, Rodney, home for a few days. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get ahold of her parents. Every time they would just slip through her fingers and smile at her. They had other plans, apparently. But in the end all had gone well, sort of, because at least she had one family member close by.<br/><br/>Without coffee, her patience was pretty close to nonexistent. Rodney was a used car salesman and could be quite the handful. She was not in the mood to have him be uncooperative.<br/><br/>Breathing deeply, she slid the bolt off the door. There had not been an answer when she knocked, but she had a feeling Rodney was awake and ready to start the day. For safe measure, she knocked again and waited a few moments before she just went on barging in. She often told herself that one could never be too cautious when it came to other people. Family members were no exception to the rule; in fact, most of the time, they were why it was best to be cautious.<br/><br/>Ursula entered the room to find her cousin was already awake and dressed, much to her surprise. He smiled and waved at her from the bed, oddly calm. Though he looked a bit hungover from the wine. He was always a very well-dressed guy no matter the occasion. She was surprised that he had dressed himself without making a ruckus or chewing on his socks. No complaints, since he had spilled wine all over the clothes he had been wearing the previous night.<br/><br/>“Rodney, I made breakfast,” she said. “We don’t have any coffee, though, we’ll have to get some when I go to drop you off.” Rodney frowned and responded by gurgling and ripping a pillow in half. Just great. “We still have orange juice,” she continued with hopes of calming him down, knowing that Rodney would not object to that. Orange juice was his second favorite beverage, his first being Dr. Pepper.<br/><br/>She practically had to drag Rodney out of the room, but eventually they sat and ate breakfast. It had not gone as well as hoped, as Rodney had decided to undo his tie and insisted they use it to play tug-of-war. Not in the mood, she told him they wouldn’t stop for coffee. An added threat of calling his boss to personally come over and drag him to work seemed to do the trick. It wasn’t long before they were out the door to start their day.<br/><br/>Her neighbor was out watering her garden, which consisted of nothing but a dead bush and some weeds.<br/><br/>“Hello, Ursula!” She called out as soon as Ursula stepped out the door with Rodney. “Good morning. Say, are you having water trouble?”<br/><br/>Ursula smiled politely, “Hello, Abigail! Yeah, I am. Man does it suck.” She paused, “I’m sorry, umm... I can’t stay and chat, my cousin and I are late for work.”<br/><br/>“Oh, Ursula! I didn’t know you had a dog.”<br/><br/>“A dog?”<br/><br/>“Yes, there at your heels,” Abigail sauntered over to where Ursula and Rodney were standing and began scratching Rodney’s head. Rodney howled with joy and slobbered a little, then jumped up on Abigail. Something turquoise was leaking out of the watering can knocked out of Abigail’s hand. She didn’t seem to notice, or just flat out didn’t really care much about it, “My, he’s a big dog! You should take him to the Dog Park.”<br/><br/>“He’s not a dog,” Ursula said, a little more defensively than desired. “He’s my cousin, Rodney. He was staying with me for New Years.”<br/><br/>“Well, I don’t know anybody who keeps their cousin on a leash… A toddler is fine, but a grown man? Isn’t that a little selfish?”<br/><br/>“It’s for science.”<br/><br/>“Oh, well in that case, I guess I shouldn’t pry. Say, would you like some cookies?”<br/><br/>Ursula shook her head, “Sorry, Abigail, I really need to get going. Rodney, get in the car.” Rodney looked at her defiantly. She scowled, “Now.” He obeyed.<br/><br/>Moments later, they were off.<br/><br/>Ursula rolled down the passenger window once they were on the road. Rodney stuck his head out, as much as the confines of his seat belt would allow (he might have been a handful, but at least he followed the law), and made loud noises that told Ursula he was content. Hopefully he wouldn’t get too excited and get slobber all over the window, she thought. Aside from the noises, the ride was mostly silent. She didn’t feel safe turning on the radio this morning. It just didn’t seem like a good day for it, she only liked to listen on good days.<br/><br/>Maybe she should roll up the window, on second thought. Was it ever really a good day? Safe? Some days were she supposed, but not today… Not today.<br/><br/>Sometime later, Ursula found herself in the parking lot of the Moonlite All-Night Diner, without any recollection of how she got there. Did she even head in this direction? It wasn’t unusual to find herself somewhere she had not meant to be. Sometimes, places draw people in unknowingly.<br/><br/>“Hey, that’s a cute dog you have.”<br/><br/>Ursula blinked and looked at the man who spoke to her, then she said through clenched teeth, “He isn’t a dog. What is with people today?”<br/><br/>“You think putting a business suit on him makes him human? Come on, lady, that fedora isn’t fooling anyone either.”<br/><br/>“You’re very rude, you know that? What if you were out with one of your family members and I accused them of being dogs?”<br/><br/>“He’s on a leash.”<br/><br/>“That’s for science… You know what? I don’t need this shit. I’ll just forget coffee and go to work,” she turned to Rodney, “I know you wanted coffee… We’ll just have to stop at McDonald’s or something.”<br/><br/>Suddenly, as if she had said something terrible, and she probably did, the man was looming over her. His eyes were following her every movement.<br/><br/>Ursula told the man to have a nice day, suddenly getting the feeling that she needed the diner’s coffee in order to go about her day. She entered quietly. There were people inside carrying on. Not all of them were ‘people’, but she saw them as such. Odd.