My first experience was cold.
Cold and wet.
Cold and wet and touching my arm.
My right arm.
This was at odds with the sensation of weight along the left side of my body. I reached out my right hand and began feeling for Ranger before I opened my eyes. The textures I experienced had me snatching my hand back almost instantly. The smooth, soft texture was more consistent with feathers than fur. Yet, there had been a smooth, plush quality to them that encouraged me to open my eyes.
I turned my head left first and opened my eyes slowly. I could only hope the pressure on the left side of my body was Ranger. Whatever lay to my right would be manageable if Ranger were resting to my left. Two triangles came into view first. Then beautiful brown eyes full of love.
My baby dog.
He was next to me and he was unharmed. A low whimper emitted his outline in the semi lighted… was it a room? Was I outside? Aside from Ranger I had refused to encounter anymore of my surroundings. He whined low in his throat again and a small tremor ran along him. I had no choice. It was time to turn my head to the right. Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes again and turned my head.
Face flat against the ground, I once again forced myself to pry my eyelids apart, and gaze along the surface beneath me. Immediately I saw what resembled dog paws and was relieved, until I looked more closely. The paws had a mix of feathers and fur blended together in a range of greys and blacks that had an almost iridescent sheen. Immediately behind the paws were talons. I drew a sharp breath and shut my eyes again. Clearly I was still unwell.
A gentle nudging from my left had my eyes open again. Ranger had scooted closer and was staring pointedly away from the right side of my person.
“Crap,” I muttered softly. I had no choice but to force my eyes back open and take in the sight on my right.
Without further preamble, I looked over on a held breath and prepared for the visual disbelief. The front paws were accompanied by a curved talon that looked precariously perched on 2 inch long nails, unsuited for the flat surface on which it stood. The legs reminded me of Rangers, but larger. The scale reminded me more of a pack animal than a house pet. The legs were attached to a long lean body, with an angled head, similar to an Alaskan malamute. Except the antenna, the extra eye, and the elongated tubular snout of an anteater that did not belong to any creature I had previously encountered. A fluid movement behind the hallucination indicated my mind had also given it a tail.
For lack of an alternative solution, I transitioned to looking at my surroundings. The soft surface on which I laid smelled earthy, with a fragrance like yard clippings mixed with cinnamon. It was a soft, dark purple and was the same texture as grass. In the distance, there were a collection of free standing structures that my mind called “Truffula trees” based on their similarity to the Dr. Seuss illustrations from my childhood. The colors were less vibrant, but the greens, blues and pinks radiated bioluminescent light that I hadn’t seen outside a book on deep sea creatures and Pandora at Walt Disney World.
A movement to my right was accompanied by a shuffling sound and the cold wet sensation against my arm had my head whipping back to the animal on my right. A long, orange tongue flicked against the flesh against my arm and the nose nudged me gently. Everything looked so real, I worried it might actually be real. Extending my limb, a fraction of an inch at a time, I reached for the snout touching my arm.