In The Pound, Near Breaktime by Kent Brewster

In The Pound, Near Breaktime

by Kent Brewster

• Word count: 1823
• Page count: 3

In The Pound, Near Breaktime is a science fiction short story that explores the idea of what the world would be like if unwanted pets, strays and pesky animals were intelligent enough to talk.

This is a very short story that describes several scenarios (some thoughtful and some funny) from the point of view of the desk clerk handling all the check-in cases for the pound.

Finished with business, the tall guy ambles off towards the wall of puppy cages, his daughter shrieking her delight. You buzz Holding and one of the teenage volunteers comes out and takes the box.

The imprisoned cat screams “Noooooo!” all the way down to the concrete blockhouse.

In The Pound, Near Breaktime first appeared in the October 1995 issue of Tomorrow Speculative Fiction and was a finalist for the 1996 Nebula Award for Best Short Story.

You can read In The Pound, Near Breaktime online for free at sff.net.

If you enjoyed this story, you can learn more about the author, Kent Brewster, by surfing to his self-proclaimed “butt-ugly home page“.

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