Thumbnail by  buer
Original image: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/23764562/

A short story of Janell's interaction with a student at work. Comments and critiques welcome.



“Hello Ms. Janelle, you have something on your forehead.”

Janelle wiped her brow yet felt nothing just her hair.

“It’s still there.” The student said slightly agitated.

Starting to get nervous, thinking that she shouldn’t have listened to her favorite podcast during her lunch. Knowing how hard she gets when a joke tickles her she would have easily wiped a sandwich across her face. Or maybe it was that sneezing fit when she was digging through the annex for that fist edition the Theology department was requesting. One would think with the budget the campus has that there would be enough money to have a better ventilation system.

All the while Janelle frantically felt around her forehead for any sort of smudge falling down a rabbit hole of what might have ended on her forehead at which point maybe it was the second or third time that the student said with growing indignation, “It’s still there,” Janelle first reached for her compact but of course it was at the circulation desk. At this point Janelle has lost it and took out her cellphone, here it comes selfie camera…that’s odd nothing is there. Without hesitation Janelle barked back to the student, “Your talking about my grey patch of fur aren’t you?” The student nodded hesitatingly. “That is my fur it isn’t some smudge or stain,” Janelle gingerly easing into a gentle tone replied to the student regretting her initial bark, “thank you for your concern but no amount of elbow grease I’ve had that mark since birth.” The student smiled and left.

That mark cutting through her brow and nose wasn’t always there but ever since she moved back to her desert home she found herself noticing it more and more. Everytime she was abroad and around the states it never came up in conversation maybe a comment about her hair or the pattern of her light fur but almost never her mark. Though looking back Janelle remembered that she used to be obsessed with bangs and that it wasn’t until she was showing up every day in a suit and makeup that she noticed the mark. She longed for the carefree days up late in dive bars and hopping to clubs to then waste the next day in a museum. However coming back home she’d begun to enjoy running through the mountains and hills on holidays. But what she enjoyed even more was when work was done she could go for an hour drive out to her auntie’s ranch and enjoy the quiet.