Anthropomorphile

By Chris Sumberg

In the space of an evening, he was chivvied by a paranoid terrier, inveigled by a sneaky cat, and menaced by a jealous—no doubt, class-mongering—opossum. Despite these dealings, he now extended the tissue paper branch toward the frightened, struggling beetle in the toilet bowl. Saving him from drowning, he thought (like a benevolent God) how pleased the beetle’s family and friends would be to see him home, shaken, but grateful for the bug-like empathy of the much-misunderstood Man.