A Flick of the Paw

The blinking red letters on the screen were way too bright. I let out a long, heavy sigh and realized my chest actually rose. Moving seemed like an awful lot of work, but the plastic game controller was poking right into my foot. Slowly, with minimum effort, I flicked my paw. The controller nudged an inch across the soft white fleece. It moved. I moved. Perfect. Now that I have verified I can exist, I can go right back to resting.