In Portugal, it is illegal to dress any animal as a human. The law has remained on the statute book for centuries, although the fine remains the same, at one silver piece. It’s allowed for people to dress as animals, but only before noon or on Sundays – and decorating buildings as animals is essential in Lisbon on Easter weekend. But if you put a bonnet on a bunny, a waistcoat on a dog, or sunglasses on a cat, it’s a police matter. Even tourists get arrested – and the British embassy never intervene as ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Background

This is another drabble (100-word story) which was published in The Drabble magazine back in January 2019. I’ve been thinking a lot about drabbles - they don’t have a lot of space, but there’s enough for a big idea.

I spent last week in Wales, relaxing, and even spent a few days without any screens at all - no laptop, no kindle, no phone. That was an odd experience - what if something happens and people can’t contact me? - but it was very restful. I did a lot of thinking and wrote a few new stories for this year’s advent calendar.

It’s the height of summer, but I have a few writing deadlines before the end of the year, so the next three months or so are planned out. And I also have a small performance coming up, involving tarot reading. But I’ll write about that next month.