No Pets Allowed

In a controlled future society that forbids pets and prides itself on the absence of dishonesty, a man assigned as an idle guard of the communal Treasure secretly acquires and cares for a rapidly growing carnivorous pet. When a respected council member visits alone and attempts to take the Key, the pet intervenes and the official disappears, leaving no proof. The narrator cannot credibly report the incident and fears both punishment and the pet's increasing size and apparent reach toward him as its appetite becomes a looming threat.