[stylist] Workshopping: Lucy and Lithe Chapter Six

[Miss Thea]

Sorry if this comes through twice, but I haven’t seen it come through, and I sent it in ten minutes ago.
Here’s Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The Party



“Are you with us, Miss Smith?” 

“Yes, Mrs. Talbott.”

“I just asked you a question.”

The class tittered. 

“Um, could you please repeat the question?”

“The question is, What are you daydreaming about?”

“Gee, Mrs. T., I’m leaving for Andorpha in five days, and I can’t keep my mind on anything.”

“I see. Well, since this is Geography, and many of the places covered in your textbooks no longer exist, let’s study the geography of Andorpha. Lucy, would you like to help with the presentation?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lucy said, smiling.

Lucy helped change the pictures as Mrs. Talbott talked. 

“Andorpha’s mean temperature is forty below zero. In their summer, it can get as warm as five below. That is considered hot. Lucy, do you know which area of the planet you’ll be living on?”

Lucy blushed. “Um, I do, Mrs. T., but I don’t want to say. The names are really silly.”

“Go on, dear. I’m sure they think Toronto is a silly name.”

Lucy took two breaths. One to steady herself, and the next to say, “The Earl and Lady Dearheart live on an estate just outside a large urban center called … Romantic City.”

Guffaws and rude sounds proceeded from the kids, especially the boys.

“Get real, Lucy,” Stevie called out. “Romantic freakin’ City?”

“Well, there’s an Atlantic City on Earth!” Kim shot back.

Cat calls and kissing sounds followed till Lucy, thinking to flee back to her seat, or better yet, down the rabbit hole, felt Mrs. Talbott’s restraining arm.

“Class!” The word came out like a horse whip. “Which of you would like to spend the next week on detention?”

“Who the crap cares?” Stevie called. “We’ll all be dead in a week, or less.”

“Perhaps, Mr. Landover. It’s awful to think that you’ll be spending your last week alive in class doing boring things like erasing blackboards, instead of having as much fun as possible with your friends. Not only that, your Mr. Jesus lengthening the detention once you do cross the Rainbow Bridge.”

The kids looked at one another. 

“Only animals cross the Rainbow Bridge, Mrs. T.,” Lucy stage-whispered.

The class laughed.

“I don’t believe in God, anyway,” Stevie said.

“And what if he believes in you, young man, and suppose he believes you’ve been a naughty boy? War or no war, there are still standards in this classroom, and you will all follow them. You don’t see Lucinda giving into despair and using it as an excuse to act out.”

“That’s ‘cause she’s got somewhere to go!”

Mrs. Talbott sighed. “Will you please escort Mr. Landover to the principal’s office, Lucy? We’ll wait for you.” 

On the way, Lucy could feel the hate and anger coming from Stevie. “Stevie,” she said, almost in a whisper, “I get that you’re ticked off, and I get why. I have a place to go now, but remember, I was off school for a week, because my parents and I wanted to  spend as much time together before we … made the choice. If it hadn’t been for this old guy in our apartment building bringing up our mail that he got by mistake, I’d be dead now.”

Stevie’s lower lip trembled. 

“By the way, Mr. Jesus is a real nice God. I don’t know how I can say that with the world sucking like it does. I just know he is. You might want to, you know, talk to him.”

“This coming from Lucy Blankety-blank?”

“Friggin’-A.” She grinned. 

A thin smile tried to make itself comfy on Stevie’s face.

They reached the principal’s office. Stevie ran in, sat down across from the grey-haired man, and burst into tears.

“Mr. Davis?” The principal looked up, his tired grey eyes looking into Lucy’s. “He didn’t do anything too bad, sir. He just needs a hug.”

Back in class, Lucy continued with the pictures.

“Your scientists say the human species evolved from the ape. The Andorphian people evolved from the felinium.”

Lucy put up the next picture. “Hey, that looks like an ordinary house cat, Mrs. T.” 

Meows and purrs proceeded from the class. Mrs. Talbott tolerated it for a minute, then brought the class to order. “The felinium, which, by the way, is no ordinary Earth cat, no longer exist, but the felinium is said to have been a fiercely loving creature. They could not survive alone. Babies were born into loving mother’s and father’s arms, as it were. Children, or cubs, were raised by a whole community of felinia. When the humanoid evolved, they retained the fur and the pointed, flappy ears of the felinium. They also retained much of their social behaviors. This is why Andorpha is said to be the sweetest place in the galaxy. There are no orphanages on Andorpha, and young people marry very young.”

“Bet the divorce rate’s high,” Kim muttered.

“Miss Carson has just expressed a belief in a high divorce rate on the planet. I’m happy to report that in the Andorphian languages, there is no word for divorce or breakup.”

“How romantic,” a small girl breathed.

“Yes, Rosalind,” Mrs. Talbott said.

The bell rang.

Lucy went to the back of the class, where tiny Rosalind sat, her eyes glowing. Although Rosalind was nine, her dwarfism made her look and sound no older than four. Too late, Lucy realized she had been shunning the little girl just as the rest of the class had done. While kids made friends and groups of friends, Rosalind sat alone, ate lunch alone, and opted for drawing in the classroom while everyone played outside.

“Hey, Rosalind.”

“Hey, Lucy. Sure wish I was going to Andorpha.”

“Want to sit with Kim and me at lunch?”

The girl looked as if she’d just seen an angel. “Sure!”

“I’m sorry I never asked before. I don’t know what took me so long. Come on.”

The three trooped outside to eat their sandwiches. “This is sure nice, you kids asking me.”

“Ah, we shoulda done it a hundred years ago, right, Lu?”

“Right, Kimbo.”

“You got a place to go, Roz?”

She shook her blond curls. “Still waiting.”

“Is that true, what Mrs. Talbott says? Are the Andorphians really covered with fur?”

Lucy nodded, and brought out the pictures. “This is Lady Lithe, and her mother, Lady Dearheart.”

“Is Dearheart her first name or her last?”

“Last.”

“What’s her first name?”

Lucy blushed. “Romance.”

“oooh,” Rosalind sighed.

“The father’s name is Hero, and the little boy’s name is Woo.”

“Woo, like in When two lovers woo?”

“Yeah.”

“How romantic. I so wish I was going.”

That night at dinner, Lucy told her parents about the little girl in her class.

“She sounds cute,” said her mom.

“Please don’t tell me you want us to bring her along with us, too,” her father sighed.

“What I was thinking, Dad, when we get there, we could write the Andorphian government and fill out an application for Rosalind and her family. Mom, I don’t think midgets, I mean, little people like being called cute. I mean, she is adorable, and she’s got these big puppy-dog eyes, except they’re green, and I’ve never seen a green-eyed dog.”

“You’ll have to get lots of pictures of your classmates, Lucy,” her mother said.

“I will. Lithe and I can make a scrapbook, and I can tell her about the good things about Earth.”



Kimmy Carson, aged nine, walked into the same store which Lucy had gone only days before. Her leotards hid some healing bruises, and the ice-pack was healing her shiner. But she refused to go on living like this anymore.

Especially after last night, when her father had staggered into her room and touched her … there. She shivered, thinking of what might have happened if Mommy hadn’t shown guts for the first time ever and saved her daughter. She’d silently cheered her mother on as the woman grabbed his hair, and punched him out—well, tried—calling him every name in the book.

“Run, Kimmy!” Her mom had screamed. She heard the gunshot, saw her mother fall, just as she darted out the door. Her father yelled at her to get back, swearing and calling her names that made her feel dirty.

As if she didn’t feel dirty enough, already.

“Can I help you?” 

The kindly-looking salesclerk looked at her, with lots of pity in his eyes. Kimmy wanted to say, “Mister, are you nice? And if so, will you be my daddy?”, but she couldn’t. There was only one kind person in the world, and that was Lucy. Mrs. T. was okay, maybe okay enough to be mom, but—

“I’d like this.” She held up a small pistol.

“Do you have a note from a parent or guardian?”

“My parents are dead. I spent last night at a shelter.”

“I see. It’s ten dollars.”

“I have eight.”

The man looked like he had a lot he wanted to say. Just then, the sirens went off, and everyone pulled out a suit from their backpacks. Everyone except Kimmy. Her parents had never bought one; not for themselves, not for her.

At the all-clear, the man looked like he wanted to cry. She couldn’t help herself.

“Mister, do you have kids? Do you want a kid? I don’t cuss much, and never in front of adults. I do as I’m told, and I know how to do housework.”

Everyone in the store was crying. Some were sniffling, some were crying silently, and others sobbed while someone held on to them and comforted them.

Kim broke down too. A pair of arms went around her. She didn’t know whether it was a man or woman, friend or stranger. She had no clue, until he spoke.

“Kimmy, I can’t let you do it. I can’t.”

“Mr. Smith.”

“Come on. Put the gun down.” Mr. Smith was crying, his voice was all shaky. “Kim. Put the gun down. Let’s go get something to eat. You come home with me.”

People wept and cheered as they left the store.

“How much did you hear?” she asked, as they sipped on Cokes.

“Most of it. You’re safe now. It’s amazing. I was just walking down this street, looking at all the boarded-up shops and wondering what it’ll be like out there on Andorpha, and I heard your voice. I went in there. I … Kimmy, will you come with us to Andorpha?”

She nodded. 

“I guess Lucy must’ve prayed a lot.” Lucy’s dad mused.

“Why?”

“Well, she’s been asking us to take you along. Let’s go home and tell her the good news.”



“Lucy!” Her mom called. Lucy closed the book of John Keats poems, and ran out of her room.

“Kimbo!” she squealed, while her friend cried “Girlfriend!” at the same time.

“Guess what? I’m coming to Andorpha with you!”

“Oh, Daddy, you’re the best!” Lucy hugged and kissed him till he laughed and shooed her away. “You kids find something to do in your room there. I want to talk to your mother. Congratulations, Donna honey. We have two daughters.” 

In Lucy’s room, she and Kimmy danced and cried “Yesss!”, while they chose from Lucy’s wardrobe. 

“Thanks, Lu!” Kim said yet again, as Lucy gave her yet another blouse. 

“Shucks, you gotta wear something. What do you think of the Andorphians so far?”

“Well, little Woo’s adorable. And Lithe looks … lithe. She looks lovely. But gee, Lu, I don’t know. It’s weird, people having coats like cats or dogs or something.”

“Sweetest place in the universe, Mrs. T. says. It’ll be fun to feel safe for a change, won’t it, Kim?”

The other girl nodded, her café latte skin glowing with sweat and happiness.  “Lucy, do you think your dad would take me back you-know-where to get my stuff, and a suitcase?”

“No, I don’t think so. I think he’d just go get it for you.”

“Good.” Kim sighed with relief. She sat down on Lucy’s bed, and picked up the book of poems. “Who’s this guy?”

“Well, since Andorpha’s a romantic place, Mrs. T. says I should know how romantic people think and feel, how they talk, and stuff. John Keats is a human who lived long ago and was one of the best romantic writers ever. She says it’s a start.” 

Kim thumbed through the pages. “I love books.” Lucy sat down beside her and they read the poems silently together.

“What in the world’s an amadavat?” Kim asked.

“I don’t know. Oooh, look here, silken-furr’d angora cat. Ooh, I can almost feel the fur. This guy writes beautiful stuff.”

“Do you suppose they have any technology?”

“Girls.” Mom opened the door. “Dinner’ll be ready in ten minutes, and you have a phone call.”

“Oh-oh.”

“No, Kimmy, it’s not your dad. We wouldn’t let you talk to him.”

“Good.” Kim sighed with relief.

“Hustle up, girls,” Dad said. “It’s Lithe calling long-distance.” 

Lucy and Kim went into the livingroom, where Lucy picked up the phone, pressed the “offworld” button, and said, “Hellow?”

“Lucindelah? May I speak with thee?”

Lucy gaped. Lithe’s voice sounded dainty, and professionally trained. She made Lucindelah almost sound like “lucinth’lah”. Her furred face glowed with excitement. Her eyes looked, Lucy thought, as if she were in love.

“Let me put you on speaker phone.”

“Hi, Lithe. I’m Kimmy. I’m coming with Lucy as her sister. Is that okay?”

“It is very well. I should like to hold thee in my arms as well as Lucindelah. Will you be coming on the same space ship, Kimmylah?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen furry people before.”

“And I have seen few people who have not borne fur. Papa says though that your hunters kill animals, that you may eat their meat and wear their fur. Is that so?”

Kim looked confused. “Hunters? Well, I guess people hunt the animals, then we buy their fur from a store. And we have artificial fur so no animal has to be killed.”

“Oh, that’s fabulous. Papa is calling me away from the communication device, as it costs many coins to make a galactic call. Otherwise, I should have called thee every night. Goodbye, darling sisters.”

“Me, too!” a small voice demanded.

“Hi, Woo,” Kim and Lucy chorused.

“Yay. My sisters. Thee is both pretty.”

“Uh, thee is cute, too,” Lucy said.

“See you soon, baby brother,” Kim said. “We’ll be leaving Earth in two days.”

“That will be all for now, darling children,” said a deep-voiced man in the background. 

“Gosh,” Kim bubbled over at the supper table. “They all sound like movie stars. Did you notice that, Lu?”

“Yeah. Their voices are so beautiful, and the way they speak is so … so …”

“I heard a little bit of it myself,” Dad said. “They sound like they’ve had twenty years’ voice training. The way they talk.”

Mom swallowed the last bit of chile con carne, and said, “Next time they call, you’re in the kitchen, Jim dear. You guys have me curious. Did they really sound that pretty?”

“Oh Mom!” Stars seemed to leap from Lucy’s eyes. She looked at Kim, whose own eyes were starry.

“Their fur is so shiny,” Kim continued. “like glass. Oh, I hope they’ll let me pet them.”

Dad chuckled. “I know they’re very alien to you, to us all. But remember, they’re not pets, they’re intelligent beings.”

“So are pets,” said Lucy.

“Gosh, the fur,” Kim kept exclaiming through dish-washing.   

“Their voices,” Lucy sighed. 

“All right, girls,” Mom said. “Let’s try to keep our feet on the ground.”

“Why? It feels like Christmas Eve, and I feel like five.”

Mom laughed and hugged Lucy, then Kimmy.

“You thinkwe’re bad, we’re not half as crazed as Rosalind would have been if she’d been here.”

The next morning, their last day at school, Mr. Smith drove them. 

“I’ll be by at three to pick you kids up.”

“But, Daddy, the party goes till four,” Lucy said.

“We’ll party tonight. Besides, that jerk’ll know where Kimmy is, and I don’t plan to have one or both of you abducted.”

“What’s that?” Kim asked.

“It means he’s not getting you back, Kim honey. You’re our little girl now, and you’re coming with us to Andorpha.”

 Kim blessed him with the biggest smile he’d ever seen. “Daddy’s a scary word to me. Can I call you Uncle Jim?”

Sure. Scoot, you two.”

They skipped into the classroom. Where are the kids, Lucy wondered. A huge cake stood on a big table Lucy had never seen before. It said “’’Goodbye, LUCY and KIMMY”. A big pink heart encompassed the girls’ names. ‘Goodbye’ was written with gold sparkles.

“Hey. I’m glad my name’s on that cake, but nobody knew I was leaving.”

“I did,” Mrs. Talbott said, appearing from thin air.

“Shit!” Lucy gasped, reflexively. “Sorry, Mrs. T. You scared the …”

The teacher clucked. “My dear Lucy, you’ll have to clean that mouth before you reach Andorpha.” 

As Lucy gazed, her teacher’s ears thinned, lengthened to a delicate point on either side of her head, even as they furred and flapped. Soft pap-pap sounds accompanied the growth of resplendent white fur all over Mrs. Talbott’s body. The teacher’s expression remained serene. It didn’t look as if the change had caused her any pain. Last of all, her eyes widened, and she gazed back at the children worshipfully.

“Mrs. T.?” Lucy gawked at the intoxicatingly beautiful thing that stood before her. She wondered if the same in-love feeling shone from her own eyes.

“Yes, Lucindelah. I am Andorphian. I’m a shape-shifter. It was I who recognized the desperation of your situation, and called upon the King of Andorpha to save you and your family. Why? Because of all my pupils, you have the purest heart. Your love is such that you are willing even to sacrifice yourself for another.”

Lucy could hardly breathe. A furry princess with absolute adoration in her eyes stood before her, whose every movement, expression and even her voice sang and purred in Lucy’s ears. The pull must have been irresistible for her friend, for Kimmy ran into the teacher’s embrace, pleading to pet her fur.

The teacher concentrated that wooing gaze on Kim. “Please pet my fur,” she purred as if her life depended on Kimmy’s touch.

The girl burst into Mrs. Talbott’s arms and burried her face in the shining fur. She gurgled, cried “aaaaah thaaaat”, aaaah”, and rubbed like a baby cat lapping up love from an adult cat.

“Now, now, there, there,” Mrs. T. finally chirrupped. “The others are seeing a closed sign on the door. They will soon be playing hookey, and you’d have a terrible party.

A thousand questions circled Lucy’s brain. Had her dad told Mrs. T. what she’d been planning to do to herself so Kim could go?

“No,” the princess-voiced teacher answered the unspoken question. Lucy started. “I am a full telepath. Most Andorphians are nurturopaths. That is, they cannot read your whole mind, only your deepest needs. Because of this, we make wonderful parents, wonderful sweethearts and mates. Now, then. Please do not mention this to the others. They are coming, and I must renew my disguise.”

The fur melted away while the children gaped. Kim trembled and held onto Lucy.

“Don’t be scared, sis,” Lucy whispered as the kids, who’d thought the door locked, came filing in. “She’s our friend.”

“Welcome, class,” Mrs. Talbott said in her normal, plain Jane voice.

Kim looked a little green. Lucy led her to a chair, and hugged her shoulders. “It’s ok, Kimbo. She’s just the same as ever, ‘cept she trusted us with something wonderful.”

“If you say so, girlfriend.”

Lucy rubbed her back, and blotted out the cat calls and cries of “lesbo” and “aw look, a sweet little lesbo romance right in our class.”

“Shut up!” Lucy snapped when she saw how near to tears Kim was. 

Rosalind came to sit with them. The three of them shut out everyone else. “Hi, Roz,” Kim said. “Lithe called us last night.”

Rosalind’s eyes shone as the girls recounted their phone call. “That is so romantic. So, like, is it true? Do you guys have a crush on each other? Oh, I don’t think it’s stupid or anything. I think it’s adorable. Gosh.”

Lucy smiled. “Roz, you old romantic. Are you sure you’re not Andorphian? No, Kim and I are just best friends, nothing more, and certainly nothing less. You know some people, Roz,” she said, contempt dripping from her voice.

The little girl nodded.

“Either way, you belong there,” Kim said.

“My folks heard of a planet where everybody was like Mom and me. Mom’s a little woman, I’m a little girl, and Dad’s regular. We got an answer. They’ll take Mom and me, but not Daddy. We can’t go anywhere without Daddy.”

“But you’d like to go to Andorpha?” 

“You bet. Who wouldn’t want to live somewhere where everyone was in love?”

The three discussed theories on how people could be born in love, till Mrs. Talbott brought the class to order.

“Today, we shall be studying … saying goodbye, and all the positive ways one can do that.”

The class laughed.

“Mrs. T.? How come it says Lucy and Kimmy on the cake?” Stevie asked.

The teacher gave Stevie a warm Andorphian smile, though the utter adoration was absent. No, Lucy thought, that wasn’t Andorphian after all. Without the adoration, it was merely a warm, humanlike smile. . Stevie relaxed. Lucy felt sorry. Her dad was right. She did want to save the whole kit and caboodle. 

“Because Kimmy has been informally adopted by Lucy and her parents.” No one asked why. Everyone knew, and could guess at some of the reasons Mr. Smith might have taken the abused girl under his wing.

“Now then,” said the teacher. “Who can give me an idea of positive farewell?”

“A party,” all the kids chimed.

“You’re right. All out for recess.”

The kids cheered. Lucy enjoyed the summer morning: it’s mixed perfumes, the sun, and meat barbecuing on a grill?

“Anyone smell a barbecue?”

Rosalind sat on the swing where Stevie had once sat. “You bet.”

“Charcoal in the air, and I’m lovin’ it,” Kimmy said.

“Too bad they don’t have summer on Andorpha.”

“So, you drink cider with cloves and cinnamon instead, like it was Christmas all the time,” Rosalind said. She asked for, and got, another recount of the phone call from far away across the galaxy.

“I wonder how many cell towers that goes through?” Kim said.

“Tell me again. Was Lithe very pretty?”

“Pretty? Oh my God, Roz, Lithe makes pretty ashamed of itself. Her voice, it’s dainty and sort of breathy. Her fur, it’s shiny and white. Her delicate little flappy ears. She’s got these sweet little cat’s ears, and a Valentine heart face.”

Roz sighed romantically. “Her voice, her looks, her name. I can’t wait to see her face to face.”

“Huh?” Kim and Lucy turned to her, Lucy stopping the swing. “How you going to pull that off?”

“Stow away on your ship, that’s how.”

“And your folks?”

“They can come, too. At least they won’t say Daddy can’t come just because he’s not a little person.”

Lucy was going to say that it was a bad idea, but shut her teeth. Why was it okay for Kimmy, but not for Rosalind? Hell, Roz was the most romantic kid she’d ever met, certainly more romantic than she, Lucy, was. The kid belonged on Andorpha.

“Just a sec, guys. I’m going to talk to Mrs. T.”

She jumped off the swing, which gave one last squeaky swing before it stayed still. “Mrs. T!”

Lucy ran up to the teacher, who was talking to someone. He turned. “Hi, Dad,” Lucy said. “I thought you weren’t coming till later.”

“I’m on picture duty,” he said. “Smell that air. I love the smell of charcoal burning. Could you excuse us please, Dad? I wanted a word with Mrs. T.”

Both adults nodded.

Lucy explained Rosalind’s situation. “Dad’s already stretching the budget taking Kimbo along. But I wonder, well, since you’re Andorphian”—she lowered her voice, “if you can’t find a way to get Rosalind there. She’s the most romantic kid I know. Shoot, she belongs there more than I do.”

“Lucindelah, Lucindelah, you’d save your Earth if you could, wouldn’t you. Oh, you belong there, my dear. Your father and mother have also shown themselves worthy, by their choice to take a child not their own and treat her as if she were own—a process started by you. Rosalind’s family love her. They do not abuse her. Just you leave it to me.”

“Thanks, Mrs. T.—lah,” Lucy said and kissed her teacher’s cheek.

Mrs. Talbott laughed. “Working on our language, eh?” 

Lucy grinned and ran off to join her friends. Stevie sat in the swing she’d vacated. She opted for the slide. 

The sun rose higher in the sky. Lucy slid down for the last time, then climbed the jungle gym. She watched and listened, as her friends on the swings talked, heard other younger voices further off. She dreamed of blue lakes and sandy beaches, and filled her nose with burgers barbecuing. A fluttering ribbon caught her eye. She looked out on the playground, and over to the picnic table, piled with presents, surrounded by helium balloons. Some clever first-graders had wrapped some of the balloons in fur. 

She strolled to the table and sat down. One of the furry balloons touched and bounced off her forehead. She giggled. She closed her eyes and hoped for another. Not seeing the brush of fur when it did come was even a bigger thrill than seeing it. Suddenly, she was thinking of snowy landscapes, and cuddly, fluffy people. A soft rubbing sound made her look up.

“Try closing your eyes, Kim,” she said. “It feels even softer when you’re not expecting it.”

Kids drifted to the table. Mrs. Talbott was suddenly there, as if from nowhere. “I’m very pleased with you all,” she said, pointing to the pile. “This outpouring of love is something I didn’t expect on a planet of such evil and violence. It is a shame you do not show such love, except in crises, or when someone leaves or dies. Having said that, I am pleased with what I see. The balloons, furry and otherwise, are a clever touch. Who covered these with fur?”

“We did,” chorused some first-grade girls.

“That’s lovely. Thank you, darlings. If you’re ready to eat, let’s.”

They cheered. Kids and other teachers gathered around Lucy and Kimmy. The staff made up burgers, garnishing them with pickles and tomato, flavoring them with mustard or ketchup. Soon, little hands were sticky, little summer tees dotted with yellow or red spots. 

Lucy closed her eyes, taking in the smell as well as the juicy taste of the grilled meat. She had chosen not to add to the natural flavor.

“Now that,” said her dad, “shows you’re my kid.”

“Yup.” Lucy swallowed a bite. “Where’s Mom?”

“Packing. She went shopping, to get Kim some furwear.”

“Dad, I never really said thank you properly for this. I think it’s great what you’re doing for Kimbo. Even if we weren’t going to some far-off romantic place, just the fact that she’s got good parents now … Well, I don’t think anyone could ask for more.”

Dad grinned. “What you trying to make me do, drop my burger?” They both laughed.

Freshie cooled Lucy’s insides, along with cake and ice cream—cake that she and Kimmy cut together, to the cheers of the whole school.

Salads refreshed, raspberries stickied fingers and wafted their subtle fragrance before their round, kissy-lips were devoured by students and staff and parents.

Cicadas buzzed. Flies did too, which was the only thing that annoyed Lucy. She wouldn’t miss them. 

“Go on, you dumb creeps, get away from my food.” She shooed them away. At one point, she chased around in circles to keep a fly from getting at her chili dog. Dad had come to the rescue.

Even the moist cake and ice cream tasted happy.

Someone had hastily and thoughtfully added Kimmy’s name to as many of the presents as they could. Lucy realized not all the kids had just played all day. Some of her classmates had worked very hard.

The children thanked everyone for the presents, exclaiming at each new wonder. “Ooh, an iThought! The latest model. Look, Lu. This one’s got a portable brain implant. You put these pieces over your ears, and voila! Thanks!” Kim purred at everyone, as if they had personally granted her immortality.

They opened warm clothing, skis, skates, boots, and goose down coats.

Dad laughed. “When I think of all the money I could have saved.” Everyone laughed. Then he gave a short speech, thanking everyone for their hard work and thoughtfulness.

The children also unwrapped romantic comedies by Shakespeare, poems by Blake and Shelley, and anthologies of love songs all the way back to the ancient twentieth century. Little squares connected to the iThoughts contained the vast store of happy love songs, from medieval ballads to this week’s most romantic song, by Andy and the Androids, “There’s No Computing Love”.

“Wow. Oh wow. And that concludes my speech,” Lucy said, to everyone’s general mirth.

“Uh, what she said,” Kimmy squealed.

At a quarter to three, they trooped back into the school. 

“Be right back, sis,” Kim said. “God, I like the sound of that.”

“Me too, Kimbo.”

“I have to visit the ladies room.”

“Then we can be off,” Dad said. “I’ll load the truck with all these gifts. You kids meet me out front.”

“Aye, aye, skip,” they both said.



Kim ran to the washroom. Too much freshie was going to make a fool of her if she didn’t hustle. 

When she came out, a siren blared. She covered her ears. Someone grabbed her from behind.

She screamed, but no one heard.

A beefy hand clamped over her mouth. She bit it with all her might, and was slapped. She screamed and cursed and struggled.

Five minutes after the all-clear, Lucy said, “Daddy, something’s wrong.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I just know it. Kim went to the bathroom twenty minutes ago. She should have been here for the alert.”

He patted her shoulder and sighed. “It’ll be good to get you kids off the planet. You’ve learned too much about danger. No child should know as much about danger as you kids do.”

“Daddy, I’m not kidding. Something’s wrong. He’s got her.”

“Now, calm down, Lucy. Irwin Carson doesn’t have the brains to come here before class is out. He might be here, but everyone in the school knows what kind of bastard he is. No one will let him take her.”



Kim was belted into the car, but she’d made it as hard as possible for her ex-father, for that’s how she thought of him now. Kim continued to scream for help, never minding the slaps, and the increasingly profane orders to shut up.

He grabbed her hard by the chin, and made her look at him. She resisted the urge to  spit.

“I shot your whore of a mother to death. I can do the same with you, bitch.”

Kim spat. She glared at him with contempt.

“Is that all you know how to do is slap?”

“And shoot,” he reminded her.

“Fine. Shoot me. I don’t give a shit.”

She was the first to slap him.



“Dad, call the cops, or I will!” Lucy saw Mrs. Talbott walking away from them, and she called out. “ Mrs. T! Could you call the cops? Kim’s gone, and he’s got her.”

“Lucy, just calm down, okay? If she’s not here in two minutes, Daddy’ll call the cops.”

Mrs. Talbott smiled. “Mr. Smith, I don’t have time to go into it. Let’s just say your suspicion is  right. I’m not the blind schoolteacher you know me as. I’m not human. Having said that, please get out of my way. She’s putting up a brave struggle, but if he wrests the keys out of her hands, they’ll be gone.”

The guide dog melted into thin air, and Mrs. Talbott was flying out the school door, which opened as if on her command, though Kim knew there was an electric eye.

 “She’s Andorphian,” Lucy said.

“Where’s her fur? And since when do Andorphians have wings?”

“Dad, this isn’t the time.”

A scream shattered the air. Lucy and her father ran, as if they had winged feet, crashed through the school door whose electric eye hadn’t time to react, and ran out into the parking lot, there to gape at a horror they couldn’t believe.

Mrs. Talbott, wings spread, hovered over Mr. Carson, her beak pecking his eyes out. As Lucy watched, steel fangs shot from her teacher’s mouth, and plunged into the man’s throat. Blood geysered up and out.

Kim screamed. “Don’t kill him, please. Just … just make him disappear or something.” Kim sobbed.

“Run, child, run to your father and sister.”

Lucy couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. She’d never heard such a voice, not even in her worst nightmares. It wasn’t Mrs. T.’s. It was as inhuman and as ugly as it could get: as if a steel snake could talk while hissing. 

“Son of a bitch!” Lucy cried reflexively. 

Her dad put a steadying arm around her, though he trembled himself. “Easy, Lucy girl. Easy on the swears. You’re okay. Daddy’s here.”

Kim ran past them into the school. Lucy found her in the bathroom, hurling God knew what terror into the toilet.

She knocked, opened, and knelt beside Kim, steadying her, muttering, “Shit, shit, shit” over and over again. She rubbed Kim’s back. “It’s okay, sis.” Her heart pounded. Her voice came out breathless, like she’d had a long, hard run. “I don’t know what the fuck that was, but you’re safe now. You okay?”

“Yeah,” Kim gasped, then lay on the floor. “God, my head’s spinning.”

Lucy left the cubicle to wet some paper towel, and brought it back to wipe Kim’s mouth and face. Her friend took it. “Thanks, I’ll finish up. Lu, I thought you said she was Andorphian.”

“I hope not. I hope the fuck not.”

The two girls got unsteadily into Lucy’s dad’s car. 

“Uncle Jim, can we phone Lithe tonight? I need to ask her a question.”

“Can’t it wait till we get there?”

“After what we just saw?” the girls chorused.

“What do you want to know?”

“Can they change shape? Can they fly?”

“Can they rip people’s throats out?” Kim whispered.

Later that evening, Kim’s frightened face looked into the eyes of Lady Dearheart, whose adoring smile could almost be felt, even from Earth. “Why, of course not, darlings. I cannot fly, or change my shape.”

“What about the other?” 

“You say your teacher showed herself to you as an Andorphian, with fluffy white fur? Then as a bird with a killer beak and steel fangs?”

“Yes, and a voice that could make you think a steel snake was … hiss-talking.”

Lady Dearheart came as close to frowning as Lucy’d seen so far. She shook her white furry head, her delicate, thin ears flapping up and down. 

“Lady Dearheart, if a bad man was going to hurt your child, what would you do?”

“Bad man? Who would want to hurt a child? My poor darlings, the sooner you get here, the safer we’ll all feel. … Lithe Grace Dearheart, did I permit you to listen in on the extension?”

>From her dad that would have come out sterner, Lucy thought. Even from her mom. But from Mrs. Dearheart, it sounded like the good witch of the north was telling Dorothy she had the wrong ruby slipper on the wrong foot. Lucy felt her heartbeat slowing down, a smile forming on her face. Strange or not, Mrs. D. was making her feel good, even from far-off Andorpha.

“I just wanted to reassure my new sisters, Mother,” Lithe purred. Lucy couldn’t imagine any parent not relenting. Lithe’s sky-blue eyes, cute twitching ear flaps and dainty voice were irresistible.

“We have no bad men here, whatever that may be. Please hurry to us. I can’t stand waiting any more. And your new brother. Woo is out of control with excitement. He’s dying to rub foreheads with you.”

Dad signalled for them to end the call. 

“Us, too,” Kim said. “I’d like to rub your furry forehead.”

Lithe chuckled, an angelic sound.

“We gotta go, now. Bye, Lithey,” Lucy said. “Tell that brother of ours, it’s going to take a few months on a spaceship. Tell him to keep his pants on.”

“His what?”

“Calm down. Take a chill pill. Cool it. That sort of thing.” Kim blew the images a kiss, and Dad pressed the off button.

He grinned at the girls. “You kids feel any better now?”

Kim sighed. “Loads. Thanks, Uncle Jim. Whatever Mrs. Talbott is, she’s no Andorphian.”

What, Lucy wondered was Mrs. T.? What was she, really? Not that it mattered now. She was just curious.

Thea Ramsay
Wellness Coach
Herbalife Distributor
www.GoHerbalife.com/thea-ramsay/en-CA
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