Willa: The purple color is concerning, and the girth would not induce me to drop my pants. Maybe if it was one of those small eggplants, but not the ones I’ve seen coming out of my grandmother’s garden. Those things are too huge to fit into bodily cavities.
I’d never seen an eggplant that I could recall, so I was going to have to take her word for it on the actual size of the vegetable. The mention of her grandmother gave me the perfect segue, though.
Eng: How are your family? Are the grandparents on your mother’s side off on another cruise adventure?
My text was met with long seconds where I could only see dots, then nothing, then more dots, then nothing. Finally her reply came.
Willa: Nana and Pops are on a short cruise along the Eastern seaboard to leaf-peep. That’s where you look at all the colorful autumn leaves on the trees, and indulge in hot apple cider spiked with rum. They’ll be back this week and not leaving again until after Christmas.
I didn’t know that word, but assumed it was an important human holiday.
Eng: We have harvest festivals back home with contests and performances. We all wear wreaths of colorful leaves and grain stalks on our heads.
Another laughing emoji
Willa: Even the males?
Eng: Even the males. Your Nana and Pops should consider traveling to our kingdom sometime. I would be happy to suggest the best activities, times, and places for their visit.
There was another thirty seconds of dots appearing and vanishing before she replied.
Willa: Nana had some great ideas for where I should go on my Spain trip. Oh, and the leg of lamb that I assume you left for me was a big hit at Sunday dinner. Grandma checked and reassured us that it hadn’t been poisoned.
Eng: Your grandmother is wise to take such precautions. Orc enemies frequently leave poisoned meat at our doors.
Willa: Seriously?
Eng: No, I am joking. Providing meat, pastries, or other delicacies is common when an orc male is wooing a female.
This time there was only silence. As the seconds ticked by, I realized that I may have moved too fast by suggesting that my gift was a sign of my intentions. She might not be ready for that, and I had foolishly broken the fragile bond our light conversation had begun to forge.
I quickly replied, so she didn’t have to.
Eng: I need to go get some food and take a nap. I enjoyed this conversation, and hope to hear from you again soon.
Then I stuffed my phone in between my sofa cushions and left it there, not wanting to be tempted to text her again until tonight.
I did get more food,but instead of a nap I walked to the park to play a few quick games of checkers with my elderly friends and to let them know that I may not be by as often in the future as my mornings would be consumed by work.
Work. It felt strange to think of the workouts and practice and hockey in general as work, but that’s how I needed to start viewing the sport.
Back at my hovel I looked up as much information as I could about hockey on my phone. I read articles, I watched videos where human commentators broke down each move and strategy of a game. I went to the YouTube videos of the human hockey teams to get an idea of what this Abby person may expect us to do. For dinner I microwaved another variety of Hot Pocket, and watched old hockey games on my phone.
Then I fell into bed, knowing that I wanted to be up and to the arena as early as possible the next morning.
35
ENG
Iwas up early, doing some of Willa’s exercises in my hovel, then running around the city in the pitch-dark, pre-dawn hours. There was a certain level of fitness I’d needed to maintain back home along with regular weapons practice, but I hadn’t kept up with any of that since I’d come to the human world and I found myself somewhat out of condition. It was embarrassing.
But then again, it was all embarrassing. Not just my attitude here, but my attitude back home as well. Some of it was fueled by the grief of losing a brother and two sisters, but if I were honest with myself, the idle, spoiled, lazy persona I’d slid into had begun far earlier. And rather than fight to have purpose, to create a life of my own, I’d decided to retreat into sullen entitlement.
But what did I want? Besides Willa, that was.
The security guard glanced at the clock as I came through the doors, coffee in hand. “In early this morning.”
I nodded as I passed him, not wanting to explain how I couldn’t sleep or the weird life crossroads I found myself standing at. A light shown from one of the offices near the lockerrooms, telling me that I wasn’t the only one in the building. It was the coach’s office, which had stood empty and dusty since we’d arrived.
