As I thread my way past several rocks, I raise the bottle. “The food here mightn’t be five stars, but this will make up for it.”
“Hmmm.” She squints at the bottle, rearranges the armful of books and bags of snacks she’s carrying. Her blue dress flips about in the breeze, curling around her leggings. “Let’s hope it tastes okay.”
We sit on the jetty and ignore the bench, and the ducks ignore us. This late in the day, they’re swimming elsewhere. The beautiful shine of sunset spills across the lake surface and gleams on her hair and the pretty silver of her collar. I end up leaning back against the timber bench with her head in my lapwhile we drink wine and try our books.The Talismanby King was on the shelf—not surprising—and Hailey is reading it. I’ve found a copy of a sci-fi by an author I don’t recall, but then when did I decide my memory was fine?
“Stranger in a Strange Land.” I examine the faded, dog-eared cover then stroke Hailey’s hair, which always feels like this curiously forbidden pleasure. Considering I’ve done such kinky things to her, hair stroking should not feel forbidden. Maybe in my world she had short hair? “That’s a big book.”
She tilts her head back so she can eye me upside down then notices mine. “So is yours.”
“Tr— We have a visitor after all.” I point my finger at the forest where the trees and shrubs meet the embankment. Squiggle Cat is prowling toward us.
“Well. Well.”
“I’m not worried. You?” I ask.
“Not really. Least now we know it’s not normal, instead of wondering how the fuck it finds us. If it pulls out a flick knife, I’m leaving though.”
“Ha.”
Squiggle ambles down a steeper part of the grassy bank, then jumps to the jetty and pads over. The bug noises I first noticed have fallen silent. Perhaps the bugs aren’t quite used to this creature.
“It never meows,” I say thoughtfully. “I guess it hasn’t quite got the concept of cat figured out?”
“I guess?”
Behaving as if it has never been anything but cat, it comes to Hailey for a pat, nudging her hand until she obliges, then it curls up beside her.
I open my book and find the beginning of the story. I pause. Our cat thing is staring at the page Hailey has open inher book. If only I could see its eyes. Is it reading the text? How well can it think? “Where do you think it’s from?”
“I don’t know? Haven’t thought much about it. Another place in the universe? Which is beyond my pay grade and field of study.”
Mine too.We are both far too happy to let Squiggle sit beside us. Has it hypnotized us? Too late now. I could say the same about Hailey letting me sit beside her, kiss her, make love to her. That’s a bit more intimate than curling up and sharing a book. I think back to the creature’s approach when I noticed something awry. My memory could be wrong.
“Has it got the same face markings?”
“You mean the black squiggle on its head that I named it after?” She tries to look but the cat is too close to her. “Maybe? All those tentacle-y markings are impossible to recall.”
Squiggle turns its head fully around to look at me, as if to say,yeah? Want to check?
I shake my head. “I’m not sure either.Live long and prosper,kitty.” I make the VulcanStar Trekhand gesture at the cat.
Hailey frowns at me, upside-down. “Say what?”
She doesn’t recognize Star Trek? “Nothing important.”
“Hey, Kail, just a thought. No pressure.” She takes my free hand and caresses it, kisses the back. “Love your hands.”
“Good.” I smirk. “You were saying?”
Her sigh is long and measured. “I can wait for your answer, but do you think you could tell me, one day, where you really come from? Do you even know?”
My throat is tight with an unnamed fear. I fear telling her. I will kill anything that gets in her or my way but speaking the truth about this scares me.
“Maybe. Maybe I know. Not yet though. I will. I promise.”Why have I promised her? Because I should. It’s only fair. One day I have to trust her fully. I will do this.
“Okay.” And she squishes down, moves her head a little, and keeps reading.
Who am I really? My past is mostly a foreign country. Since at best I can only remember the day my handler died and snatches of my own first death, how can I be certain I do not come from the same place as this creature? I cannot.
