Flint blanches. “Uhh, is that a…”
“Yep,” I clip in answer to his half-asked question as the three of us watch my daddy as he grabs the bucket of golf balls and calls Todd the alligator, who comes wigglin’ to his side like an armor-plated dinosaur dog.
“I’ll be right back,” my daddy announces, but I hear it for the warnin’ it is.
He disappears around the side of the house with Todd in tow, and Flint and Alder just gape.
I roll my eyes. “That’s Todd, and yes, he’s a gator. He lives in the golf course lake behind the neighborhood. Yes, we’re aware that gators are dangerous, but he loves my daddy almost as much as I do and would never hurt him.”
“Where are they going?” Alder asks, shock leakin’ out of his tone and gaze.
I blush a little, because the answer is a little unsavory.
“Umm...well...see…” I stammer. Nope, there’s just no way to make this sound better than it is. “We take the balls we find back to the golf course lake. Todd likes it when we spread them around so he can have a go at the golfers who try to collect them,” I explain.
Their wide eyes make me release a deep sigh, and I look off to where my daddy and Todd disappeared from view.
“Yes, I am aware of how bumpkin that makes us sound, but it makes my daddy happy, and that’s all that I care about,” I defend.
I leave off the part where it’s funny as all get out, but I can only imagine the level of judgment these two are experiencin’ right now, and they really don’t need any more food for fodder.
Flint looks to Alder. “I want a pet gator,” he announces, a hint of a whine in his voice.
Alder rolls his eyes. “No.”
“Why not? That’s about the most kickass thing I’ve ever seen,” he counters.
“No,” Alder replies evenly again.
“He pet his chin!”
Alder gives him an exasperated look. “No.”
I try not to laugh at the back and forth. I’m surprised that I don’t see even an ounce of judgment in their eyes. Instead, Flint looks downright jealous.
“Come on!” Flint says with a grin that makes me smile. “We could get a whole congregation of gators going, train them to do things, entertain the bar patrons.”
“Our bar patronsscare offthe gators, so I doubt that plan’s going to work out well for you,” Alder provides, like he’s used to talkin’ Flint down from his cockamamie ideas.
“Fine,” Flint concedes with a sigh, and they both turn back to me. “So. Any questions about us being demons?” he asks me, bringin’ us back to what was goin’ on before Daddy showed up and Todd rocked Flint’s world.
My smile falls and my brow furrows. I didn’t get a chance to check their pants, but there weren’t any cameras on their shirts, they’re not wearin’ any jewelry that could hide one, and their hair is too short to be buried in there. I start lookin’ around me, like maybe the camera is hidden somewhere else, but how would Shelia have known that I’d come talk out front? I check the cars parked on the street, but none of them have glass dark enough to hide a camera or Shelia and her brother sittin’ in one and watchin’.
“What are you looking for?” Alder asks, his own eyes scannin’ everythin’ around us.
“Shelia or Allen, or a camera or somethin’ that helps the crazy you’re talkin’ make sense,” I confess.
“We don’t know Shelia or Allen, and we’re not here fucking with you. We’re serious, and I think deep down, maybe you know that,” Alder tells me matter-of-factly. “You can see us clear as day. This is what we really look like, Medley, and we’re telling you the truth. We’re demons.”
We stare at each other, neither of us blinkin’ or sayin’ another word for a beat.
“So, you really are...purple. I’m not hallucinatin’ that you have a gardenia behind your ear?” I ask, my voice soundin’ oddly brittle and dry.
He nods. “The flower I wear changes, but that might be a confusing place to start. I’m an Unus demon, but more specifically, a Farina demon,” he answers, as he runs a hand through his bright yellow hair, the flower tucked snugly in place.
The flower changes? Is it like a mood ring or somethin’?I chase that thought away and focus on the important facts being shared.
“I’m also an Unus, and I’m a Nacre demon,” Flint provides casually.
