“You didn’t even look!”
“Don’t take this personally, but White Dunes is for people of a certain means, and there’s no public housing allowed.”
It wasn’t what he said, it was how he said it. This was a government agency specifically for finding housing for half-turns, but it was run by humans who obviously couldn’t give a shit. The man on the other end didn’t say anything else but he was typing loudly enough for the phone to pick it up.
“Would you be open to moving north?”
“That depends. Are we talking North Avenue or Greenland?”
The man stopped typing. “There’s a little town in Clemson County called Norwich.”
“Where is Clemson County?”
“It’s on the border. About four hours from Sacramento.”
I growled again. “The reason I chose this area was because the bus goes everywhere I need to go. There are enough vacant human apartments in the city. Do I really need to jump through all these hoops?”
“Again, you’re trying to kill the messenger. Given your requirements, it’s either Norwich or you’ll have to relocate to another state, and I’ll be frank with you—no bordering state is even going to let you drive through it in your current condition.” He cleared his throat, his tone becoming more impatient. “Think it over, look up the town and call me back with your decision. By law, I have to tell you that it is illegal for a half-turn to live on the streets. If you don’t find something suitable, you’ll have to go to Stonebrook until you transition.”
“What’s that?”
The man paused again. “It’s a place for adolescent half-turns that have nowhere to go.”
“That sounds like an institution.”
“It’s a free place to live as a last resort.”
“It sure as hell won’t bemylast resort!” With that, I ended the call and placed the phone face-down on the wooden spooltable. The casual way he said that made me want to throw up. I had no idea they were locking half-turns away, and I still didn’t understand why everyone thought we were so dangerous. Darryl and Roscoe could break me in half like a toothpick, buttheywereallowed in places like grocery stores at least. How was I the one who was a menace to society?
It was a little after seven in the morning, and I was outside as usual, sitting on a damp deck chair, watching low clouds overhead. Darryl had offered to let us stay until we found a place of our own, but eight months of the three of us living in this tiny place with no air conditioning was out of the question. I also hated sleeping on that hammock.
The door cracked open and Roscoe limped out onto the porch, holding werewolf-sized mugs of coffee in either hand, his head mane completely disheveled. It almost looked like something had buried him and dug him up. Stripes of dried blood clumped in the fur along his torso and legs, but there weren’t any signs of injury. Whatever Darryl had done to him last night had healed up fast.
“You look like shit,” I said, carefully grabbing the handle of the mug he gave me.
Roscoe snorted, but his eyes were still distant. “I ain’t been fucked that hard in about ten years.”
“What the hell did he do? Wrap you in barbed wire and rip it off?”
“You’ll understand when you turn. We do things a lot differently. It’s either rough and hard, rough and violent, rough and short, or rough and rougher.” He ran his tongue along his sharp teeth, stopping where one of his canines was missing. “It ain’t ever gentle though, especially when it comes with a lot of pent-up anger.”
“Your tooth is gone.”
“It’ll grow back by tomorrow.”
The door opened again, and Darryl strutted outside holding his own mug with an image of a surfboard and a red heart around it.
“Good morning,” he said, taking in a deep sniff of fresh air, wagging his tail as if nothing at all had happened. “Looks like it’s going to be a busy day.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
Darryl gave a nod to the red flag above the lifeguard station in the distance then took a sip of coffee. “Rip currents. There’s a storm off the coast that’s making the water extra choppy, and people never pay attention to the warnings.” He sat his mug on the table and grabbed Roscoe’s muzzle, gently prying it open with his thumb. “Heh, I didn’t know it actually fell out.”
Roscoe pulled away and whistled through the empty cavity. “Wasn’t paying attention when I landed on the floor. I’ll look for it later and make a necklace for Cody.”
“Aww. A necklace made from a tooth Darryl violently fucked loose. How romantic,” I said, holding my hand up. “I’ll pass.”
“I’ll take it.” Darryl sat on the other side of the table and sipped his coffee. “It’ll be a good conversation starter.”
