Page 97 of Trick Knot Treat

“Mine.”

“Baby, you should be saying that about me.”

“When your dick tastes as good as this pudding, I’ll call you mine, too.”

Clint chokes, while Zaire and Felix laugh.

Grandma looks at Grandpa and smiles. “Someone appreciates my food.”

“I appreciate your food,” Grandpa grumbles, stirring his pudding without enthusiasm. “I don’t appreciate you bringing the murder flock into the house.”

“Actually, a group of magpies is called a gulp, tiding, or a tribe,” Grandma says sagely.

“I am not saying to people that I have a gulp flock in my house,” Grandpa snaps. “I want them out of our home. Not a ticketing system and a line of nosey assholes coming to investigate.”

“Well then, you shouldn’t have been born in a tent.” Grandma says crossly, “No one would have come in if you’d just done what normal people do.”

Tent? What? What do normal people do? And what is living in a tent like? It sounds fun.

“Do you live in a tent?” I ask, but they don’t even look at me.

Grandpa stands up, his face red, eyes narrowed. “At least my father wasn’t a glassmaker.”

I blink with sudden excitement. “Your dad was a glassmaker? What kind?”

Everyone looks at me. We get to ten, and I’m squirming awkwardly before it suddenly makes sense.

“OH!”

“There she goes,” Zaire says in amusement.

“Hey, I’m an artist, and I do colours and pretty things, not smart things!” I snap, my cheeks burning.

“It’s all right, baby, you can just look adorable with me, we’ll make the others be smart for us,” Clint purrs, squeezing my thigh.

“Grandma,” Grandpa says as he leans into her. “I know we have our differences, but I’m really glad that you are here, and you…you know, get me.”

“Of course, I get you, it’s been sixty years of getting you.”

“Getting all of me!” He waggles his eyebrows.

“Oh, you!” Grandma titters.

She stands up, trying to look serious and respectable, but I think I’m going to vomit into my mouth.

“We have to go.” She scowls and points at us. “Work your shit out and be a good pack! Oh, and let the birds out in an hour.”

“I’m not keeping your birds-” Felix shouts, but the two of them are already gone.

I sit back, staring at the wall.

“What’s going on in there, Khione?”

“Well, I’m just curious.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Why was he born in a tent, and what’s so wrong with that?”