"I
hate Khalzi. I mean I really, REALLY hate
them. Not the way kids hate green beans, or
the way my sister hates anything that doesn't
have a Gucci label, I mean
flat-out-despise-would-kill-if-I-got-a chance
HATE. And not just because my ex-boyfriend is
shacked up with one. But because they bite.
And not just bite, but de-glove. That's a
medical term I learned. MAN I hate Khalzi,
just kill them all and turn them into furry
freaking hats...."
The
drunken blind man gestured towards the
bartender for another drink. Being a Khalzi
himself, the tall, beautiful creature
selected a dirty mug and filled it from
assorted leftover pitchers on the bar before
bringing it to him. The drunk took the mug
with his left hand, his right tucked under
his jacket. He was no more than forty, but
years of hard living had aged him so he
appeared to be in his mid-fifties at least,
and not a well-preserved mid-fifties at that.
The two men seated with him saw of course
what the Khalzi did, but said nothing. Their
own beer came icy cold from the taps and in
clean mugs. The drunk kept talking.
"I
met Liam three years ago in a dump called The
Asteroid Bar and Grill. He was a fighter
pilot, training aboard Sferkkaan planet
hoppers as part of some sort of good will
exchange between Earth and Sferkkaa. I was
waiting tables. Why he looked twice at me I
will never know; Sferkkaans are beautiful,
beautiful people, and he was sitting with
five guys that I would have gladly reached up
my own ass and hauled my heart out to show
them just for the privilege of having them
spit on me. Gorgeous, eerie, ethereal
beauties that just should not exist. And Liam
just kept looking at me."
The
drunk took a long pull at his beer, oblivious
to the old cigarette butt floating in it.
"And
I just kept looking at the Sferkkaans. I mean
okay, so I messed around on him a few times,
like what's the big deal? Every guy does it.
And he totally over reacted when I gave the
medal that he won rescuing fifteen civilians
and flying them to safety in the middle of
the night during a thunderstorm in a plane
damaged by anti-aircraft fire to that
luscious twenty year old whose name I can't
remember. But MAN what an ass.... So anyway
he moved out. Just packed his stuff and
vanished one night while I was out clubbing.
I mean you'd think he would at least let me
know. Just because I hadn't been home in four
days is no excuse.... "
One of
the two men seated with the drunk, a
Sferkkaan himself, raised an eyebrow.
"Such ingratitude."
The
drunk ignored him. "And, of course,
after he was gone, I realized too late how
much I did love him, and what a bastard I
was. Far too little, far too late. I had the
love of the most handsome, brave, funny,
intelligent guy on the planet, and I blew it.
So like any loser, I set out to win him back.
I sent flowers, I sent poems, I sent singing
telegrams, I even stole his medal back for
him. I followed him everywhere. I even left
notes on his plane... Okay so I stalked him.
Sue me. I followed him around for five months
begging and pleading on my hands and knees,
and then, one night, I see him with a
freaking Khalzi. I mean a KHALZI! That's two
steps from doing it with your dog. Nothing
like a seven-foot marsupial to get the
neighbours talking. A Khalzi. You could have
knocked me over with a feather."
The
Khalzi bartender flattened his ears. The
Sferkkaan had a feeling the next beer the
drunk ordered would be flavored with Khalzi
saliva. The drunk rambled on.
"They
were in the park, which of course is where
you take an animal. Khalza was found about 95
years ago, and its inhabitants were found I
suppose around the same time. No one has ever
been able to establish if the inhabitants of
Khalza ever came to earth, but if you want to
know what they look like then open a book on
Egyptian archaeology and find a picture of
Anubis. We're talking seven feet of hot man
flesh covered in short black fur with the
head of a jackal, a mane, and one thing
Anubis did not have - a tail. A long soft
fox-like tail. Another things these critters
have that Anubis did not is a pouch. Remember
the pouch. It's important."
The
bartender's lip curled slightly, then stalked
off to clean tables in preparation of
closing.
"Actually,"
belched the drunk, " only the males have
a pouch. And only the males form villages.
The females are sort of free-roaming forces
of nature. They roam wild, alone or with
other females, and only pay attention to the
males when they want a little hot fuzzy love.
Then she's off again. If she's pregnant, then
after eight weeks she finds a village, passes
something that's more fetus than baby, and
hands it off to the nearest male, who sticks
it in his pouch while she goes off to do the
whole thing over again. It doesn't even have
to be his baby...puppy... whatever. Nope. He
just shoves the little bastard into his belly
pouch and bounces off with the other
kangaroos. He doesn't even have to ever had
sex with a female, all he has to do is pick
up that nauseating pink squirming slug and
stick it in his pouch. Nauseating. And
there's my Liam with a Khalzi. It was more
than I could stomach. I went walking up to
him and dog-boy. He's wearing a black leather
flight jacket. He's another pilot! Didn't
know they could teach dogs to fly a
jet."
The
bartender reached his limit. He threw down
the cloth, and called out to the three at the
table, "Time, gentlemen, if you
please."
"We'll
leave when we're done," roared the
drunk, slurring his words. He continued with
his story. His two listeners worked on
getting their beer down before they left.
"Khalzi.
Bloody Khalzi. He dumped me for a dog. ME!
Can you believe it? Well okay he never was
bright, but you'd think he would have at
least had brains enough to keep with his own
kind. Well we argued for a bit, and I accused
him of making puppies with the thing. I guess
I might have had a beer or two in me at the
time. Anyway I reached out to grab the pouch
and look inside. Nothing hard, I just wanted
to look. Bad move. You don't touch a Khalzi's
pouch, that's like coming up to strange woman
and sticking your finger up her..."
"TIME,
gentlemen," repeated the bartender.
The
drunk waved him off. "So I grab the
pouch and he sinks his teeth into my arm and
degloves it. Degloves. You know what that is?
It's when something yanks the flesh off in
one whole piece, as if pulling off a
glove."
The
drunk pulled forth what was left of his right
arm, which was gone from about the mid
forearm down, and with his left mimed yanking
off a glove. "Stripped the meat right
off. Then the piece of crap goes for my face.
Totally unprovoked. Sank his teeth right into
my eyeballs. They popped like..."
"TIME!"
shouted the bartender, shoving a chair hard
against the table for emphasis.
The
Sferkkaan and his companion rose to their
feet. The drunk sat, huddled over his beer,
and did not seem to notice the departure of
his companions. The two walked out of the
little pub and into the warm, starless
darkness of a Sferkkaan night. They made
their way down the quiet street, saying
nothing as they headed to the little hotel
where they were currently residing. The
Sferkkaan pulled out a pack of cigarettes and
offered one to his companion; a man from
Earth, currently living on Sferkkaa. Liam
took the offered cigarette and sighed
heavily, placing it between his lips and
lighting it, the faint lines of colour on his
uniform blazing briefly in the glow of his
lighter.
"Are
you sorry you came?" asked the
Sferkkaan.
Liam
shook his head. "No, Fearyn, I'm not. I
needed to hear it. I needed to prove to
myself once and for all that I did the right
thing walking out on him."
Fearyn
raised one eyebrow. "You were not
thinking of going back to him, were
you?"
"No!
Of course not. But... I did feel badly about
the way I ended it. I just... needed to
settle some things in my mind. Wow he looks
like crap. Hard to believe it was only
eighteen months ago."
"Shar
certainly worked him over."
Liam's
green eyes grew cold. "Shar was
provoked. Rick didn't just try to look in his
pouch, which you do NOT do with a Khalzi, but
he stuck his whole fist in it; just shoved it
right in and Shar screamed. The bastard
really hurt him. I'm not surprised Shar bit
him. I AM surprised Shar didn't do more
damage than he did."
Liam
took a long drag off his cigarette, plainly
angry, his voice rising. "I mean you do
not treat a Khalzi that way. He tore up
delicate capillaries and membranes, hell Shar
was in the hospital for two days. And Rick
actually has the nerve to sit there sucking
back booze and making himself out to be the
victim. I don't get it. I just do NOT get
it."
A voice
called something in Sferkkaan from the window
of an apartment. Liam responded in the same
tongue, turning slightly red. That was one of
the reasons Liam likes Sferkkaa so much:
polite people. No "Shut the fuck up you
asshole!" Instead he heard; "Need I
remind you both of the hour?" Sferkkaan
culture in many ways was not so different
from that of Earth. But in other ways, it
truly was another world. Liam felt Fearyn put
an arm around him.
"Rick
is a self-absorbed bastard who would not know
a good thing if it bit him on the leg,"
he said. "Ignore him. Put him out of
your mind, he is not worth your anger."
"It's
not just Rick," said Liam, mindful now
of how loudly he spoke. "It's that
attitude. It's THAT attitude in THIS century.
You heard what he said about Shar. 'May as
well be doing it with the dog, the park's
where you take an animal, you should stick
with your own kind.' And what was it he
called the baby when the female hands it off
to the male? Oh yeah. A nauseating pink
squirming slug. Human beings were supposed to
be passed that sort of crap by now."
"It
will happen as long as humans and humanoids
exist," said Fearyn. "There will
always be those afraid of what is different,
of what they do not understand."
"Sferkkaans
don't act like that."
Fearyn
laughed. "Oh I beg to differ my friend.
Walk up to any Sferkkaa and utter the word
'Kyphisian'. You will hear a most
comprehensive list of racial slurs."
"That's
not the same. Kyphisia overran your planet
and tried to eradiate your people."
"True.
But the point remains the same. No race is
without hate and prejudice. Sometimes it is
understandable. Usually it is not."
Liam
sighed. "You're right, of course."
He took another drag off his cigarette.
Sferkkaans all smoked like Victorian factory
stacks, it was hard to live on their planet
without picking up the habit. At least they
grew excellent tobacco.
Liam
glanced at his friend. Fearyn was truly
beautiful. Most Sferkkaans were, but Fearyn
was a rare sort of beauty, the offspring of a
Sferkkaan mother and a Kyphisian father. He
was ice-white all over, flesh and hair, with
the most intensely blue eyes Liam had ever
seen; eyes like a jungle cat on a branch
looking down at the unwary. Liam had tried
for the longest time to get into his pants,
but Fearyn had been with his lover Faunnis
for fifteen years. He was not about to throw
that away on a fling with some human. Over
time, Liam and Fearyn had become close
friends. Liam would still not kick Fearyn out
of his bed for eating crackers, but he
enjoyed his company too much to lose his
friendship over wanton lust.
"It
still just bothers me," mumbled Liam.
"When I told my mother I was gay, she...
wasn't exactly happy about it. In fact she
begged me to get help. Wept for days,
followed me around demanding I tell her who
did this to me; like it was a disease someone
gave me. I finally shut her up with a book I
found about how bad gays had it in past
centuries, some of the things that had been
done to them. When she got to the chapter
about some of the "treatments" that
had been performed in the past she stopped
harping about me going to a doctor.
Eventually she sort of got used to the idea
and stopped worrying about it. Then I brought
home Shar and... it was just awful. She
sounded a lot like Rick did just now. Called
him an animal, said I really was sick. She
couldn't see how wonderful he is, what an
amazing person. All she saw was the black fur
and those big-ass ears. And I love him but
man he does have the biggest freaking ears I
ever saw."
Fearyn
laughed in agreement. "All the better to
hear you with, my dear."
Liam
laughed. "Yes and let's not forget the
teeth. So I admit, he's not human. But he's a
kind, loving intelligent person and very
important to me. I love him, fur, fleas and
all. I wish she could just be happy for
me."
"Ah,"
said Fearyn, "I see we come at last to
what is really bothering you."
Liam
shook his head. "You're
over-simplifying, but okay, yes. I wish I
could just take my lover home with me when I
go to see my family without it being a
disaster. He's special to me. And I'm angry I
had to choose between Christmas with my mom
or Christmas with Shar. And I'm absolutely
furious with myself that I let her make me
choose, and that I left him home alone so I
could waste what used to be my favorite
holiday with a group of... bigots."
"I'm
sure Shar was all right, Christmas is not
exactly a Khalzi holiday."
"That's
not the point! I should have been home with
my lover, not stuck at a table with my mom
staring at me with an expression like a
depressed basset hound, getting drunk and
saying 'My poor, poor baby, someone did
something so horrible to you.' And my brother
with that bitch of a wife of his barking at
me, and dad demanding to know how I could do
this to the family. I should have been home
with Shar, watching Christmas specials and
trying to explain the significance of the
dead evergreen in the corner being
humiliated."
Fearyn
burst out laughing, having asked that
question of his friend years ago. Liam
grinned despite himself, and tossed away the
remains of his cigarette. They walked
together in silence for a little while, their
footsteps echoing quietly down the dark
street.
"There's
always next year," said Fearyn softly.
Liam
suddenly stopped in his tracks. Fearyn paused
as well, looking at his friend. He raised an
eyebrow and smiled.
"You
look as if you have just had an
epiphany."
Liam
looked towards Fearyn. "Let's celebrate
Christmas."
"I
thought Christmas was over."
"Yeah
it is, but why can't we do it again?"
"I
beg your pardon?"
Liam
was looking more and more delighted with his
idea. "Sure! Why can't the four of us
have Christmas together? You and Faunnis and
me and Shar. Snow and a tree and carols and
turkey and gifts..."
"Liam,
this is Sferkkaa. It does not snow here.
Rain, yes, snow, no."
"I
have a cabin on Earth, in the mountains. I
was thinking about selling it because I
seldom use it anymore but... I don't think I
will now."
Fearyn
raised an eyebrow. "So, just the four of
us, in the middle of no where?"
"It'll
be perfect!"
"You
don't think for one moment you are going to
get Shar out in the snow."
"Stranger
things have happened. So are you with
me?"
"Of
course, it's a brilliant chance to study the
intricacies of an alien culture. Besides I'm
dying to see you get Shar outside making
snowmen. Or snow-Khalzi."
"I'm
sure I can persuade him. And I get to live
out every kid's wildest fantasy." He
grinned at Fearyn. "Second
Christmas."
***---***
Liam
said good night to Fearyn in the hallway, and
then quietly unlocked the door to his own
hotel room. He stepped inside, pocketing the
room key, then turned and smiled at the being
on the bed.
Rick
had been accurate when he compared Khalzi to
Anubis. In fact the similarities were far too
close to be a coincidence, though not even
the most meticulous of space historians and
archaeologists could find evidence Khalzi had
ever come to Earth. Shar was lounging on the
bed, reading. In one hand he had a book, in
the other a partly melted chocolate. The
short whiskers at the end of his long muzzle
were perked forward, which they always did
when he was engrossed in something. The tall,
erect ears were forward as well, and the
heavy, golden hair that began between the
large ears fell in a heavy curtain around his
shoulders and down his chest. His frame was
long and slender, powerful and well muscled,
yet light: the body of a dancer, or swimmer.
He was covered all over in very short, very
black, very silky fur that always reminded
Liam of a cropped rabbit fur coat his
favorite aunt, Helen, used to own. But Shar
was softer, and warmer.
Shar
finally recalled his melting chocolate and
ate it, then idly sucked the remains off his
long, elegant fingers. Liam's eyes narrowed,
and he felt his jeans begin to get tight. He
walked over to the bed and plucked the book
from Shar's hand.
"What
say we put on The Bangles' 'Walk Like An
Egyptian' and do naughty things to each
other?"
Shar's
large ears directed traffic. "I was
reading that, mortal. Do not make me scoop
your brains out with a hook."
"You
can read anytime. Let's play Little Red
Riding Hood. You can be Red."
Shar
rolled his eyes. "You're a pervert, you
realize." He moved closer to Liam,
snuggling against him, his head on his chest.
He could smell the unmistakable stink of beer
and cigarettes. "Did you and Fearyn
enjoy yourselves?"
"Well...
yes and no. You'll never guess who was in the
pub. Rick."
The
ears flattened. Liam ran his hand over them,
smiling faintly. "I didn't know he would
be there, believe me if I had I would have
stayed here. He's blind now, and he lost that
arm you stripped. You know I was hoping it
would have made him wake up and do something
about how he was living his life, but if
anything, he's worse. It was the same old
crap, just more so. Nothing is his fault, and
even if it is his fault, it's still not his
fault. Someone made him do it."
"I'm
sure he had a few choice words about
me."
Liam
nodded. "Oh, yeah. Bastard. I can't for
the LIFE of me see what I saw in him. I must
have been out of my mind." He looked
down at Shar, and smiled, unable to resist
scratching him behind the ears. "Glad to
see my taste has improved."
"Well
your brother David doesn't think so. He
called and left a message. You're invited to
his wife's birthday party on February first.
Oh, and it's a pet-free event. Then he
repeated the message using barks and
growls."
Liam
felt a sudden, violent rage. Reaching out he
snatched up the phone and dialed, knowing it
would take at least thirty minutes for the
call to travel from Sferkkaa to Earth, and
hoping he didn't calm down in the meantime.
At last he reached his brother's voice mail.
"Hello,
David? It's Liam. Very funny, asshole. By the
way, your bitch wife is fucking both your
friend Stewart and your friend Andrew. Happy
fucking New Year, shitwad."
He
slammed the phone down so hard he briefly
feared he had broken the thing. Then he stood
up and began packing. Shar sat up, alarmed.
"Where
are you going?"
Liam
packed, then walked over to his lover. His
beautiful, beautiful lover, with the long
gold hair, and warm brown eyes, like pools of
dark chocolate swirled with caramel. He
touched his face, feeling his rage slowly
leave him.
"I
want to do something for you. For me,
too."
"You're
not going to kill David, are you?"
"Much
as I would like to, no. I'm going to go to
the cabin on Earth. Tomorrow night, Fearyn
and Faunnis are going to bring you there, and
the four of us are going to spend some time
far away from the Ricks and Davids of the
world."
"What
are we going to do?"
Liam
grinned. "Second Christmas." He
kissed the soft muzzle. "I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow night."
Liam
picked up his bag and left the room, leaving
Shar alone to wonder what his lover was up
to.
***---***
Liam
used his own private planet hopper to head
back to Earth. A planet hopper was a small
craft, not much larger than a fighter jet. It
could hold a crew of three, or a family of
seven if someone happened to have a can of
axel grease and a shoehorn. Liam bought his
from the base he was stationed at when this
particular model was declared obsolete.
However it was still a good little craft, and
he had taken endless delight in painting it
silk black and decorating it with ancient
Egyptian symbols. The planet hopper's name
was, not surprisingly, Anubis: a name to
which it had been programmed to respond.
He
landed it in the parking lot of a shopping
mall, much to the annoyance of the motorists
who had hoped to use the parking spaces the
wings now occupied, and to the extreme
delight of the children in the cars with
them. Liam grinned and walked into the mall,
ignoring the irritated screech of tires
behind him.
He
returned to his craft about an hour later,
loaded down with three shopping carts full of
stuff. Christmas shopping was so much more
enjoyable after Christmas. He reached his
little planet hopper, humming Christmas
carols, finding it surrounded by excited
children and amused adults. Liam suddenly
realized with a sigh that someone, probably
Fearyn, had reprogrammed the verbal warnings
the craft's alarm system would utter. So
instead of a calm and soft "Please do
not touch the vehicle", Liam instead
heard "Hey! Piss off. Keep your hands
away; this paint is new. Hey! I saw that. I
have photon torpedoes and I am NOT afraid to
use them."
Liam
sighed. "Anubis, stand down."
"Oh!
Come crawling back, have we? Well forget it.
I'm not speaking to you. Leaving me out here,
all alone."
Liam
grit his teeth. "Anubis, stand
down."
"No.
Not until you confirm your identity."
Liam
sighed and held up his hand for the plane to
scan his handprint. The plane scanned, then
said; "Buttocks not recognized."
"OPEN
THE HELL UP!"
"Password
recognized. Greetings, Liam."
Liam
growled, then muttered, "Just wait
Fearyn, your own hopper is about to learn to
sing like those yodeling cowboys in the old
black and white movies."
"Your
plane's funny!" said a small girl.
"Thank
you," said Liam. "Now I'm going to
have to find my friend's plane and make it
funny for him."
The
child's father chuckled at the idea. Liam
loaded everything into the hopper; most of
which he stowed in wing compartments meant
for carrying bombs and ammunition. It was
only eight in the morning, but he had a lot
to do before Shar, Fearyn and Faunnis
arrived.
***---***
He was
starting to understand why his mother always
seemed pissed off Christmas Eve.
He cut
down a tree and hauled it into the cabin,
then got a fire started and turned on some
carols to get him in the mood. He put the
tree in the stand, then went to get the
turkey ready. He made stuffing, then prepared
a few pumpkin pies, which went in at the same
time as the turkey, so they would be ready in
plenty of time to cool. He started decorating
the room, and then realized he'd forgotten to
buy tree ornaments. Recalling the beautiful
ornaments left by his aunt in the attic, he
went up to find they had all been destroyed
by raccoons. Certainly it smelled like
raccoons. Disgusting beasts; there wasn't an
animal alive he hated more than raccoons. So
back to the mall for ornaments and a few
other odds and ends, and back to the cabin he
went. He returned in time to realize he had
forgotten the pies in the oven and they were
now burned.
Oh
yeah, he was getting the holiday spirit all
right. He opened a bottle of orange brandy
and started over.
***---***
It had,
without a doubt, been one of the most
infuriating days of his life, but by the time
the turkey was ready and Shar was due to
arrive, the place was perfect. The tree was
up and decorated, the fire was lit, and the
room smelled of spice and wine. The table was
laid, the stockings were hung, the gifts were
wrapped, and Charles Dickens himself could
not have done better. It had even begun to
snow. Liam stood in the living room, staring
out over the snow, basking in the glorious
warmth and beauty of the lights and the fire.
It was all so wonderful; he could just stand
there forever.
He was
broken out of his peaceful reverie by the
sight of not one planet hopper arriving, but
three. One was definitely Alloicious, which
was Fearyn's craft, but he did know the other
two. He watched Fearyn and Faunnis hop out of
their plane, and try to talk someone out of
it, while the other two craft unloaded what
looked like...
Liam
suddenly bolted out of the house and into the
falling snow. He laughed in surprise and joy.
"Sherry! Oh my god Sherry it's been six
years!"
"Almost
seven," she replied. "And you have
the Sferkkaan Armed Forces to thank for
landing in my yard on Alcardia Three, scaring
the hell out of me and kidnapping me to see
you."
Liam
leapt on his favorite cousin and hugged her,
then pounced on her husband to hug him too.
"Brendan! Missed you! Jesus where did
all these kids come from? Sherry there's
seven of them!"
"Well
only four of them are mine, the other three
belong to my friend Diane, but she's sick
right now so I have them. Besides, I thought
they could use a second Christmas as well,
they didn't have a very happy one what with
mommy ill and dearest daddy... well... we can
talk about that later. Here."
She
passed him a bag. Liam took it and opened it,
and felt a cold fear go through himself.
"Aw
Sherry, no, please, you can't be serious,
don't make me do it! What about
Brendan?"
"The
kids will know it's him, and before you
suggest Fearyn or Faunnis, no! Santa Claus
does not wear make up."
"He
does on Sferkkaa."
"He
does," said Faunnis, "I used to
date him."
Sherry
rolled her eyes. "Please, we all know
Santa has been happily married to Mrs. Clause
for many, many years, and no matter what
either of them may do on the side, we do not
discuss it in front of the kids." Sherry
fixed her favorite cousin with laughing green
eyes. "Right, Santa?"
"I
hate you. You're not really my cousin, you
know, you're adopted."
"Just
help me get the presents out of this nice
man's hopper before he's AWOL from his
base."
"I
wish I'd known you were coming, I would have
got something for the kids."
"You
did. I sent Brendan out and told him to think
like a jar-head."
"I
am not a jar head. Marines are jar heads, I
am a member of His Imperial Highness' Royal
Air Force."
"So
you're an air head."
"You're
adopted and your real parents are in
prison."
"So
that's why I keep getting letters from the
penitentiary."
They
unloaded the hoppers, and the pilots were off
almost before Liam could thank them. Then he
walked over to Alloicious, smiling as he
leaned inside, looking down into a pair of
nervous dark eyes, the tall ears back in a
worried position.
"It's
not dangerous, you know," said Liam.
Shar's
ears did strange things as their owner
surveyed the falling snow. "I've never
seen it. To tell you the truth I thought it
was just a story."
Liam
smiled, reaching in to touch his lover's
face. "Nope. It's real. Coming
inside?"
Shar
looked nervous. He watched the children
shrieking and playing, pelting Sherry,
Brendan, Faunnis and Fearyn with snowballs.
"Perhaps I'll just go inside."
Liam
smiled. "We can do that."
Shar
smiled. It looked odd with his jackal face,
but it was definitely a smile. He opened his
jacket, and a small head poked out. Liam
sighed.
"Shar
what is that?"
"It's
my brother's baby."
"Shar..."
"I
wanted her here. It has nothing at all to do
with trying to talk you into starting a
family. Nothing at all."
Liam
sighed and picked the baby up. She was about
a year old, a tiny bundle in a little pink
dress with matching boots and mittens. She
was too young for her ears to have formed
properly yet, so they lay flat, like a
rabbit's. She would be five before they stood
erect. She had the end of her tail in her
mouth; the Khalzi version of thumb sucking.
Liam sighed again, and watched his tall leggy
lover exit the hopper.
"You're
incorrigible, you know it. And think how my
mom and brother will be if they ever found
out you had one in the pouch."
"So
who are you living for?" said Shar.
"Them or yourself? Why is it our problem
they choose to be bigoted fools?"
Shar
was right, of course. Liam looked down at the
little bundle of black and pink in his arms.
She was awfully, nearly painfully, cute.
"Come
on, let's get her inside, it's cold."
Shar
nodded, and they began walking towards the
cabin. "Dinner in half an hour,"
Liam called to the rampaging hoard of
children. "Then early bed so Second
Santa can come."
The
mention of Second Santa elicited shrieks of
approval from the kids, and the baby Khalzi
hid beneath Liam's jacket, frightened by the
outcry. He held her close, and they walked
into the soft, beautiful light of the cabin.
Shar gasped quietly, eyes large, his nose
working as he tried to sort all the scents
and sights.
"It
is all so very beautiful! Oh what is that
smell?"
"Turkey
and stuffing, sausage gravy, onion bread,
stuffed mushrooms and pumpkin pie."
Shar
breathed in all the wonderful scents, then
looked at Liam and smiled.
"This
was a brilliant idea."
Liam
smiled. "Yeah, I was actually thinking
of making it a tradition."
"I
think we should."
Liam
leaned close and kissed Shar's face. His one
regret that this simple act was the only one
a Khalzi could not do. He passed him the
baby.
"I'll
be right back, I have one last thing to
do."
Liam
went to the closet and pulled out an old
full-length coat of cropped rabbit fur. It
still smelled of his aunt's favorite perfume,
though the scent was becoming faint now, and
musty. He remembered snuggling into this coat
in this very cabin on Christmas Eve, waiting
for Santa, but always falling asleep just
before he came. He carried the coat into the
living room and spread it on the floor before
the tree. He then took the baby and set her
down on it, smiling as she immediately pulled
a candy cane down from the branches. Liam put
an arm around Shar.
"Correct
me if I'm wrong, but you don't have a
brother. And... she doesn't seem to have a
name."
Shar
stared at Liam with those intense brown eyes.
"We could give her one. A Second
Christmas present."
"Where
did she come from?"
"She
was found in a smuggler's ship, in a crate in
the hold. She was covered in blood, probably
her father's. The team that went out to
apprehend the ship didn't know what to do
with her, so they brought her back to the
base. We bathed her, and one of the Sferkkaan
officers had the little pink outfit left over
from her own daughter. She gave it to
her."
Liam
sighed heavily. "I have to hand it to
you, Shar. You not only get what you want,
you make sure you have guilt enough to keep
me from arguing about it."
"So
we can keep her?"
"Well
I'd have to be a bloody ogre to send her away
after that! Fine. We can keep her."
Shar
leapt on him, holding him tightly, wrapping
his long legs around his waist. Liam laughed.
"Of
course you know that means you have to marry
me."
Shar
froze, and raised his head to look at Liam.
"Oh Liam, you know very well Khalzi
don't marry, we're a nomadic race, and males
and females generally don't stay together,
although there have been exceptions..."
"Well
what kind of parents would we be if we let
that poor little sad nameless baby grow up
without her daddy and daddy properly
married?"
Shar's
ears flattened. "That's not fair, using
my own tactics against me."
"Is
that a yes?"
"Yes.
And I love you."
"I
love you, too. Now you go help her get the
candy cane out of her fur while I start
laying dinner on the table."
© 2006
Alyx J Shaw
