23

Life-Challenged Living

Their father hung up the phone at the cashier’s desk and made his way back to their table in shamble fashion, his torso veering right, hips drifting left, bad arm swinging and barely missing a tub full of dirty dishes stacked near the kitchen entrance.

"Watch it, Dad," Nick said. "You're kind of all over the road."

“Yeah, it's funny. I think my inner ear is a bit messed up."

Nick could think of plenty of other things that might get a bit messed up physiologically and neurologically when you'd been dead for almost three months.

"So?" Lottica asked.

"So meaning my messed up inner ear, or so meaning how did my parents react to hearing their dead son calling on Halloween?"

"Dale, cut the suspense. Just spill your guts—" Linda caught herself and giggled.

"Very nice, dear, truly revolting. I'd tell you to bite your tongue, but who knows what might spring from that."

Even for zombies this seemed to cross the bounds of decorum, no matter what had been chewing on their brains the past few months. "Okay,” Nick protested, “we get the picture. I'm sure you're giddy to be, um, alive, but Lottica and I would really like to get a handle on this. The situation may be dangerous."

"Dangerous?" their father asked. "How could we be in danger? Look at us." He spun his arm in a full circle, grinning all the while.

"Dad, I think you've fully established the undead concept with us,” Lottica acknowledged. “What Nick is trying to say is that whoever was chasing us, whoever was trying to get the Kareima, is still out there. We could all be in danger. Even Grandfather and Grandmother could be in danger."

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To her satisfaction, her father stopped swinging his arm. "Right. I'll cut to the chase. You want to know what their reaction was to finding out their son and his beloved wife have been miraculously raised from the dead by the Kareima?"

He paused dramatically and lowered his voice so they all had to lean in close, his soupy left eye just on the verge of spilling out of the socket.

"They said—and remember this was in Lebreiman so I'm translating as best I can—'Deilune, now are you ready to put aside this foolish America and return home? If not, it would've been better for the Kareima to have been given to a trajeime!'"

"What's a tra-jay-mey?" Lottica asked.

"That's a bit embarrassing," Deilune deflected.

"Tell us!" the siblings demanded.

"A trajeime is a jackass."

Linda rubbed her sagging temples. “That’s all they said. They called you a jackass. Don’t they have any sympathy for what happened to us?” She appeared close to fainting again.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Lottica consoled. “They’re probably in shock like we are.” She looked across at her father. "Dad, we should get home to Grandfather and Grandmother now, so we can sort this out."

"You're right, Lottica. It’s been a strange night."

Nick thought that his dad's use of the word strange a bit understated, if not downright simplistic. Scrambled-brains bizarre was how he would have put it, but he checked his watch and said, "Yeah, let's get going. We still have time to catch a bus."

Deilune stood and helped Linda up and then automatically reached for his back pants pocket. Though hardly possible, Deilune assumed a more awkward expression. His bloated face became clouded. He checked the inner pocket of his jacket and sat slowly down. His voice barely audible as he spoke to his wife. "I seem to have no wallet."

That was a gut check for Nick. He realized his parents were struggling to fully grasp their situation. In essence, they were life-challenged. Rejoining the living wasn’t a trivial thing. Money, clothing, transportation, shelter. Feeling a new sense of protectiveness, Nick said, "Dad, I can cover this." He took out his wallet and went over to the cashier to pay.

"Thanks," Deilune said when he returned to the booth.

"You're welcome." Nick smiled. "I wouldn't want anyone to call you a deadbeat dad."

An impish grin spread on their father's pockmarked but still puckish face. “Good one, Nick. You are a live wire.”

Lottica cringed. This was going to take some getting used to.