When I was a kid, Mom had a little orange TV with bunny ears and a handle that you could cart around. She would set it up in the car for me, settled in the long seat against the door on the other side, back when the whole ‘buckle up everywhere’ wasn’t as prevalent as it is now. Heck, Mom used to say how she and her friends would ride around in the back of a pickup, drinking root beer and cream soda. Definitely not something you’d do now. The orange TV had a small VHS player attached to it, and Dad had bought a small generator (before they came out with things you can set in your cigarette lighter to plug, uh, plugs into), and I’d snuggle up with my toy bunny and watch a movie about bunnies until the tape would wear out.
Can you tell what my favorite animal is? Hah.
Anyway, I inherited the little TV when I moved out, and I hadn’t used it much. Got a bigger and slightly used LCR TV to play XBox on. Might dip and get a flat screen one day...for now I have to build back up and get a bike. Deep sigh.
Old Man Larry sits with me out on the concrete steps of my house, the little orange TV dragged out and placed in front of us. With him is Cassidy, his granddaughter, who’s honestly an amazing little girl with red little curls and she can tap dance! Can’t speak much-she’s only four-but eh, she’s got time, right? Cassidy’s got on some cute little red dress that looks like it’s been under an iron and she’s sitting on a step just under Larry’s legs, kicking her little feet in their little black tap shoes, a thumb shoved squarely in her mouth with wide eyes.
She looks like one of those dolls you see in the novelty shops.
With us is another neighbor kid on the other side. He’s a teen but taller than me, and his face looks like someone dipped their hand in white paint and slapped him hard. Cassidy adores him, and he likes bringing over little toy cars to let her play. Honestly, kid’s a natural, probably babysits his cousins or something. My friends always talked about that. Too bad my family’s so small, but oh well.
On the TV plays a newsreel. One of the vans with the triskelion is in the background around a corner, and a man in sunglasses and a suit that looked more for a groom at the altar is talking to the reporter. “Yes, we’re attempting to scrounge around the bottom of the East River. So far we’ve found plenty of evidence of the brain eating amoeba, so we must caution any and all citizens from fishing, entering, or boating across the waters as of this moment.”
“That sure does sound frightening,” the reporter responds, speaking into her microphone. “Is there an estimate over how long? Should we start boiling water or buy bottled from the stores?”
She flicked the microphone back to him and he cleared his throat, adjusting his black tie. “As the samples were from farther up north, and as they were from a deeper area in the bay, we are hopeful that the amoeba has not made its way here. However, to cautious, we do suggest everyone start boiling their water, even bottled ones, if they are going to bathe, drink, washing, or using it in cooking.”
The reporter nodded, turning to the camera with a serious expression. “You heard it here, folks. A dangerous amoeba may be blooming in our river, but we have the technology and our government doing everything in its power to protect us. I’m Lin Xiu and this is-”
I turn off the TV with a sigh, dragging my hand down my face. The neighbor kid, Matt, balances on his bike near the steps. “That’s bad, isn’t it? Gonna eat our brains like zombies.”
“You watch a lot of horror movies, kiddo,” I grumble, nodding. “Not good. Tell your parents to boil their water, kay? Tell your friends too, in case they didn’t see it.”
Matt nods, leaning over to reach over to Cassidy, who happily slaps a high five to his hand with a shrill squeal, and off he went, dragging his bike back across the little yard, making a small but unnoticeable trench with his tires. Good kid.
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Larry shifts to bounce Cassidy up onto his knee, and she swings her legs, as if it’s time to play as he talks. “Dunno about all this. Yes. Stinks. They’ve been around too long, too long.”
I shake my head, reaching over to wiggle Cassidy’s little shoe and make her laugh, clapping her hands. “Nah, explains it. Don’t want us all to die. They’d lose their taxpayers.” I grin widely and Larry bursts into raspy chuckles, snorting in between.
He’s right, though. Something does stink about this. The van that slowed down outside the hospital in front of me, the same one that slowed down in front of the café after I came back from seeing Dahlia. These aren’t coincidences. And honestly, if they were so fucking concerned, you’d think they’d grow a pair and get out to ask me if everything’s alright.
I don’t say this to Larry, though. He’s already pretty wound up from his daughter rushing over to drop off Cassidy. Her husband’s in the hospital and Larry likes the guy, so he’s worried, and it makes him agitated. From what I could hear, it’s probably not the brain eating...thing.
Hopefully.
I nudge him as I stand up, grabbing up the little TV. “Sorry our movie marathon got cut short, cupcake,” I grin at Cassidy. “Larry, go on and go feed her up, I’m betting she’s hungry.”
Larry nodded, still looking nervous but he stood up, patting my shoulder-Cassidy reaching out with little baby pudgy fingers and poking at my cheek with wide grey eyes-and off they went back next door. Cassidy might need a snack but Larry sure looked pale. Bet he didn’t eat a lick of breakfast and Granny always said a good meal can settle a head into thinkin’ straight. She’s right, of course, Granny always is. I take the TV back in, dragging it to rest near the TV stand with the LCR on it.
I scrub at my face fiercely. Something sure stunk of it, but damn if I couldn’t figure it out. Whatever. I started gathering up the things I wanted to show off to Dahlia that night, deciding to sleep part of the day away in a haze of pain killers and stress.
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When I make it to our meeting spot, Dahlia’s already there, looking a little bored before she looks up to find me, her face lighting up a bit...maybe it’s just wishful thinking.
Tonight I got on my favorite T-Shirt with a dragon curling around the back and around to the front, peeking out of a small pocket on my chest. Blue jeans and comfy sneakers. I drop the duffel bag on the ground gently, settling down as well, both legs crossed. “Wanna see some human stuff?”
“Yes...” She hisses, enthralled as she leans forward with those wide eyes. I happily unzip my duffel, pulling out a few items. I show her my bluetooth speaker-I still haven’t gotten my phone back so I’m using a flip phone, not able to play music for her-and she prods at the weird speakers, gasping as it lights up when I turn it on.
“It can make noise but I ain’t got my phone so...but, cool yeah?”
Dahlia blinks, the snake eyelids slipping over her eyes as she nods. “Coooool.” Sweet. I pick up a red and blue handheld gaming device, grinning as I hold up the screen to her.
“This can play video games...and videos, now, I mean. Kinda whack but they’re working on it.”
She leans in, her nose touching the screen, gasping when it turns on and backing up a little. “What kind of game? Hunting? Hiding?”
I shake my head, shifting so I’m sideways to the river but so that she can see as I click onto a game where you run around as a little farmer. “Nuh uh. Well, not all the time. They’re all different. Some ya can fight, some ya just ah, live...another life.” My character picks up a fossil I hadn’t gotten before and does the little move it does when it finds something new. She gasps, pointing at it.
“You! But. Not you! You found...it.” She mumbles, watching in intrigue as the little farmer scoots around the screen.
“Yeah, it can get confusin’ if you think too much on it. Here, though, lemme find ya a video instead.” I save my game, and she’s nearly leaning on my arm, her seaweed hair brushing against the nape of my neck as I click on the app. It’s...not like actual seaweed. Seaweed is sticky and slimy, but her hair feels...light, like a piece of paper. It’s...odd.
I show her a video of someone dancing, and she makes a happy trilling noise, swaying back and forth with them. “Ya like it, huh? Oh yeah, here.”
I laid it down so she could keep watching, dragging out a puzzle cube. “Have ya found one of these?” Dahlia shakes her head, gently taking it from me, jumping when her fiddling makes one edge move.
“Oh!”
“Yeah, you uh, line up the colors, get ‘em all in order, and you...win! ‘S fun.”
Dahlia blinks, cupping the cube to her chest as she nods. It’s silent for a moment, except for the disco song playin’, and the waves crashin’. I dig into my duffel bag, taking out my tablet to show her my drawings. She’s intrigued, watching me spin through the little images. One looks like a melting image of a sunset, one shows a dreamy look of a person waving. I think she likes my art. She didn’t say it out loud, but ya know, I can tell. I show her more games on my console, and she keeps the cube held tight to her chest.
She never lets it go, and well, I don’t feel too bad lettin’ her go off with it. Don’t much care for puzzle cubes. I like the ring puzzles. She doesn’t say much at the end, but she grins broadly at me before she swims away. “I shall treasure it always,” she hisses, and down she goes.
...well! I think that went amazing! Maybe I should bring a sketchbook and show her how to draw next time...
I pack up my things, and happily head home, feeling light and happy, my face feels stretched by how hard I’m grinning.
When I get home, there’s a card in between my doorknob latch. I reach out slowly, tugging it free of the door.
‘Mr. James Illoky, FBI’, a symbol above the sharp black words. I stare at it, then slowly flip it over. ‘Meet me at the café you ran into tomorrow at 11 AM.’
Oh, shit.