So, Jessie can you tell us about yourself," questions Samantha with a mysterious grin. Jessie's eyes lifted from her plate, looking back and forth between the audience looking back at her—the one with expectations, the one with curiosity, and the one with acceptance and patience. The tension could be stabbed with her fork, but the carrot slipped away to the other side of the plate.
She came back to her senses and said with a strained smile, "What is there to tell? I mean, I had an accident, and Mr. Chris is having me rent here while I get back on my feet."
Judy raised her hand, waving it back and forth with stars in her eyes, saying, "Is it true? You fell from the sky like I heard Mommy muttering to herself, looking in her underwear draw?" Samantha shot her daughter a quick glare but quickly refocused back on Jessie while Judy shot off more questions. "Are you a fallen angel from heaven? A bird-woman swept up in a gust of wind and fell down like a klutz? A secret agent who escaped her pursuers in their air base but crashed here by mistake?"
Jessie felt danger and pain looking at the stars in Judy's eyes. I don't know what to say. I could just come out and say it. Would they accept me or would I have to kill them? My heart stings thinking about doing that again. I mean they don't smell entirely human either. But what I know from Christian isn't enough, and I can't jeopardize my safety yet.
Maybe I can dance around with the words I use without lying to them. Samantha seems smart for this kind of thing. Keep your cool Jessie. Calmly eat the food in front of you and eat your food in between conversations to appear stable and confident.
Jessie clears her throat taking a bite out of her food to appear in deep thought. She swallows before saying, "You know Judy has a very active imagination. Next, she might ask if I am some demon or monster from some dark abyss to take her Uncle away from her."
Both Samantha and Judy twitched a little while Judy slammed her small hands on the table demanding, "Are you? Was this a ploy to get close to Uncle?"
Jessie laughed to herself a little from being able to use these statements to give her room to work with. "I am a foreigner from this land, and your Uncle has been kind enough to let me stay here as we talked about earlier."
"Fine but what about falling from the sky?"
"Oh, that? Well, I am not sure really. Some dark figure confronted me. The next thing I knew I was falling from high up in the sky," said Jessie while making weird hand gestures.
Judy made a serious face, looking at Jesse's smiling one. Jessie could feel her facial expression stiffen before Judy relaxed a little in her seat as tears filled her eyes. "How could a pretty lady be treated that way," cried Judy, whipping the tears away with her hands.
Jessie smiled and patted Judy's head. "Thank you for crying for me. It's okay, see. However, I don't know where I am. I am surrounded by wonderful people like your Mommy and Uncle now. So don't cry anymore, okay?" Jessie whipped away a remaining tear that is on Judy's face before leaning back into her seat.
Samantha and Christian glanced at each other to confirm something with their gazes before they looked back at Jessie. Samantha picked up Judy and held her in her arms rocking her gently while she continued to calm down.
"Ms. Nemo, tomorrow while we make trades for petty cash do you want to stop by the police and inform them of what happened to them? I mean it sounds like it was a kidnapping and attempt at murder. Ya0ch!" Chris exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder that Samantha hit.
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Judy shakes her head back and forth with a lonely smile. "That is alright. I don't want to be a bother. Besides, I feel that I will never see them again."
"If that's the way you feel. We can understand. I mean law enforcement has only become more bureaucratic over the years."
"I guess we dodged a bullet with the media swarming around us at least. Can you imagine the lecture we'd get from Mrs Thompson," said Christain.
"Don't remind me. Oh sorry Jessie we went on a tangent for a minute there and nearly forgot about you," said Samantha.
"No problem," said Jessie with a light smile.
"Then we better get our story straight when we go get that claim taken care of."
"What do you mean? She just survived a traumatic experience, and all you care about is money," exclaimed Samantha.
"Sorry, but how can I rebuild that giant hole in my study upstairs with so little funds? Don't worry; we can make a claim as an accident and only raise my insurance rates some." Christain turns away from Samantha and back to Jessie.
"So, Mis Nemo what do we want as a cover story? I suggest that you fell asleep while flying, causing you to fall and crash into my house."
"Do you think something that simple would hold up?"
"You'd be surprised by all the stuff happening to people that don't have proper control over their morph types causing accidents like this."
"If it works then that is fine with me."
"Good. Know what is your morph type? Is it a moth, silkworm or a spider? I mean that was a lot of silk I tripped over. Och."
"Don't you know it's impolite to ask a girl their morph type when they have mastered their human form," said Samantha. "No wonder you don't have a wife yet. No tackt."
"Look, we need that for the report and forms we will have to fill out tomorrow. I mean what are we to do otherwise? Remember. I am broke, and we want her to stay here comfortably. It's not like we want Jessie to be deported or worse," said Christian
"Fine, but are you going to be okay with this tactless idiot," said Samantha
"Christian has already offered, and from the way that you and your daughter talk about him, I can see that he is dependable," said Jessie.
"Well then, that settles it. Since I will be at work and Judy will be at school, you better be a gentleman, Chris," said Samantha.
"No need to state the obvious."
"Fine"
Jessie looks at them, talking back to one another, and smiles. They really do look like a married couple. Should I help Judy get them together? It would be a nice diversion as I get settled and understand what I can do here. I mean I am all alone now.
A single tear drips down her cheek. She whips it away and smiles at the happy family she sees in front of her.
They continue to talk to one another with light laughter for the next couple of hours before Judy starts to yaw and Samantha takes her in her arms and wishes the two a good night. She walks back to her house next door.
After cleaning up the dishes, Christian walks into the living room and sees Jessie sitting on the couch, thinking about something. He smiles to himself before walking over.
Christian sits next to her spooking Jessie a little. "They sure are a fun bunch, no," said Christian.
"Yes, they really are," said Jessie.
"Well, come and follow me. It is about time I showed you a proper tour of the house and show you where you will be staying," said Christian, getting up and motioning her to follow him.
They went around the top floor to look at the study, break room, restrooms, the kitchen again, and then downstairs. It was fully furnished with two bathrooms, a laundry room, two bedrooms, and a small kitchen with a refrigerator, table, and stairs that led outside.
"You will be staying here. I hope it is cozy enough. As you saw the laundry room is a shared space that connects the two living quarters. If you look at the door exiting them, you can see that they lock and have doorbells on the other side. That way we can have privacy but still get the other's attention if we need to."
"It is great thank you."
"No problem, as you saw one of the bedrooms has a television and some books to read if you're bored tonight before we go shopping in the morning."
"Thank you."
"No problem. Well, I will be heading off to class then. If you need anything or if there is an emergency you can call me on the landline upstairs. I will leave it unlocked for you and put my number on a sticky note next to it. Okay. Well, Ms. Nemo, I will see you in a couple of hours then."
Chris turned around with a smile, walked back upstairs, and got ready. A few moments later a door slamming shut echoed down to Jessie who was sitting on a be in thought about what to do next.