chapter 10

The weekend. Slightly harder than the rest of the week. There was no school so I spent most of the time pouring over the book Dr Jeckulson had lent me. I also assumed at first that no school would mean no going to the Jeckulsons. Until that first weekend when JJ had texted me

JJ:

no school today so how about we start those riding lessons?

I'd grinded but I still had questions about that.

:Me

Will I need gear? Will I be ok to ride black: shadow or should I bring snowflake, cause I don't think she's quite big enough to mount yet 🙄

JJ:

I have gear. You can ride black shadow but if your horse is small maybe it would be better to practise on a smaller horse 🤔

But as it turned out, we wouldn't be doing any riding that day.

"Before you even get on the horse, you need to know how to saddle and rein one."

It has been a little tricky to try and keep track of. He hadn't let me move on until I'd been able to recite the order and try it myself and before I left he'd promised to test me with it the next time, seeing if I could do it all on my own.

As the weeks had gone on, I felt like I was making progress. He did give me homework once, to get a helmet of my own since none of the ones they had would fit around my ears. I did not like wearing a helmet. Even though I did find one that would allow plenty of space for my ears, unlike the hood on my favourite jacket, it was a lot more stuff and completely inflexible, but JJ insisted I couldn't ride without a helmet. I had gotten in Black Shadow a few times. He'd even come here once, to have a look at Snowflake so he could get an idea of what kind of horse I would be riding.

She was almost as tall as me now but for JJ, she barely came to his shoulders. He'd stroked her head and chuckled. "A little mount for a little girl."

I wasn't sure if that was meant to be a complement, an insult or just a statement of fact. When it came to the weekend, I was a little conflicted. I did look forward to the riding lessons but I was also thoroughly enjoying reading the land of furies book.

From it I'd learned that there were six different species on Serious and five of them intelligent: Canines; Felines; Taurus'; Equus; Ursas'; and the rodents which were really just either pets or pests.

Because it was such a hot planet, they only covered as much as was considered appropriate. Their short fur protected them from the harsh UV rays but did nothing to keep them cool. For that, they came up with the ingenious invention they called 'coolers', which were like big, thin coats that were embedded with some sort of air conditioning. In fact, the coolers were their first great advance in technology. Without them, the Seriouns would've been forced to spend their entire lives in the shadows.

But the most interesting fact I'd learned was that it was apparently impossible for Seriouns to be anything but straight.

"It's just because they're more natural about those kinds of things." Dr Jeckulson explained when I brought it up with him. "The main reason they become attracted to anyone is to breed and they can only do that with the opposite sex."

"That's actually kinda disgusting." The idea that people only sought out a partner so they could make babies with them didn't sit too well with me.

"Think of it this way." Dr Jeckulson continued. "Have you ever heard of a gay beast?"

"No." I admitted. "but I've also never heard never heard of a beast that could fall in love." He made a face at me. "Well they were only half-beasts - the half with the instinct to keep their race from extinction. They do still have feelings and romance and stuff. It's nothing against all the homosexuals and A-sexuals and any other kind of sexuality here, it's just that things like that can't exist on Serious. I'm not even sure they had the same kind of mental disabilities like autism that they have here."

"They did." I'd heard my mother had autism, same as me. "I know because my mother had it."

"Did she? I never would've guessed. Though I suppose that would've explained a few…" He stopped, only then noticing I was staring at him, and chuckled nervously. "Oops."

"You knew her."

"I knew her. Perhaps not as well as some but well enough."

I learned forward. "No one I know who knew her likes to talk about her."

"That's not really surprising. She was an exceptional woman." He beckoned me to the table, indicating this was going to be a long story. "Have you ever heard of the good Samaritan?"

"Of course. That's my favourite holy story." I'd always found it poetic, someone being saved by someone who was supposed to be their enemy.

"Well imagine the roles were slightly different. Imagine it was the Samaritan that was hurt and abandoned in Jewish territory, and it was a Jew that stepped up and saved them.

"The Canines and the Felines had been at eachothers throats for generations. We didn't have any of your legendary shadow warriors so we were at a disadvantage there. Most of us had fled long before the invasion was even being thought about. But I was left behind."

"Why?" I asked, before he could continue.

"I don't know exactly. Maybe there wasn't enough room; maybe they couldn't afford to bring someone so young; maybe I was simply forgotten about in the rush of it. I honestly don't remember. I only remember wandering around afterwards, living wild, hunting for food, seeking shelter in caves."

"Caves." I repeated. Like the cave Iktheor kept my mother in.

"Serious was littered with caves. They had to get all that rock and stone from somewhere.

"Anyway, I wandered the planet for years, going from place to place, until I found myself in Canine territory. Not only that but in their capital, in the shadow of their royal castle.

"Because I hadn't been raised with other Felines, I didn't know the full extent of their hatred and distrust of my kind. But I soon learned." I noticed him clench a fist, like the memories still pained him. "Insults and name calling was the best of what they gave. They would often throw things at me, beat me down. You can imagine how surprised I was when a young canine girl offered me a piece of fruit. She was nervous, I could tell but there was no malice in her. Thus was a genuine act of kindness and none of them had ever shown me that before.

"I needed to know more about her, so I followed her. I watched her. In fact it probably isn't a stretch to say I was a bit of a stalker but I didn't wanna hurt her. I just wanted to know her.

"People called her 'Ice' because she always seemed so cold and distant."

"She didn't mind?" To me that sounded like a bit of a crawl nickname.

"I think she kinda liked it." Dr Jeckulson said, with a chuckle. "Made her sound cool."

I laughed at the most likely intentional pun.

"But underneath all that" he continued "there was a burning desire to help anyone she could in any way she could but it was hidden under layers of paranoia and anxiety, like she'd been hurt before for being too compassionate, to the point of being naive.

"People were starting to notice me and one time when she was at school she sought me out. She told me to stop doing what I was doing. That it was dangerous. But I just couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her again. So I told her I had a place. Somewhere I could lay low, where she could meet me in secret."

"And did she?"

"She did. The first time was during a storm. I didn't have the right kind of stuff to shelter from that kind of weather and age knew it. So she rushed over in the pouring rain with her snuggie and a blanket for us to share. I really think she saved my fur that night."

This time I wasn't sure if he was being serious or metaphorical, knowing that he probably did have fur at the time but I had a feeling he meant more than that.

"I always I'd get a chance to tell her just how much what she did for me meant. To show her all that I've achieved here and ti let her know it was all thanks to her."

I swallowed. We were heading into dangerous waters now. "So do you…think she's still alive?"

"I'd like to hope so. But…" he shrugged. "I will say this. If anyone could survive on that barren, empty planet for this long, she probably could."

I grinned. "She sounds adventurous."

"Experimental would be more like it." He laughed, like he was recalling a good memory. "One thing that was quite good for, she was an exceptionally good cook."

We both burst out laughing. "She tried to teach me a few times. I got quite good at the rice but I couldn't quite master the potatoes."

"You'll have to show me some time."

"I'd be delighted."

The next few evenings I'd stayed at the Jeckulsons for dinner, watching Dr Jeckulson in the kitchen as he told me to add some flavour in the water as it boiled before adding the rice or only put a drop of milk in the potatoes in the final stage.

I had yet to try any myself but I was confident that next week, he'd let me give some a go.

I was sat in the lounge with the land of furies, just reading about how to properly wear a snuggie with a cooler during a storm:

The trick is to wear the snuggie over the cooler and it would act as a second layer of fur to catch the water while the cooler keeps both it and yourself from getting too hot.

When I heard someone call my name.

I looked up to see both Maggie and James stood by the door. "There's someone who wants to see you." They parted.

I slammed the book closed and jumped up. "Dad!" I breathed, practically throwing myself into his arms as he lifted me up, nuzzling against his ear - so very much like mine - as he stroked my hair. "My precious daughter."

After a while of us holding eachother like that, he set me down, still stroking my hair. "Why did you go?"

For a moment I hesitated. It hadn't occurred to me till then that he might actually be angry.

"I just thought…if I could talk to him…talk to Iktheor…he said he wouldn't hurt me."

"And you believed him?"

I suddenly felt rather naive. What if he hadn't meant it?

My dad sighed. "But it all worked out alright in the end. You just…you should be more careful about those things in the future."

I smiled and nodded.

He stood up and noticed what I had been reading. "Where did you get that book?"

"Dr Jeckulson lent it me."

"Ah. I hear you've been spending a lot of time with Jeckulsons."

I shrugged. "They cheered me up. Does it bother you…" I was about to ask if it bothered him that they were felines but I stopped myself. Did he even know that they were? I didn't know until I was told.

"Not at all. It's good. Good that you're making new friends. That you're finding people that make you happy."

I forced a smile but I'd also realised something else. Maybe I wouldn't get to try some of that cooking after all. My dad was better, I had no more reason to keep going to the Jeckulsons after school.