Rose and Deshica

by Michael Ewing

  Chapter Six

  Rick received a rude awakening from an impatient Gonder. Rick looked at the alarm clock at his bedside and gave Gonder a dirty look, “I don't know how much sleep you need, when you sleep or if you even sleep at all but humans do sleep. Yes, even if we're Guardians. That also means that C.D. and Eve are asleep so waking me up right now isn't going to help you out one bit. Just let me sleep a little longer and I will take you there when the time is appropriate.”

  Gonder didn't appreciate being spoken to in the tone that Rick was using and made it known, “This is important business that should have been conducted last night. Waiting until morning could mean the difference between life and death.”

  Rick tried to keep his cool, “Listen, if anything happened to your Fairy friend I would have already heard about it. We couldn't do this last night because Eve's mom needs her rest because she has a life-threatening condition known as cancer. I know you don't have to deal with cancer in the Fairy nation but humans do. Now just calm yourself down and when my alarm clock goes off in a few hours we'll get ready to go and then leave.”

  Gonder retorted, “I'm ready now. We are waiting on you.”

  Rick rolled over and started to drift off to sleep again, “You can wait a little longer. We're leaving in the morning.”

  True to his word, once the alarm clock went off Rick go himself ready and less than twenty minutes after he had awakened they were on their way across town to the Draiman household. After much arguing and some convincing through a sudden stop, Rick was able to get Gonder to sit in the passenger seat with the seat belt over him so he wouldn't be flying about and distracting Rick during the drive. Rick was able to silence Gonder by informing him that driving took absolute concentration and that any distractions, be it Gonder's flight or his speech, could cause the vehicle they were in to lose control and collide into something where it would then collapse upon itself. Gonder didn't understand the usefulness of an invention that trapped the operator upon the instance of a mishap but Rick let him know it was a safety feature to keep the driver and passengers from being ejected and also used to deter distracted driving. Rick might not have been able to bring harm to Gonder since he was a member of the Fairy nation but that didn't mean that Rick had to be completely honest with him – especially if it meant getting the Fairy to cooperate so that he could keep Gonder safe during the trip.

  After what seemed like an eternity for Rick they made it to the Draiman household intact. Rick had thought about calling ahead to warn Chris and Eve that he was on his way but he already had enough trouble driving on icy roads and he didn't want to add to the risk by talking on the cell phone at the same time. Not only that, it would be hypocritical to carry on a conversation over the phone with his fellow Guardians after he had just warned Gonder that he couldn't talk to him and drive at the same time. If that lie was discovered then the trip would have been even worse because Gonder wouldn't have shut up the entire time. It wouldn't have been so bad if Gonder didn't act like Rick was his slave simply because he was a Guardian. Yeah, Rick did have responsibilities to the Nations as a Guardian but none of them included errand boy.

  Rick told Gonder that to keep from raising suspicion amongst the humans that were still blind to his kind that Gonder would have to exit the car through Rick's open door. If he opened the passenger door and nobody noticed anything coming out then there would be reason to question Rick's sanity. However, if someone saw Gonder then Rick would have even more on his hands to worry about than just looking like he was crazy.

  Rick walked up to the front door of the Draiman household and checked his watch. It was just a little before 7:00 in the morning and even with her lack of energy Rick knew that Rose was awake and making sure that breakfast was ready for her twin daughters and Chris before they started their day. How Rose could do it and face a near daily regimen of chemotherapy Rick didn't know but he did admire her strength.

  Rick knocked on the door and was actually surprised that Rose was the one answering. Normally she didn't have the energy in the morning to do much more than making breakfast and washing the dishes that she had used but she seemed... chipper this morning. With a smile on her face Rose greeted Rick and looked over his shoulder. Rick looked over his shoulder to see what Rose was seeing and noticed Gonder there. There was no way that she could be seeing Gonder because she would have definitely noticed something before now. There was a Troll living in her backyard and that was definitely more noticeable than a Fairy. Rick ignored the questions in the back of his mind over whether or not Rose could see Gonder or any other member of the Nations and got down to business, “Is C.D. and Eve up yet?”

  Rose waved Rick in and set up a place for him at the table. Rick politely declined, “Sorry but I'm not really going to stay here long. I just have to check up on C.D. and Eve real quickly and then be on my way. Got a few things to do and the earlier I can get started the sooner I can get done, right?”

  Rose nodded, “It looks like you have your hands full so I'll let you take care of your business. Eve is in the shower but Chris is awake. He needs to get out of bed anyway so feel free to go upstairs and wake him up.”

  Rick had been in the house before so he knew which room was Chris's and which room belonged to Eve and Dawn. The only way that Chris could move in and respect Mama Draiman's wishes that he sleep in a room separate from his girlfriend was to have her move back into a room with her twin sister. Rick had thought about asking Dawn out once or twice but couldn't bring himself to do it because she and Eve were identical and he couldn't look at her without expecting to get into an argument or just find himself getting yelled at for some trivial reason. The twins' room was off limits and would likely result in Rick being banished from the house if he ever made it way into it so he made his way to Chris's room and turned the light on, “Wakey wakey sunshine. It's time for you to get out of bed.”

  Chris sat up and rubbed his eyes, “Dude, seriously? Why are you up and here before I'm even out of bed?”

  Rick stepped aside so Chris could see Gonder. Chris slapped his forehead, “Oh man. Did the crystal cocoon thing hatch already?”

  Gonder flew into a tirade, “Deshica's cocoon has opened? There are dangers all over this house that could leave her life in peril! I cannot trust you to keep her safe here when you harbor a Troll in the backyard! What other dangers do you present for Deshica? Do you harbor cats? Do you spray poison in the air on a regular basis? Do you spend your days and nights dreaming of ways to torture guests? Deshica would have been safer in the snow where she was found.”

  Chris stifled a yawn, “Dude, you have it so wrong. This place was chosen because it was the safest one for the cocoon thingy. Now, who is Deshica?”

  Rick shot a look at Gonder, “Deshica is the Fairy that was in the cocoon, right?”

  Gonder showed his expertise in sarcasm, “No. Deshica was never in the cocoon that I'm worried about.”

  Chris laid down and pulled the covers up, “Then we have nothing to worry about here. You can go home now.”

  Rick jumped onto the bed and uncovered Chris, “Not gonna let you do this. I do have to have you wake up because I can see that the cocoon isn't in here. Gonder is here to collect it and he will go away once he has it in his possession. At least that is what he promised me. Trust me, we all want this. Just get your butt out of bed and ask Eve to get the cocoon. Okay?”

  Chris couldn't ignore Rick no matter how hard he tried. The blanket didn't provide enough padding when Rick decided to start drumming on Chris's back. Rick, being much more awake than Chris at this point, was able to easily evade Chris's arm when he lashed out. Once Rick was off the bed he tried a new tactic, grabbing the mattress and trying to shake it until Chris either woke up for the day or rolled off of the bed. Chris did wake up and surprised Rick by snatching the collar of his shirt, “If you don't stop you're going to have to ask Eve yourself.”

  Rick threw his ha
nds up in surrender and took a step back, “Okay. Just change into some clothes and we'll wait here. I think that Mama Draiman is having some side effects from her meds because she kept looking past me at something. I could almost swear that she was looking at Gonder. Do you think that medication can get rid of a person's blindness?”

  Chris changed his pajamas into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Stretching and yawning, Chris headed out into the hallway. It was a few minutes before Chris returned, wide awake now. Rick didn't have to ask because he could see the cracked cocoon in Chris's hands.