by Robin Roseau
Audra pointed at the screen. "Skye! There's something crawling on you!"
"I can't tell where you're pointing, Squirt, but that's either Posey or Violet."
"What?"
I turned to Posey and bent my head to kiss the tip of her tentacle. "This one is Posey's." Then I turned and kissed Violet's. "And Violet's, of course."
"That's it?" Audra asked. "Those little things?"
"Not exactly, Audra," I said. "That's just the tip."
Mom's eyes grew wide, and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw both Bluebell and Azalea were letting themselves be fully shown. Then Posey and Violet released their far sides, although the tentacles closest to me stayed wrapped around me.
"How many do they have?" Audra asked.
"Four," I answered.
"I can't really see. Can one of you show me a closer look?"
Violet moved one of her tentacles in front of the camera. "Is that in focus?"
"Yes," said Audra. "Are those suction cups?"
"Yes."
"Just like an octopus!"
"Almost every human who sees them says the same thing," Bluebell said. "To add to the similarity, we have four tentacles, two arms, and two legs."
"Eight," Audra said. "Like an octopus!"
"Quite so," Bluebell agreed.
"That is so cool!" Audra said again. Violet dropped her tentacle. "I bet Catseye give the best hugs."
"You don't know the half of it," I said. "And you're right." Then I squirmed. "Posey! Stop that."
"What's she doing?"
"She's tickling me," I said. "Posey!"
"I'm not doing it!" Posey complained. "I think you're not keeping very close track of whose tentacle is where."
From the other side, Violet snickered. But she wrapped her tentacle a little further around me and stopped tickling.
"Mom," I said. "How are you doing?"
"Fine," she said, but the word was tight. I didn't think she was completely fine, but she was a lot closer to fine than I had feared, so I let it go.
We talked a few more minutes about the physiology, but then Bluebell said, "So, we should discuss winter break. Skye, I asked you what you would prefer we do."
"I want to spend time with the people I love," I said. "Squirt, what do you want to do?"
"Can I hear the choices again?"
Bluebell recited them, and we skiing came up, my sister showed her first real reaction. She turned to Mom. "Can I ski?"
"You've never been."
"Mom." She bumped Mom with a shoulder. "I mean the OI."
Mom looked at the screen. "Do you understand what she asked?"
"Yes," said Bluebell. "Audra, I checked your records. When the doctors cured you, they didn't just cure you. They made your bones very strong. They aren't made out of metal, so don't think you're Wolverine from X-Men-"
"You know about X-Men?"
"I do. But if you are talking about your bones, yes, you can ski. You can still break a bone, but it is at least as hard as for another human, and harder that most, at least amongst those your size."
Audra turned to Mom. "I could go skiing. Mom, they're offering to take me skiing, and she said my bones are strong enough." Audra began crying.
No one said anything for a minute or so, although Mom tried to soothe Audra. Then I said quite simply, "So, who wants to go skiing?" I raised my hand.
Slowly, more hands went up. Well, Audra's shot into the air. Then Posey and Violet's, and then Violet nudged me and looked over her shoulder. Both Bluebell and Azalea had their arms in their air. Then Violet and Posey each raised two of their tentacles, too.
I looked back at the screen. "Mom?"
"Professor Beamer," Mom said formally, "Are you sure?"
"I haven't talked to Audra's doctors," Bluebell said. "But we keep exceedingly careful records."
"Can you talk to them?" she asked. "Please?"
"I will, but let me add another suggestion."
"All right," Mom said slowly.
"I think perhaps you could come here a few days early. You could stay in our household, or if that's a little too cozy, I can make other arrangements."
"Do you have room?"
"Yes," Bluebell said. "My daughters insist on slumber parties with your daughter, so both their rooms will be free."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Posey said. "Audra, you can have my room!"
"Really?"
"Really," Posey said.
"We can take Audra to the clinic here and give her a fresh checkup," Bluebell said.
"You're not talking about Testing her!"
"Just a medical exam," Bluebell said.
"You would do that?"
"Of course," Bluebell said.
"Thank you," Mom whispered. And then she raised her hand.
Audra saw and started screaming, "I get to go skiing! I get to go skiing!"
We ended the call another minute or two later. Everyone was quiet for a minute, but Posey and Violet both had their heads on my shoulder. Then Posey lifted hers and used a tentacle to turn me to her. "I don't understand."
"What part?"
"Why did Audra cry?"
I explained about the OI.
"I understand that, but she was cured, what? Nine years ago?"
"Yeah," I said. "But we all developed habits long before then. No bumping Audra. No letting her fall down. No letting her get hurt. Any of those might be a bump for one of us but could have led to her dying."
"But she was cured."
"Habits are habits. She let loose, a little, but for her, letting loose was running. And she's clumsy. She didn't get to run as a little girl. I'm not very athletic, but she's even less athletic." I looked over my shoulder. "She may not get off the bunny hill."
"Then she doesn't leave the bunny hill, and we'll all take turns skiing with her," Bluebell said. "I think she's delightful and will enjoy my time with her."
I turned back to Posey. "At another time, she might not have turned as emotional. But we threw a lot at her, and it was one more revelation. Imagine thinking you can never do anything at all, then suddenly realize you could do about the last thing you ever dreamed would be possible."
"Were those sad tears?"
"They were complicated tears," I said. "It was an overwhelming amount of emotion, not any one emotion."
"Like your tears were," Violet said from my other side.
"Yes. Do you understand, Posey?"
"I think so," she said. She pulled more tightly against me.
Then I swore.
"What?" Bluebell asked.
"We have to change everything. Why didn't I think of this?"
"What?"
"I promised Jasmine that I'd visit her at each break."
"Ah," said Bluebell. "Well, Jasmine Brighteyes is going to be in New York next week. I'll see if she'll come visit. I'll take care of this concern, Skye. Leave it to me."
"Thank you, Bluebell."
* * * *
I left earlier than I usually did. Bluebell found me and said quietly, "Go say goodbye to my daughters. I'm returning you to school."
"It's two hours in the car," I said. "We need a different plan. You can't keep going back and forth like this."
"You're right, which is why we're taking the jumper."
I got hugs from everyone, with Violet's the longest. Then Bluebell pulled me away. Ten minutes later, we were in the air.
"You wanted to talk to me."
"I always want to talk to you, Skye," she said.
"You wanted to talk to me away from Violet."
"I wanted to be sure you're all right."
"I am so completely overwhelmed by everything, I don't know what to think. But it's a good overwhelming."
"It's near the end of the term," she pointed out. "What are you going to do to get your head back onto your studies?"
I hadn't thought about that. "Do you have suggestions?"
"Start with telling me what's overwhelming."
"I've never b
een on a date before," I said. "My first date ever was with a space alien who took me in a space ship to a restaurant filled with other aliens. We then infiltrated the human world again and watched a play while the people around us had no idea who was sitting amongst them."
She laughed. "All right. Keep going."
"I'm not sure I should tell you this part."
"Trust me, you should."
"We can't keep our hands off each other," I said. "Or tentacles."
"Keep going."
"I'm falling for her."
"Good. What else?"
"Mom. She was a little troubled by the tentacles, but only a little. And it was completely erased when you offered the medical exam. Was that why you did it?"
"Of course not, but if it makes things easier in general, that's a nice side effect."
"Now, put all that on top of my first term at school, and everything you've been doing for me. And now I'm in a space ship again. And then you're going to take us to a private ski resort, and my sister is going to ski."
"Ah."
"So yeah, it's a little emotionally overwhelming."
"None of it is bad. These are all good things, each one."
"Yes," I said. "Still overwhelming."
"I can understand," she replied.
"And then, you've been treating me almost like a daughter from the moment I stepped into your house, and don't think I haven't recognized it or wonder whether I appreciate it. Violet told me you've renamed the guest room."
"So you have three mothers, not one."
"You don't deny it."
"Not at all."
"Thank you," I whispered. "I'll be fine. I'll get a little exercise first, then I'll shower and be able to study." I smiled. "One of my classes is easy."
She laughed. "I will be very vexed if you relax those studies. You will become fluent. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Professor."
"I'm going to add something else to overwhelm you a little further."
"Oh?"
"I want you to stay with us next summer."
"I wish I could."
"That sounds like you just said 'no'."
"I'll have to go home and work."
"Why?"
"Because my scholarship doesn't include spending money."
"Is that your only reason?"
"Well, I want to see Mom and Audra, too, but I bet you have an answer to that."
"You're right. I do. And I have an answer to the first one, too."
"You're not giving me money."
"How about a job?"
I grew still. "Just like that? You can offer me a job? Is it a real job?"
"Of course it would be a real job."
"Doing what?"
"I have no idea," she said. "But do you think with six months to plan, between Azalea and me, we can't come up with a real job for you?"
"I don't know if I want to work at the Testing Center."
"I wouldn't necessarily have you there, but please explain why."
"Because I don't think you should lie about what Testing is about. I think you should take volunteers."
"So do I."
"What?'
"Every Catseye agrees with you, as do several other of the species. But we're outvoted on it."
"Oh."
"But for now, none of the humans who work at the Testing Center know what Testing is really about. You'd give it away, even if it wasn't intentionally so."
"All right," I said quietly. "A real job."
"A real job."
"We have to talk to Jasmine about it."
"She isn't going to have a problem with it, but I'll talk to her when I invite her to stay for us. If you can, get ahead of your studies this week in case you need to adjust later in the week."
"I will. All right. I'd love to stay, as long as we can resolve the issues."
"Good." She reached over with a tentacle and squeezed my arm.
Vassal
Violet and I emailed heavily, but after a two-hour phone call Monday night, she said, "We can't talk on the phone anymore."
"Why not?"
"This was two hours you needed to study."
"Oh." I sighed.
"School first. We all agree, Skye."
"School first," I said.
And so we emailed heavily, but she also managed that time for us, which was frustrating, but probably necessary.
But Bluebell called me on Tuesday. "One of us will pick you up Friday night. You will stay until Sunday. Bring your books."
"All right. Jasmine will be there?"
"Yes."
"It will be nice to see her."
I also received an email from Jasmine telling me the plans. I wrote back and expressed pleasure.
Friday afternoon, Posey called. "There's a car in your dormitory parking lot. It is keyed to your driver's license. Do you know how to open it?"
"I think so."
"How soon can you leave?"
"If I bring everything with me, whenever you want. If I need to be dressed for dinner, then I'd rather wait until later. I don't like dressing like that here. I get too much shit."
"Because you're dating a Catseye?"
"No one knows that. It's the amount of skin I show. The guys try to hit on me. It's gross."
She grew quiet. "Really?" she finally asked.
"Yeah."
"Half hour," she said. "However you're dressed. You can change shirts on the way here, and you can change for dinner later."
"Okay."
"Call me when you're in the car," she said. "Or if you have trouble opening it, and I can open it remotely."
"Thank you, Posey."
And so, a half hour later, with a garment bag and a backpack, I headed downstairs. I found the car, struggled to hold everything while I opened it, but I managed to get it open. Everything went in, and I climbed into the front seat.
Then I sat there, smiling. I was in the driver's seat of a space alien car. I called Posey.
"This is kind of cool," I said. "Did you know I'm sitting in the driver's seat?"
"Is everything stowed?"
"Back seat. Is that fine?"
"Are you buckled?"
"Not yet. Just a second." I did the buckle. "Okay."
Ten seconds later, the car was moving.
"Oh, that's not fair," I said. "I don't get to drive!"
She laughed into my ear.
"Is this taking me all the way to Boston? I could go take a nap in the back if I can't drive."
She laughed again. "No. Just the local airport. I'm five minutes out. We'll arrive about the same time."
In reality, I arrived first, but I sat in the car until her jumper came to a stop. I climbed from the car, collected my things, and the ramp was down when I reached it. Posey was waiting and took everything from me, then pulled me into a hug.
"Damn it. What are you wearing?"
I laughed and stripped the tee-shirt from my head. I'd already planned on it and was wearing a camisole underneath.
"Much better," she said, wrapping around me. She held me for a minute or two before releasing me. I stuffed the tee shirt into the backpack and pulled out the backless blouse I intended to wear. We hung up my coat and garment bag, stowed everything else, and then she settled me in.
She let me sit up front, although the jumper still flew itself.
"Why are you getting me?"
"The Moms are working, and if Violet retrieved you, you'd be mussed."
I laughed. It was true.
"When does Jasmine arrive?"
"Whenever Azalea gets home," Posey said. "They're traveling together. Probably shortly before dinner."
"I can't believe what your family is doing for me."
"You're family now, too, Skye," she said. "Moms adopted you."
"Your mom adopted me because she was matchmaking."
"That's not true. Oh, they're both tickled pink you and Violet are getting along as well as you are, but neither of you has dated before. It
might not work. They still would have adopted you. How are your classes?"
"Could we talk about chemistry later?"
"Of course."
"I'm not any closer to deciding what I want to do for a major."
"Mom wants you to get a business degree."
"Well, do you remember what I said last weekend about letting my mother choose my friends?" She laughed. "Do you think I'm going to let your mother choose my major?" She laughed again.
"But you'll give her every opportunity to convince you, right?"
"Why does she want me to get a business degree?"
"Because she wants to hire you."
"She barely knew me before she began pushing this at me. American universities turn out about a half million business graduates a year."
"How many of them will speak fluent Catseye?"
"There must be some."
"I checked. There are, at most, forty humans who speak fluent Catseye. That includes six of the fifteen who are mated to one of us. I think the actual number is half that, with the other half barely able to ask directions. There is a similar number enrolled in classes similar to the one my mother teaches, but if a handful become fluent, I'll be surprised."
"Wait," I said. "There are nine mated to Catseye who haven't bothered to learn their mate's language?"
"Why does that surprise you? It's not any different than if someone marries a recent immigrant. Humans don't necessarily learn the language of their mates. One has to learn the language the other speaks, but every Catseye in human space speaks English, and most of us speak, on average, a half dozen human languages."
"That's more than most humans learn."
"We're exceedingly good at learning languages. It's far easier for us than it is for you."
"Because you're smarter?"
"Well, first, because we have technology you don't have. And second, it's a species skill like being ticklish is a human skill."
I laughed. "Right. Gotcha."
"I wish I were ticklish."
"Would you give up being able to learn languages so easily?"
"Of course not. But it does look like fun."
"You and Violet seem to enjoy doing the tickling."
"We live vicariously through you."
"Uh huh," I said. "That must be it."
"There's something else you need to think about."
"Oh?"
"Your sister."
"Yes?"
"Slumber parties."
"Oh."