by Rena Marks
“Hi, baby-boy,” Marcie said, waving from the screen.
Bajoc headed for the wash closet, with purple legs still locked around his neck. But this time a tiny hand petted his head.
“Sowwy,” Titi mumbled.
“It is okay, small one. But I need you to sit in the tub so you’ll smell fresh and clean for your parental units.”
Finally, she allowed herself to be pulled from his neck. He wanted to sigh with relief but was afraid to call too much attention to it. He filled the tub with a scant two inches of water, and stripped her down. He plopped her inside. He listened to her splash while he rinsed the leggings in the sink. He hung them to dry and removed his shirt for a similar washing.
A knock sounded on the door. He opened it to find Reese squirming down Dronan’s arms.
“Me, too?” His son asked, eyes alight on the tub. He was already stripping, yanking a small arm through his sleeve. Bajoc helped him and lifted him into the tub with Titi, who handed him a sponge.
“I brought you a shirt,” Dronan said. “I will go get a couple more for these two to wear until the clothing dries.”
“Did you end transmissions?”
“Yes. They will wait for our return to have what Marcie calls the wedding of the century.”
“Who is getting married?”
“The Supreme Commander and Pariah Pritchard.”
Bajoc couldn’t help but shudder.
“Eww,” both kids said from the tub.
“Dad. Her cheese slipped off her cracker a while ago,” Reese said.
Titi was nodding. “Cheeese. Cheeese and kwacker.”
“Where did you learn such a phrase?” Bajoc asked, appalled.
“Cluxcli.”
Both sets of purple eyes stared up at him.
“What else did you learn?”
“She’s not the brightest bulb in the box.” Reese looked at Titi, a question in his eyes.
“Tool?”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Titi. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
“Lights!” Titi hollered.
“The lights are on, but no one’s home.”
“We mustn’t say these out loud,” he said to the droplings. “The Supreme Commander loves his Madonna Quaker. And since he is in charge of promotions and demotions, we must smile and tell them they’re both pretty. They look lovely together. Understood?”
“Yup.”
“Yup.”
“Hey,” he said, peering closely at their foreheads. “Where did your furry caterpillars go?”
Titi held up her hands. “All gone, Uncle Daddy.”
“But where?”
Reese shrugged.
Bajoc wondered how long the unibrows would last on the Puritans. Hopefully long enough for the four skinny ones to get home.
Chapter Fourteen
The children clamored down the ship’s ramp, into the outstretched arms of their parental units. There was sobbing and hysterics from the mates…and Kamau.
Everyone but Anita rolled their eyes at his antics.
“Are you all right?” Marcie asked Reese, moving his arms and legs to see if anything was broken. “What of the rash?”
“Uh, that’s another thing,” Bajoc said. “Let’s show your mum.”
Reese lifted his arms and Bajoc pulled the shirt from his body. The rash had developed a scab outlining it, and before their eyes, Reese grunted and the “rash” pulled from his body. The hardened outline of wings encased delicate, sheer skin from his back. The skin was dotted with flecks of glittery purple.
“Wings?” Marcie gasped.
Bajoc nodded. “It appears the wings are stronger with the youth of the children. So while Tomlak can barely lift his from his back, Titi…”
At the sound of her name, she looked behind her and wriggled down from Tristan’s arms. She pulled off her own shirt. “Ta-da!”
Her wings pulled much easier from her back and actually grew when stretched away from her. She fluttered them back and forth and had slight lift off. Her small feet wiggled an inch from the ground.
Lara gasped.
“Thankfully, that’s all they’re strong enough to do,” Bajoc said. “Good thing she has a portly figure.”
“She’s built stocky,” Tristan said. “Deep muscle tone. Like a weight-lifter.”
Bajoc grinned at Marcie when her eyes widened. There was nothing muscular about Titi. Tristan fantasized when it came to his daughter.
“Kriekjan said their wings would appear in adulthood,” Lara said. “What caused this?”
“Perhaps the cell reactivator changed their composition,” Tristan said, reaching out to settle Titi on the ground with a hand on her shoulder.
“Aww,” she said, her feet touching the ground. Her wings stopped fluttering and Tristan reached out to touch the whisper-thin skin.
“It’s so delicate. I don’t think they’re mature at all. We’ll have to keep an eye on them. Titi, it is important not to let them loose from your body. I don’t want them to get damaged in any way. We don’t know if they will ever heal.”
She nodded, her eyes round. She looked around for Tomlak. Her eyes settled on him, and she ran to him, her arms wrapping around his waist. He hugged her back, and from their angle, they watched as her wings morphed back to the rash on her body.
“Tomlak, you’ll be the one who will test his every day, okay?” Tristan asked. “Let us know if they get stronger or if it gets easier to pull them from your body.”
The little boy nodded, rubbing Titi’s shoulders. “So far it doesn’t seem like it’s easier. I don’t know why it’s so easy for the little ones, but mine are stiff and don’t move.”
“Maybe the cell reactivator dose was equal across the board, but more powerful for the smaller children?” Tristan asked Bajoc.
“Not if it was distributed by weight.” Bajoc looked at Titi’s small form. If they were going by weight, she probably weighed as much as Tomlak. “Body-builder or not, she’s solid as a rock.”
Tomlak giggled, and so did Titi.
“He means you, Titi.”
“Oh.” She clasped both hands to her cheeks and rounded her tiny bow mouth.
“Why don’t we all hang out together tonight? Have a barbecue outside? The children can share their stories of what happened?” Lara asked.
“Good idea,” Tristan agreed. “Bajoc and I will set up chairs. Dronan, Chastien, go to the replicator and round up something. Aello, Kamau, set up the fire pit.”
The chairs were gathered from the docked ship.
“Lara and I will go get the Puritans,” his beautiful Marcie said. “Commander Kriekjan left them here to make wedding plans. They’re staying in the toddler room at the school. Kriekjan says we’re going to erect a few more houses when he returns, though many of the wedding guests will stay on their docked ships.”
“We’re to have guests?” Bajoc asked. Rats. He wanted to keep their planet private.
Marcie nodded, as she and Lara headed off with the baby slings on. “He’s hoping the Puritans will meet someone,” she said over her shoulder.
“That is a good thing,” Tristan muttered to him. “I would not be disappointed if they took up with the Quaker shorties, but apparently, your mate promised them they would not have to during the rescue.”
“Marcie was drunk,” Bajoc defended.
Tristan snorted.
They finished setting up the chairs just as Marcie and Lara arrived with the simpering females. He sat down in a chair, pulling Marcie and Lily down onto his lap.
One of the vapid virgins sighed as she stared at his family. It creeped him out, and he angled Marcie to block the view of that one.
“What are they wearing?” he asked his mate. It looked like the same frothy concoction from the ball, except this time, she had layers of skirt covering her face like Pariah did during her wedding.
“They like the ball dresses, so they’ve redone a few outfits. They have pants made out of the skirts and those vei
ls that they claim are to block the bugs.”
“We have no bugs.”
“They’ve assured us that some will find their way as more and more people arrive on the planet. That some bugs will make their way onto their ships.”
“That is what scanners, decompressers, and filters are for,” Bajoc said.
“Pretty sure they wanted an excuse to wear a veil,” Marcie whispered. “They think it’s romantic. They wore their ball dresses for three days straight after you left. Be glad you missed that. The skirts were so dirty from tumbling around. I think Virginia’s had spots of blood from Wilma’s nose on hers.”
Just then, Titi wandered up, pulling a frowning Reese behind her. She wore a curly corkscrew of a tail and a snout on her nose that attached behind her purple ears. Apparently, she’d uncovered the trunk of tails and supplies he’d kept in his man-shed, as Marcie called it. Titi walked up to the buttery Puritan and parted the see-through coverings over her face like they were curtains.
“Da lights are on, but no one’s hooome,” she said clearly.
Drat it. He had allowed the giggling droplings to play the game of tossing the phrases back and forth on the ship, but they swore they would no longer use them when they’d all landed.
He cleared his throat. “Titi.”
“Oh, yeah. Sowwy.”
She pulled Reese by the hand, yanking him back to the other children.
“I told you,” Reese said as she pulled him away. “You never have good ideas. Never!”
“They look like Kermit and Miss Piggy,” Marcie said to Lara. “Where did she get that adorable pink tail?”
“I have no idea where she comes up with half this stuff. But I’ll be glad when Pariah and Kriekjan go off on their own.”
Oh, good. Lara assumed it was Kriekjan leaving presents for the dropling. Bajoc felt his smile widen. He was a good one to take the fall. He’d be off after the wedding in a few days anyway.
“So tell us everything,” Tristan said.
“I contacted the President of Herbasnuttia, who claimed that Wilma was not one of theirs. That she was a demented Quaker. He had no idea where the purple droplings had come from, so he contacted the zoo planet Frakazar. We had to turn around and pick them up there. The good news is the droplings were not frightened at all since they had been to the zoo. Just never on the inside of the bars.”
“They were on the inside?” Tristan’s voice growled.
“They assured us it was to keep them safe. Especially Titi, who gets into stuff a lot.”
From across the way, Bajoc frowned at her. She gulped and began digging in the chest of stuff to dress up Reese.
“But look at what they were taught. Tomlak? Trince.” He called out.
Both little warriors came running up.
“Can you show everyone what you learned?”
Eyes wide, they nodded and stood in the center of the cleared area where the chairs formed a circle. Both warriors stood up straight, sucked air into their small bellies and opened their mouths.
“Hey. Did you happen to see, the most beautiful girl in the world?” Tomlak sang. “And if you did, was she crying?”
“Crying? Crying…” Trince echoed, his high voice ending on a tragic note.
“Waah,” Titi bellowed, entering their circle on her tiptoes with bits of fluff attached to her foot to mimic fancy shoes.
“Titi. This isn’t your part yet,” Trince said, steering her off their center-stage.
Tomlak cleared his throat and continued on. “Tell her I’m sorry, sorry.”
Trince smacked his knees suddenly, and stomped his feet. “Tell her I NEED my baby!” he howled at the top of his lungs.
Tomlak took over. “Oh. Won’t you tell her? That I loooove her.”
From behind them, Titi sang. “I looove yooou.”
Reese hushed her. “Not yet.”
“She sings all our parts,” Eelia complained.
Just then, she and Majorium marched into the circle. Each little girl had a fluffy, feathery tail wrapped over their shoulders and through their arms like a fancy wrap. They also stood on their tiptoes as if they wore fancy shoes.
“Oh! Did you happen to see, the most beautiful girl, in the world?” Tomlak sang.
Both little girls flitted around, flinging their wraps like models on a runway.
“She walked out on me,” Trince howled.
“Tell her I love her,” Tomlak countered.
“Tell her I need my baby,” Trince yelled again, sinking to one knee.
It startled Lily, who began to howl in Marcie’s arms. Marcie plugged her with a boob in her mouth.
Tomlak and Trince bowed at the waist and quickly walked backward, leaving Eelia and Marjorium in the circle. Eelia began smacking her hip repeatedly, to a beat that was in her own head.
“I might have been born just plain white trash, but Fancy was my name,” Eelia screeched.
“Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down,” Marjorium sang.
“They’re not bad,” Tristan nudged him.
“I’m enjoying this,” Bajoc said, tapping his foot. The mates seemed a little stunned, many with their mouths hanging open. It was a good thing they did not have bugs on the planet.
Titi marched on stage. “Loord, forgive me, doooo…”
Eelia and Marjorium looked at each other and decided to ignore the dropling.
Marjorium dropped to one knee, and raised a fist to the heavens. “Lord, forgive me for what I do! But if you won’t help us, it’s up to you,” she said, turning to point to Eelia.
Titi dropped to a knee also, mimicking Marjorium with a fist raised.
“Now don’t let me down, your mama’s gonna help you uptown,” Marjorium finished.
“This ain’t your mama’s broken heart,” Titi yelled. “Hide your crazy, acting like a lady, this ain’t your mama’s broken heart!”
Eelia and Marjorium sighed, and walked away.
“Fix yo makeup girls!” Titi hollered after them. “Hide yo crazy and acting like a lady!” She began to dance, slapping her pudgy backside. She yanked her shirt over her head. Her wings released and fluttered uncontrollably.
Tristan appeared too bemused to remind her not to extend them.
“I raise ya better. Gotta keep it too-gether forever! Powder yo nose. Paint yo toes. Cross yo eyes and legs and keeeeep….theeeem…CLOSED.” She ended with a flourish, panting and half naked since she’d ripped her shirt off.
“Umm,” Lara’s voice sounded strangled. “Where did you learn that?” she asked Titi, pulling her close and smoothing her wings back down.
“Clucks-sky.”
“They taught us lots of routines,” Tarek said. He and Rantik stood together.
“Go ahead, Ranty,” Chastian said. “Show us yours.”
“Dowry, of a madman,” he sang mournfully. “Screaming at the widow. Watch me die another day. Hopeless sanitation. Endless price I have to pay. Don’t you know it’s beyond me? There’s no joy. Ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”
Titi joined in. “La, da, dee pages! Can…we…see? La, da, dee cages. Let…me…pee.”
Not to be undone, Rantik sang louder.
“La da. La da deed ah. La da deed ah.”
“Uh, that’s a good one,” Chastien said, scratching his head. He looked like he regretted asking.
“He’s got a bow but no arrows,” Titi said to Reese. It was definitely snide.
Bajoc hushed her. “No phrases.”
“Oh, yeah,” Titi said.
He felt his cheeks flush when Lara looked his way.
“I can see clearly now, Lorraine is gone,” Titi belted out. “I can see all barnacles in my waay—”
Tarek cut in. “I remove umbilicals. You sexy thing. Sexy thing now.”
Titi narrowed her eyes. “You’re the wobbly one. Yoohoohoo, honey. The wobbly one! Yoo hoo hoo, the one I need! Indeed.”
“I want to hold your ham. I want to hold your ham,” Reese sang. “Oh please. Sa
y to me. You’ll let me be your man. And please. Say to me. You’ll let me hold your…haaam.” He dropped to his knees like playing air guitar as he screeched out the last word.
“Where did you learn these?” Marcie asked the droplings.
“Cluxcli and Blearsh taught us all of them. Everything.” With that, the young ones wandered off to play.
“Why would they teach them song clips?” Lara asked Marcie.
His mate shrugged and switched Lily to the other side. Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, bemused over what they’d just watched.
“We were watching some of those old movies you had,” Sister Molli said to his Marcie. “The bellydancer outfits are divine! Do you suppose we might make something like that for our bridesmaid’s dresses?”
“I don’t see why not.” To his ears, his mate’s voice sounded strangled. Perhaps Lily was gnawing too hard.
“I’m going to wear my veil,” Sister Joy announced.
“As long as it’s not white,” Lara said. “White’s reserved for the bride.”
“I luuurve these bright colors,” Beatrice said. “We simply can’t get enough of them. Why, I made three outfits out of that ball dress. We replicated it first, of course. Couldn’t let that fantabulous style go to waste. And, of course, we had to have duplicates in every color…”
From behind him, Bajoc heard Reese mutter, “Ask her the time, and she’ll tell you how to build the clock.”
He shooed the two away with his hand fluttering behind the back of the chair.
“Aww,” Titi said.
He pointed firmly away from the adults, and listened for their tiny footsteps wandering away.
“Please, go on.” Bajoc smiled, but from the wide-eyed look Miss Molli gave him, it must have come out as more of a snarl.
“We’d like to stay,” Molli announced. “I feel we’ve outgrown Quakestrarian. As a matter of fact, we’ve done a lot of growing up these last few days since the kidnapping and everything. We’ve worn a lot of clothes, learned to dance, watched countless movies representing other cultures. I’d like to think we can be an asset to your community. We think we can study to be nurses.”