by Andi Loveall
“That’s it!” His eyes widened as if no one had ever heard him correctly before. “But some people call me Lou.”
“No one calls him Lou,” the girl countered in a charming British accent. She lifted her phone, snapping a picture. Devin blinked.
“Yeah. She does that.” Lucius/Lou nodded as if that were explanation enough.
“I’m Panky.” She stuck the cigarette back between her lips and held out the free arm.
“Devin.” He took her hand, giving her a quick look up and down. Her t-shirt displayed a very unflattering cartoon image of a certain American president.
“I like to capture the moment someone new walks into my life.” She motioned to her phone and then to Lucius/Lou. “And he likes to test them by telling them to complete a random sentence.”
“She’s got a whole book of pictures.” Walter nodded. “Pretty nifty idea if you ask me.”
“Cool. But okay so, Panky and …” He looked between them. “Do you prefer Lou?”
“I don’t prefer it, I was just saying, some people call me that.”
“Who?” Panky asked. “Who calls you Lou?”
He turned and dropped his arms to the side, staring at her. “Have you known every single person in my entire life?”
“For a while, yes. And I’ve never heard anyone call you—”
“Have you known every single person in my entire life?”
“They claim they aren’t a couple.” Walter nudged Devin and whispered. “But no one’s that nippy with someone who they haven’t let get at their gizzard.”
Devin snorted a laugh.
Lucius turned back to him, smiling, and clasping his hands together. “Don’t listen to her. She has a superiority complex.”
“So … Lucius or Lou?”
“Lucius is fine.”
They all followed Walter up the trail. It curved through a grove of large Beech trees similar to the one on the way in. Devin craned his neck, looking up at the thick, white bark twisting into the sky.
They arrived at a cluster of small cabins, the sides of the buildings green with moss. Ferns and weeds filled the surrounding area except for a small bit that had been cut along the path. Only the solar panels indicated a connection to the modern world. They hovered over the wooden structures like technological insects.
“The sun provides.” Walter lifted his hands toward the sky and smiled. “We rigged up the whole deal about five years ago.”
Walter showed him to his cabin, a simple little room where Lucius had already set up camp. They left Devin’s backpack on the empty bed and continued on, having a quick look in the worker kitchen and bathroom, the latter of which contained three toilets and two not-so-private shower stalls. There were two stainless steel sinks with a foggy mirror, and above that, a homemade sign that read: No Sex in the Showers! How much shower sex must have occurred to create the need for the sign?
“The water heater’s banjaxed,” Walter said, banging his fist against the rusty tank at the edge the building as they made their way out. “You’re not a fan of hot showers anyway right?”
“No,” Devin lied. “Not a fan.”
Panky and Lucius were waiting for them in the narrow alley between the last two cabins, and they all followed a short trail that led into an apple orchard. The sunshine pierced the gaps between the leaves, splashing the ground with patches of orange light.
“Hey!” Walter cupped his mouth with his hands. “Got someone new for you to boss around!”
Devin turned, following his gaze.
An angel stood before him in the shadows of the apple trees, a fair-haired goddess who was created by a god with the most delicate of eyes. That was the romantic way to say it. The non-romantic way to say it was Alert! Alert! Dime in a dirty tank top! He could have said it both of these ways and every way in between.
The others were all walking over to greet her while he stood frozen in place, his legs like melting sticks of butter. His throat was closing. All he could do was stare. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d noticed a hot girl since Jess. He noticed them every day. Panky was hot, Raven was hot, Nikki at the airport was hot—this wasn’t like that. It was instead a feeling that oozed upward from the center of his body, filling every square inch of him with some sort of mushy goodness and somehow letting him know that this was the reason for everything.
“Devin,” Walter said, walking her over. “Meet Cora.”
Trying to snap out of it, Devin forced himself forward, making it four successful steps before something caught his foot and sent him tumbling. He hit the ground and stayed there, wondering if there was anything he could fake that would make this less embarrassing. Narcolepsy? A trick leg? Some rare condition that caused an occasional intensified sensitivity to gravity?
Before he could decide, Lucius helped him up. “You okay, brother?”
“Yeah,” Devin said. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Aye, watch it boy.” Walter patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t go getting broke before I even get any use out of ya.”
“I’m fine,” he said, looking at Cora and smiling. “Hi, I’m Devin.”
“You’ve got to watch for roots out here,” she said, motioning to what he tripped over. Her voice was honey spiced with a Southern twang. It drifted over like a feather on the breeze, brushing against his ears.
“Oh,” Devin said, shrugging it off. “I did that on purpose. You know … for practice.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Practice for what?”
“For if I fall in the path of a train or something. So I can be like swoosh—out of the way.”
“But you didn’t swoosh,” she said, smirking. “You lay there and then got helped up.”
“Ah,” Devin retorted. “The delay you saw was merely my practicing for the disorientation one might feel after being punched in the face and falling from a two-story building onto train tracks.”
“Does that happen to you often?”
“No. I just say a lot of random stuff when I’m nervous.”
“Why are you nervous?”
He gave her a little smile and shrugged, deciding to leave it at that. When he looked around, he realized the others were all staring at him. He flushed.
“Well,” Walter said, appearing amused. “Now that you’ve met everyone, you should take a few minutes to get settled. Supper is in half a clock.”
***
There was only one way to restore equilibrium after such a ridiculous reaction to meeting a woman: unpacking things and organizing them on the shelf. He needed to create a center point of stability in a land that was far too green and arousing.
Lucius sat on his bed, playing with his dreadlocks as he watched.
“You standing strong, soldier?”
“Uh, no. Definitely not.”
“Did it just graze you, or are you totally done for?”
“What?”
“Cupid’s arrow,” Lucius said, sighing and batting his eyelashes.
Devin laughed. “Come on.”
“Nah, you’re finished. Hopeless. Smoked.” Lucius drew out the last word for a long time.
“Not sure I’m ready to be smoked right now. Maybe lightly toasted.”
Lucius chuckled. “I hear you. I’m on a break from dating myself. I’d rather find enlightenment.”
“Are the two mutually exclusive?”
“Is that a real question?”
“Touché.” Devin laughed and stacked his t-shirts on the shelf. “The last one do a number on you or what?”
Lucius made a scoffing noise, closing his eyes and muttering as if rehearsing something in his head.
“She was American,” he finally said. “Lebanese-American. Her name was Anna, and I met her on a bus in Malaysia.”
“Describe. I like to have a mental picture.”
“Long, kinda curly dark hair. Totally fit body—she was a dancer.”
“Mental picture received,” Devin said. “Go on.”
“It
happened at the perfect time. I was traveling with Panky and the fellow she was dating back then, and Anna completed our foursome. We spent a summer in Thailand and Laos, and then Panky went home, and Anna and I continued on to Vietnam. Then, her father got sick and she had to go home to Chicago. At this point, I’m head-over-heels in love, so I made plans to fly out to see her as soon as I could.”
“It’s a nineteen-hour flight,” he went on. “I get there, give her one hug, and right away, it’s like the coldest vibe. Then she tells me that I can’t stay with her because she’s been sleeping with her ex since she got back home, and she’s planning on ‘giving it another go’ with him.”
“Brutal, dude.”
“Yeah,” he said. “But luckily, Panky was living here in America, so the trip wasn’t a waste. I hopped a midnight flight to Raleigh, and I’ve been sleeping on her couch ever since.”
“So you two aren’t together, then?”
“Nah. I mean we came here together, but not in that way.”
“When did you guys get here?”
“This is day four.”
“Cool. Where you from originally?”
“Halifax, Nova Scotia.” Lucius beamed as if that in itself was some sort of accomplishment. “Panky is here for University, but she’s from Leeds.”
“How did you meet?”
“I was by myself in Singapore. I’d just arrived at a guesthouse after twelve hours on a bus, and the first thing I see is this little chick running up to take my picture. It was just one of those moments—I knew we’d be friends for life.”
“That’s it,” Devin said, shaking his head. “You’ve pinpointed it.”
“What?”
“What I want. Meeting people, traveling to places like Singapore. Just being out there, you know? Like this,” he said, motioning to their surroundings. “I never do stuff like this.”
“You should do stuff. Life is for living.”
The shelf was almost full. He dug around in his bag for the final item, which he set on the windowsill next to his bed. A tiny rock, bluish and gray.
He looked back at his empty rucksack, and it hit him then that he hadn’t brought a notebook and pen. With all of his preparations, how could he not have brought a notebook and pen?
“So, I think I’m going to be working in the kitchen,” he said, cursing himself. “Do you do that or the gardens?”
“I’m kitchen,” Lucius said. “You’ll like it. Raven is a food genius.”
“She’s a trip,” Devin said. “She told me she had a dream about me.”
“She told us, too,” Lucius said. “She’s been talking about you for days now.”
Devin laughed. “Really?”
“Yeah. She’s like that. The first day we got here, she gave me all these crystals because they were ‘always meant for me.’ She told Panky that in a past life, she was a crocodile. And don’t even get me started on the weirdness of Walter. Did he tell you about the study?”
“About the knocking three times?”
“Yeah. And did you know he locks the door when he’s not in there?”
“Why would you lock a door inside your own house?”
“Good question,” Lucius said, raising an eyebrow.
***
As a kid, he always used to climb out his window and watch the sunset from the roof. Sometimes he wrote by the light of the streetlamp, but most of the time he just sat there, looking at the cooling sky. It fascinated him to see the light slipping away.
It was like that now, walking down the trail with Lucius. The distant treetops were like black paint against a glowing horizon. Cotton candy clouds dotted the sky, sopping up the last of the sun.
“There you are!” Raven called to them. “I hope you’re ready for dinner!”
The others were waiting at the picnic table, a feast sitting before them. The torches were lit, creating an inviting circle of light. Raven led him and Lucius to their seats before introducing all of the food.
“This is my famous tomato soup,” she said, pointing. “Then we have some rice and beans over there. These are soft-boiled eggs, and this is a raw vegan dish—squash with tomato garlic sauce. Do you believe in garlic?”
“Uh,” Devin said. “Yes. I think so.”
“Good, because I use a lot of it. This here is the salad. We have a salad every night, and I throw different things in. This one has sprouted lentils, olives, tomatoes, dandelion greens, thyme, and dill. Your choice of dressing.”
His stomach was rumbling. Yes, he was ready for dinner.
He snuck glances at Cora while they passed the food around. She had changed from the dirty tank top into a clean one and combed her hair into a pretty braid. He noted the way she fixed her plate, making one giant salad by dumping everything directly on top of the lettuce, including the rice and even the soup.
His own plate was neat and orderly. The rice and squash had their own section with the salad and eggs on the side. The soup was in its own separate bowl where it belonged. He couldn’t stand to have certain foods touching other foods on his plate, something that always used to drive his mother crazy. “It’s all going to the same place,” she had insisted. He didn’t buy it.
When the chaos of serving died down, the chatter flying in different directions according to what was being passed and to whom, morphed into conversation. Devin remained quiet. He always thought it was better to listen instead of talk when around new people, which was good, because he was busy stuffing his face. The salad was refreshing. The egg yolks were warm and runny, and the whites seasoned with various spices. The squash was smothered with garlic, but he loved the intensity, and the rich, hearty flavor of the soup meshed with it well. The rice and beans were better than the stuff they served at his favorite Mexican place back home.
“So, Devin’s from California,” Raven said. “Isn’t that amazing?”
Everyone quieted, turning and looking at him. He held up a finger as he chewed.
“I don’t know if it’s amazing,” he said when he swallowed. “But— ”
“I’m from California too,” Cora said.
“Really? I thought you were a local. You’ve got that southern drawl.”
“She’s a Georgia peach, born and raised,” Raven said. “First twelve years of her life.”
“What’s your town?” Cora asked him.
“You wouldn’t know it if I told you,” he said. “It’s about an hour outside of Sacramento.”
“Ah,” she said. “I went back and forth between Palm Springs and Burbank. Mama claimed Palm Springs in the divorce.”
“So what brings you all this way, then?” Panky interjected.
He turned to look at her. “If you want to know the truth, I’m just here by random chance.”
“You didn’t come here to learn about food?”
“Not intentionally.” He pointed at his plate with his fork. “But I want to. It’s very good.”
“It’s fate.” Cora’s voice was barely above a whisper. “You were meant to come here.”
“Funny you say that,” he said, smiling at her. “I’ve been thinking about fate a lot lately.”
“But wait,” Panky said. “Were you not a vegetarian before this?”
“Not really, no.”
Lucius grinned at him. “Are you ever in for a culture shock.”
“That’s okay. I don’t think I had a culture to begin with.”
“But you believe in animal rights,” Cora said.
“Well, yeah.” He blinked, unable to tell if it were a question or a statement. “Who doesn’t?”
“Plenty of people,” Panky said. “And there’s a difference between believing in animal rights and believing it’s wrong to eat them. Do you believe it’s wrong to eat animals Devin?”
“ … I guess it depends on your perspective.”
“If you were knee high in slaughterhouse slosh with the terrified screams of tortured cattle ringing in your ears, I doubt you’d think there was any other perspecti
ve—”
“Enough,” Raven scolded. “Not at the dinner table.”
Lucius nudged Devin with his elbow. “Don’t mind her. We only keep her around so we can mock her for being British.”
“Right then.” Panky narrowed her eyes. “As if you don’t believe the same.”
“Right then,” Lucius mocked in a ridiculous accent. “See what I mean? Wasn’t that so British? Don’t you just want to take her out for tea and crumpets?”
Panky glared at him and then looked back at Devin, eyes challenging.
“Listen,” Devin said, holding his hands up. “I agree. If we can be more kind, we should be. And I admire your passion. Are you majoring in veganism or something?”
Her face lit up. “Sustainable business development.”
“Which is her second degree,” Lucius said. “She’s already got a masters in photography and digital media.”
“Yes, well—”
“You’re a genius.” Lucius pointed his fork at her. “Don’t try and deny it.”
She just smiled. Devin glanced at Cora, who was watching her with an unamused look on her face. Lucius went on to explain that Panky was going to start a consulting firm that helped startups build a green reputation by adopting good environmental practices from day one. She also ran a photography blog.
“That way,” she said. “I can leave plenty of memories in case we destroy all of the world’s resources and end up generating our own oxygen with machines.”
“You think there’ll be oxygen machines?” Devin said. “At least you’re optimistic.”
It made everyone laugh. He grinned.
“You know Devin,” Raven said. “Cora is starting school soon too. Tell him about it, honey.”
Cora looked at her funny. Raven nodded sweetly, like a mother trying to coax a terrified kid out onto stage to perform.
“There’s not much to tell,” Cora said. “It’s my first year. I’m taking English and Speech and things like that. Getting all my general credits.”
“What are you majoring in?” Devin asked.
“I’ve been thinking about agriculture. I like the simplicity. You give the seed what it needs; it grows. You grow enough tomatoes, the whole town gets sauce.”