Chapter 1 #3
“Your father and I have very different beliefs about how people should live their lives, and after thirty-three years of marriage, I’d had enough of his judgments.
I am entitled to live my life the way I want to, and, for the first time in decades, I don’t have to worry about what he’ll think.
” She turned and smiled at me, patting my hand on the gear shift.
“Neither of us do. We can be free to chase our own dreams. Isn’t that what this move is all about for you? ”
My mom always got me. I was grateful to have her by my side.
“I can’t thank you enough for believing in me.”
“Always,” she whispered. “Now, please tell me I’m not going to have to deal with too much nature.”
“Of course not,” I said, hoping I wasn’t misleading her. “We’re not going to be in the wilderness. It’s not the jungle or the outback. And if for some reason we come across too much nature, we’ll deal with it, right?”
“Riiiiight,” she said, sounding less sure.
“That is too much nature, Francis.”
I’d just finished showing Mom around the main house, and we were standing on the back patio staring in awe across the grassy field separating my property from the neighbor’s as a giant dinosaur-looking creature munched its way across the grass.
It was coming toward us at… well, not at a breakneck speed, but faster than I wanted anything that big coming at me.
“What is that?” I breathed.
“I think that’s a giant tortoise. Do you remember when I took you and your cousins to the Oakland Zoo? They had them there.”
“Mom, the only thing I remember about the zoo was getting sick because I ate all of my dino nuggets, all of Max’s fries, and all of Derek’s potato chips. Then you took us on the gondolas, I cried, and I upchucked my lunch into the trees above the lion habitat.”
She pressed her lips together. “You never liked heights much.”
I shook my head. “That’s putting it mildly.
Is that… is that thing getting closer? I feel like I’m watching Monty Python and The Holy Grail and the guy just keeps on running from the same distance until he attacks.
That’s it, huh? At some point, we’re going to get trampled by a tortoise? It’ll be a slow, drawn-out death?”
“It’s good you’re finally going to get all the drama out of your system with your retreat here. When is the acting workshop?”
I’d met the local theater leader a month or so ago when Derek and I came out for the inspection on the place.
We hung out at Pints and Pool, and Derek introduced me to all kinds of people, including Jim and his husband, Finn.
They were excited about the possibilities of having an artist retreat in town.
Finn agreed to teach a bi-weekly class as part of a ballroom dance social series.
That was going to start in a couple of weeks.
Jim was interested in doing some workshops, but he encouraged me to reach out to the universities and colleges in the area to try to pull in some of the students.
“We haven’t scheduled it yet. I need to reach out to… That thing is really getting closer. Oh my goshness.”
“Your first challenge as a homeowner,” Mom said, clasping her hands in front of her. “I’m going to let you handle it on your own. It’s good practice. You don’t think that thing can get through the sliding-glass door, do you?”
“Really? You’re just leaving me out here defenseless?”
She rolled her eyes. “Francis, I know you can run faster than that thing. Look, it’s kinda cute.”
She promptly shut the sliding-glass door, and I heard the lock click.
“Wow.”
I rested my hands on my hips and tried to think. Did they have animal control in a city this small? Did I just call the emergency number?
A little thrill zipped through me.
The emergency number might bring a certain firefighter to my house.
I hadn’t seen Kendall on my visits to the town the past couple of months, and I chose not to pester Derek about him.
He was already worried that my move to Foggy Basin was too spontaneous or that my super-hot kiss at Pride had short-circuited my rational brain.
I assured him he could keep his firefighter boy toys. I had to throw him off the scent.
The creature had made its way to about ten yards from where I was standing.
Not danger close, but concerning. What if it fell in the pool?
Could it float? Tortoises weren’t the water ones, right?
I was an economics major. I had an MBA. Life science was so long ago.
Although I’d experienced my dinosaur era when I was a kid…
I blew out a breath and did what all grown-ups did when they hadn’t a clue how to proceed.
I pulled out my phone—and as God as my witness, I conjured help out of thin air.
I heard a shout, and, a second later, a man in pajama pants and flip-flops vaulted over the low fence between the properties and ran towards us.
“Jay Dub, you rascal!”
The man stopped short when he noticed me, and, my stars, that smile hit me like I worried this creature would any second.
“Do my eyes deceive me? Is it my favorite saucy cousin?”
I gave him a little finger wave.