East Five #3
That had Gramps roaring with laughter.
Asshole.
Calming down, he finally added, “Well, that night, and others after, I promised her that my Baby Boy would come back to her someday.”
That was a shared nickname? I gawked at him. “You said ‘Baby Boy’?”
As if he wasn’t going to permit me to stop him from using that nickname, he said, “What’s it to ya?”
The connection to such simple words was uncanny.
“I dreamt, while in the car with Noma, that Saleeni called me boy.” My chest filled with fresh air!
“Gramps! I don’t think it was a dream. I think it was her reaching out to me—” From over the pizza box, I poked his chest, “—after hearing you!” Holy shit!
“And she called me boy when we introduced ourselves the other night.” Utterly blessed, I eased into the wall at my back. “She knew I was your boy.”
His shoulders softening, he smiled. “That’s kind of cool.
” He drifted into thought again before telling me, “It wasn’t right away, but after coming back to visit her regularly, and her refusing to talk, I figured she needed a name.
From all I had seen, and what Noma told me about you—and what you had claimed to see in water, and what I was seeing in the water—I did more research.
Then I found a word that encompasses such sights—illumination—but also spiritual light and intuition. It was Saleeni.
When I just stared at him in awe, he quietly asked, “Kind of seemed on point, don’t ya think?”
Some people may have seen my grandpa as a mean biker, clueless to how deep his heart truly went.
“Yeah,” I promised. “On point. For real.” A cough exited my tightening throat. “Thank you.”
The silence that followed was appreciated. It gave me time to digest all this, to find space to ask more questions, and learn more about the ‘oath’ or whatever being some sort of river guardian even meant.
The silence also gave Styx time to stare at me with a full-body cringe.
To repeat his words with a touch of humor, I asked, “What now?”
He blinked. “Have you noticed your slice of pie?”
“What the—” His whole container of anchovies had been dumped on my slice. “When did you do that?”
He blinked again. “Uh, I didn’t, silly rabbit.”
The worst part? I had already eaten half of it! “But… I don’t like stinky fish!”
A grin grew across Styx’s face. “Don’t set me up like that if you don’t want me to hit one over the net.” A burst of his laughter echoed in the pool as he realized he’d just tumbled into another pun. “Fish net!” He held his stomach, which bounced with more laughter. “Ya can’t make this shit up!”
You are so annoying! “If you are referring to my girlfriend being caught in a net—” My mouth began to ache. My hunger grew. “—I’ll be tempted to shove this pizza box straight up your ass.”
“The whole box?” He shuddered. “Sounds painful.”
Glaring at him, I nodded slowly, then stopped when I realized I was chewing again. No. I looked down at my now-empty hand. Ew. I swallowed down the fish with an audible, grossed-out gulp.
Gramps motioned to my mouth. “You’re, uh, little, uh, fangs grew, er, a bit.”
In a rush, my finger slid across my upper row of teeth. My fangs had indeed reappeared, but were already retreating, yet again. Another talent I was going to have to learn to control.
Overwhelmed, my body sulked. “What am I?”
“A young man on a hell of a journey.” Styx crossed his legs and rested his hands in his lap, intertwining his tattooed and ringed fingers.
“You won’t ever be bored. You won’t die wondering if you ever lived.
You will love with depths most will never come close to.
You will breathe air because you know what it’s like not to.
You will understand the world is only one layer of a wondrous Universe.
You will come to realize that you are a gift. ”
I audibly sucked in air because on the middle finger of his right hand, the tat read, Gifts…
Motioning to the tat, my silent question hung in the air.
He sighed, running a tip of a finger down his message. “Yup. When someone tries to lecture me, claiming their opinion or knowledge is better than mine, I give ‘em the ol’ finger because they have never had gifts as I have.” He winked at me. “So, fuck ’em.”
In a way, at that moment, I felt him place a scared young man on a pedestal.
However, it altered me. While the earlier silence gave me space to adjust, him lifting me up helped me raise my chin.
Helped me comprehend I was, and always would be, different.
Instead of regretting the difference, I now had the space to be… proud of it.
I took a deep breath as that pride grew in my chest and through my whole body.
When a high-pitched sound found my now sensitive ears, my chest grew for another reason. I felt older, wiser, and stronger. “How long before I can have her in here?” A dominant side of me was taking root. “In here, I feel I have a chance to protect her like I want to.”
Styx stared at me with an expression I struggled to read. He rubbed down his goatee before finally saying, “You look just like him.” Dad. Styx exhaled. “Right after Noma stole away the love of his life.” He swallowed. “I’m doing all I can not to let that happen again.”
He meant every word.