"Be careful Natalie," he said softly. "It's not my job to advise you on your wishes, only to watch, but I offer you the advice that sometimes the surest way to make a problem worse it by continuously trying to fix it.
"So, that was a yes right?" I asked, but when I looked around, he was gone. "Yeah, fuck you too," I whispered. I was getting really sick and tired of his constant vanishings. I could see my sister's trailer now, and I could see her sitting outside. For an instant, she seemed to notice the look on my face, but any concerns she might have had seemed to vanish as quickly as they appeared. Okay, that one wish is really starting to get on my nerves!
She smiled and waved. She was sitting on the front steps smoking a cigarette. I honestly wasn't sure what I was going to do next. This was all so much, and it was starting to overwhelm me. Try as I might, I couldn't even fake a smile in her direction. I just didn't have the ability. I wanted to feel bad, or angry, or just anything. Even my irritation at Malcolm's disappearance had been more force of habit than anything else. Instead, I walked right by her and stepped into the house
When I walked into the rundown living room, I was definitely going to have to do something about this, I was greeted by three surprises. The first one was Violet. The Husky ran up to me, her tail wagging and her tongue hanging out. Another reminder of what I'd done. Still, for somebody who'd been such a bitch, Violet really did make for a pretty well, Bitch. I reached down and petted the top of her head. Just another one of the problems I was going to be tasked with fixing. She responded by panting, and then leaping up with her front paws and grabbing at my chest while she frantically licked my cheeks.
"Down girl," I said softly. Violet was apparently extremely obedient because she leapt down and sat. I wondered if that had been part of the wish I'd made. I didn't recall putting that little clause in there though There were other things that bothered me about Violet's situation as well. Malcolm had said that when a wish was made, the user's reality merged with another reality. A reality where that wish was already part of the normal flow of events. How could a person turning into a dog ever be part of the normal flow of events though? The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like it. I didn't know everything about the rock Or really anything, I mused, and I knew even less about any science that might exist behind the theory, Or apparent certainty, of alternative realities, but I had to doubt that she could have been born this way. For me to change my sex probably hadn't been that difficult in actuality. Any little shift in a hundred different variables and a different one of my father's little swimmers could have fertilized my mother's egg. It wasn't really something I cared to think about, the idea of my parents but it certainly seemed possible. For somebody who'd been born a human though, I couldn't imagine it was possible for them to have been born a dog. If it was then I had an entirely different set of uncomfortable images to think about. I wasn't sure what it meant, but I was certain it meant something.
I didn't notice the second surprise until Violet got down. Standing behind her was a young girl, no more than two or three years old. She had Jill's long dark hair and because of the other similarities I noticed it didn't take me long to realize who I was looking at. Chloe! I thought. She was so cute! She smiled up at me and hobbled over. "Au-tie Na-tlie!" she cooed, and the sound of her sweet little voice almost made me feel like I could feel again. I picked her up in my arms and held her close. She was so light. Yesterday Jill had been a student who'd been well on her way to graduating with honors. Now she was a single mom and I was holding her daughter. The word bittersweet came to mind. After a moment I set her down. That explained why Jill had been outside with her cigarette.
I walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of beer out of the fridge. I wasn't going to get full on drunk again because that was definitely a bad idea, but I felt like a drink or two might make me feel better. I unscrewed the cap and took a long swig. A moment later I heard the front door open and Jill stepped in. She smiled over at me, an expression that I couldn't duplicate and looked down at her daughter.
"-Ommy, -ommy," Chloe said as she made her way over to my sister. Jill smiled at her daughter and bent down to pick her up. Holding her tightly, she looked over at me.
"Little surprised to see you here," Jill said, walking over toward the couch to sit down.
"Thought I'd stop by," I told her, taking another sip and walking back into the living room. "Some party last night, huh?" I stood there leaning against the wall and watching as Jill divided her attention between the young girl on her lap and myself. "Did everybody make it home okay?"
"Yeah," she said casually. "Although Maggie offered to give Jenny a ride so one of them probably didn't make it home if I had to guess," she looked up at me and cocked an eyebrow.
I smiled. Given everything I'd done the other night, or indeed since I'd started using the rock, I supposed that messing around with Jenny and Rick's sexuality had probably been relatively minor. At least it didn't seem to have damaged the very fabric of anybody else's lives. I did my best not to blink or close my eyes because every time I did, I saw that same dead look in Karyn's eyes.
That was when the third surprise greeted me. I heard the toilet flush from down the hall and when I looked up Rick was making his way toward us. There was a smile on his face when he saw me. I tried to shoot one back at him, but I found that I just couldn't. He stepped into the living room and made his way toward me.
"Shouldn't you be at work or something?" I asked.
"I called in," he said reaching down to take my hand. The feel of his hand against mine and the look in his eyes made me realize something. Oh my god, Rick is totally in love with me! I shook my head. Of all the things I needed in life right now, this was most certainly not one of them. "I have pretty good attendance, so I doubt I'll get into any trouble there. Besides after last night "
I stopped him right there. "Look Rick, what happened last night was "
"It was amazing," he told me, moving closer. He seemed completely oblivious to my sister and her three year old daughter who were also in the room. "It was the most incredible sex I've ever had, and you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met."
I pulled away. "Okay, first of all there's a child in the room "
"Oh I doubt she understands anything you're saying right now Nat," Jill said.
"Not helping Jill," I countered. "anyway "
"I know you felt it too," he said, pulling closer again. I felt his arms wrap around my body and pull me closer. I wanted to fight him, to pull away, but I started to feel those urges deep down. Nothing emotional, or psychological, this was purely physical. It was the first thing I'd really felt since I'd climbed my way out of the school bathroom, and I wasn't sure I wanted it to go away. Thoughts were starting to drift away now, and all I could feel was the tingle between my legs and the little jolts of electricity that seemed to be consuming my entire body.
"Maybe," I relented, "But "
He leaned in and kissed me on the lips, and thoughts started to disperse. There was no rock anymore, no Malcolm, no Karyn. Right now, there was only the two of us. *And it felt so good not to have to think * Now I was leaning into him, opening my mouth and allowing his tongue in as I felt his hands on my body. I wrapped my arms around him and started sliding my hands up and down his back. It was nice, but I didn't like the fact that his shirt was in the way
"Guys," the spell was momentarily broken and we looked over at my sister. She had a rather wry look on her face. "Daughter here, remember Nat? And aside from that Gross," she finally said. "If you guys are gonna do that, could you please take it to the bedroom? I'd like to be able to eat again someday." Despite her words, there was a sly grin crossing her lips.
When Rick took my hand, I didn't even think. There was nothing to think about anymore. I followed him back to the bedroom. I knew that once this was over, I'd have to return my mind to the issues at hand, but it was nice to know that, at least for a little while, I wasn't going to have to think about anything
