Page 108 of Summer Breakdown
“What animals are they?” Lani asks, and Frankie nods. Jasmine laughs lightly. Of course she should be fleshing this out.
“Chell,” she starts, and Jasmine’s heart grows too quickly. Any more and she might just die. “They’re a frog, too, and, uhm, Ezzy is a lizard. Maliana is a dragonfly. Jasmina.” Jasmine was hoping she’d show up. Her entire family is here. How wonderful to love something so much they’re in everyuniverse.
“Jasmina is also a frog,” Frankie says, looking up at her. “A pretty frog.”
Jasmine blushes. “What’s Franny?” she asks, and Frankie frowns at her. Lani giggles, her toes moving by themselves, but she doesn’t seem bothered anymore. Jasmine keeps her hands close anyway.
“Franny, the coolest one, is, uhm—“
“A crocodile,” Lani replies.
“A croc—a what? In the pond?!”
Lani giggles again. “A small one. They’re cool.” She’s desperate to take Frankie to the aquarium. Jasmine wonders if they can fit it in between matches, or if they should wait until the end of the season.
“Okay, okay, Franny the crocodile,” Frankie says, and Jasmine laughs, lying down with her head next to Lani’s waist. She massages Lani’s thighs, but it’s mainly for her, now, because Lani moves on her own.
“Okay. And they see that Lanrog needs some help, right? So they build him a frame, so he can hop with his front legs and still go to the trees with them.”
“Does he get his legs back?” Lani asks.
Frankie hums in thought. “Yeah. Sometimes he uses them and it’s fine. Sometimes he likes the frame.”
“And his friends like him still?”
Jasmine frowns against Lani’s ribs. She’s so small and precious and should have no thoughts about people not liking her for any reason, let alone her legs.
Frankie gasps. “Are you kidding? The whole group would break down if Lanrog wasn’t there. Lanrog is the glue that keeps everyone together.”
Lani smiles, rolling towards her. “Really?”
“Yeah, babe,” she replies, as Lani crawls on her stomach. She pulls Frankie’s cheek as she tries to settle. It takes a little while, but Frankie smiles the entire time, and then Lani is basically pinning her down. “Lanrog would be the greatest member of the group with no legs, with four legs, with aframe, whatever, because they are kind and cute and the funniest frog in all the land.”
“You’re so silly,” Lani replies.
“I’m just telling you the story of Lanrog.” Frankie shrugs. Lani leans against her, her face against her cheek, then turns to look at Jasmine. Frankie joins her. Her favourite girls in the world. She might wake Marcel up.
“Frankie’s silly, Mama.”
“I know, baby,” Jasmine replies. “She’s right, though.”
“Lanrog is real?” Lani asks, the excitement so evident in her voice that Jasmine might go and buy a load of frogs tomorrow and change the pool into a pond.
“Of course.”
“Wow.”
“You know you’re perfect, right?” Jasmine asks, her finger running down the edge of Lani’s bonnet. “Everything about you is perfect all of the time.”
“Even if my legs stop working?” It’s another slice to Jasmine’s heart, but she hides it beneath a smile.
“Even then. All the time, no matter what.”
Frankie runs her fingers against Lani’s back, but Jasmine’s not sure what will make her fall asleep now. Then, Lani breaks her heart all over again. “And I’m not a burden?”
Frankie sits up with a gasp, Lani against her chest, and Jasmine is livid.
“What? Of course not,” Jasmine says. Lani pouts, her eyes watering again. “Baby, why would you think that?”
