Page 17 of Her Wonderful Wonder Bell
“She’s taken, my guy,” I say firmly, as I poke Mappy in the chest.
Okay. I didn’t mean to say she’s taken. Because, I mean, she’s not officially. Right? Fuck.Whatever. Plus, Mappy isn’t serious with his flirting anyway.Chill, Delia.
Pearl giggles and Mappy grins.
“Oh, I like that. Maybe we’ll get to see you out and about more, Delia. Would be nice.” He gently punches me on the shoulder and the smile he gives me is one of genuine happiness. Heismy friend, after all. Of course he’s happy I’ve got a girlfriend.
I mean, if she is my girlfriend, that is.
Mappy stands back and stretches his arms. The muscular man unfurls two massive bat-like wings, revealing the rest of the town’s map. He looks over both of them carefully before nodding at the left one.
“Over by Ratcliffe’s. Looks like it’s blocking the center of the Dreadweather Forest bike path. People are gonna be mad about that.” He shakes his head and curls his wings back against his body.
“Better than the time it landed in the middle of the baseball stadium.” I laugh. Brigley waspissedabout that.
“Much better.”Mappy laughs.
“Alright.” I turn to Pearl. “Let’s get going before the store moves again. Catch ya later, Mappy!”
We walk toward the store, getting to know one another a little better while I explain things we see that weren’t around in 1946. Which is a whole lot. Even when I used the phrase “catch ya later” with Mappy, that was new to her, I guess, but she likes that one—says it reminds her of baseball.
When we pass by a Pride flag in a shop window, I tell her about some things that have changed for queer folks in the country, and the world—progress we’ve made, things we’re still fighting for—and she has to take a seat on a park bench to process her thoughts.
We sit in front of the Dreadweather Forest, even though it’s not a great idea to sit on the benches on a hot day, especially wearing a tank top. Everyone knows not to because of the giants and their…habits. It seems like she’s not really thinking about giants right now, so I’ll take the risk for her—even though I’m wearing my shoulder-baring tank top with the spadefoottoad-print fabric I got at the Spadefoot Toad Museum’s iconic gift shop.
“So, two women can really get married legallyoutsideof Ghostlight Falls now?” Pearl asks, her eyebrows pinched as she waits for my answer.
“Yep, in a bunch of countries, at least. Not everywhere, unfortunately. Here though, yeah.” I pull out my phone and search up a video from a while back. “Watch this. It’s not very long but it’s the speech the president gave when they legalized same-sex marriage.”
Pearl takes the phone in shaking hands and watches with wide eyes. Not very long into the speech she begins to cry and she’s fully sobbing by the end of it.
“That was our President? And he said that? I want to know more about history. Not just for us. For everyone. What else happened?” She starts to poke at the screen, but I gently take the phone away.
“Later. There’s so, so much. Let’s get to Sheet-y first. Is that cool with you?” I stand up andhold my hand out…
…but can’t reach her before something huge grabs me around the waist.
A giant hand wraps around me before I can even register that an arm has burst out of the forest. The buckles on my boots jingle rapidly as I’m tugged toward the tree line.Oh no.I know what’s coming and I’m not happy about it.
“God damn it, you stinking giant! Go to rehab!” I shout right before the tip of a huge, wet tongue pokes out between two pines. “Aww, hell.”
Sluurrrp.The forest giant licks from my lower back all the way up to my hair line.Blech.Sticky slobber residue coats my skin and the entire backside of my top.
“Gross! You messed up my toad tank top!” I yell.
Not that it matters what I say. The forest giants don’t care. They rarely interact with anyone other than licking us to get high. Humans are to them like some toads are to people; lick our backs, get fucked up. Theyreallylike it, and it’ssuperaddictive, but that’sabout all they’ve told anyone.
The giant sets me down and slinks back to where he came from.
“That’s right! You go home; you jerk!” I pull some foliage off a bush and start wiping as much of the gunk off of me as I can.Yuck.
“Well, some things don’t change, I guess. Darn giants,” Pearl says as she takes my hand and begins to walk again. “It is a nice top. Even if it’s a bit scandalous.”
“Scandalous? You should see what’s under it.” I tug her forward as I spot the entrance to the stationary store.
“I look forward to it, doll.”
My grin is about ten feet wide when I push open the door to Sheet-y. The place is a wreck, loose paper flung everywhere, boxes tipped on their sides, signage lopsided. It’s clear that the store must have picked itself up and walked here not long ago.
