Page 33 of Medium
I finally made it to the door. Ms. Jackson was standing in the middle of the walkway between the house and the street, in plain view of the entire neighborhood. I didn’t see Manny. Or anyone else for that matter, which was lucky.
“Manny?”
“Shhh!” came from my right. “It’ll hear you!”
I went to the side of the porch and looked over the railing. Manny, still in his cartoon character scrubs from work, was huddled in the low bushes that lined the side of the house.
“It’s okay. The tiger won’t hurt you.”
He peered over the edge of the porch. Ms. Jackson was walking toward us. “Fuck!” He stood up and I helped him climb back over the railing. Luckily his slight stature meant he wasn’t too hard to lift, but my sore arms protested the entire time. “Get inside, hurry!” He pushed past me, but Shane and Ellis blocked his path to the door.
“Manny?” Shane asked, his eyebrows popped high. “You know Rory?” He turned to Ellis. “Manny was Granny’s main caregiver before she died. Manny, this is Ellis.”
Manny fidgeted, fists clenched and shifting back and forth on his feet. Ms. Jackson was almost to the porch steps. “Yeah. Hey. Nice to meet you. Uh, can we please go inside?”
I positioned myself between him and Ms. Jackson. “They won’t hurt you. I promise. I’ve been here for hours, and they’ve been perfectly nice.”
He blinked at me, then craned his head around me to watch Ms. Jackson approach. “Um, it’s a pet? Like, who keeps a tiger as a pet in Houston?”
“Um. Not a pet. It’s complicated.”
Ms. Jackson walked up the steps. Ellis walked over and reached out his hand to stroke their fur. “See? They’re friendly.”
Ms. Jackson slowly approached Manny. He backed up until he ran into Shane, but he didn’t try to move further. Ms. Jackson sniffed at him, then butted the top of their head right into Manny’s stomach, hard enough that Shane had to steady him with his hands on his shoulders.
“Uh, what’s complicated about them being a pet or not?” Manny didn’t take his eyes off Ms. Jackson. They nudged their head in between Shane and Manny, and then shoved Manny toward the front door.
“What’s happening?” he whisper-shrieked.
Shane opened the door. “Just go with it. They have their own agenda, we’re finding out.”
Ms. Jackson herded Manny through the door. The rest of us crowded after them, though I remembered to snag the Trader Joe’s bag, which had my clothes in it. Ms. Jackson didn’t stop until Manny was at the dining table. They pushed out the chair to the right of where they’d been sitting earlier. If I sat down in the same place I’d been sitting before, Ms. Jackson would be between me and Manny.
“I’ll, uh, set another place. Rory, could you get the desk chair from the guest bedroom? It’s down that hall.” Shane pointed. “Manny, you want some coffee?”
Manny responded with a faint affirmative. I went into the guest bedroom. A small desk with a rolling chair and adesktop computer filled one corner, and the other side of the room had a double bed with an old-fashioned lace coverlet and a nightstand. A duffel bag sat unzipped on the bed with an orange shirt half inside, but the bed was made so I couldn’t tell if anyone was sleeping there. I left the Trader Joe’s bag on the bed so I could change later.
I rolled the chair to the table. Shane and Ellis had arranged the other chairs and placemats so there was room for all of us.
I peeked out the back window, but I only saw the ghosts hanging out by the hammock. When I took my seat at the table, someone had refreshed my coffee. Manny was staring at Ms. Jackson.
“You can pet them,” I told him.
He looked at them doubtfully. “Why does their fur look like it has writing on it?” He tentatively brushed the back of his fingers along Ms. Jackson’s shoulder.
“They’re magical,” Shane said from the kitchen. “Like we’re pretty sure literally created with magic.”
Manny raised his eyebrows at Shane then looked at me. I shrugged. “Wait til they decide to talk to you. You’ll see.”
Ms. Jackson slurped their coffee and ignored us. Manny picked up his mug but just stared around wide-eyed and didn’t speak.
Shane brought out plates of eggs, bacon and biscuits for me and Manny. Ellis followed with one for Ms. Jackson, though they didn’t get bacon. I would’ve thought a tiger would want meat, but maybe magical dragon-hedgehog-donkey-tigers were different.
Shane and Ellis sat down with their own plates, and Manny finally perked up. He gestured between me, Shane, and Ellis. “I like this for you,guapo. Much better than that last couple you were with.”
My mouth was full, so I bugged my eyes out and shook my head, taking a sip of coffee so I’d be able to speak. But before I could, Ellis said, “With as in, in a relationship with?”
I cleared my throat, but Manny powered on. “Oh, yeah. They were jerks. Decided he wasn’t good enough for them or some shit. It really messed with his head.”
