Page 37 of My Monster, My Choice

“But they weren’t done.”

“No. They cleaned our air next and then our soil.”

“Then they grew distracted!”

I hide a smile. It seems he knows the story by heart. “Yes. They saw that women outnumbered men and so they proposed our women being matched to other species. You see, they’d stayed on another planet once.”

“It wassa called Pim-eyon. Like Eeyore, but with a pim.”

“It was called Pimeon,” I agree. “And the first woman to leave for a match was the president’s own daughter. The First Daughter.”

“An’ a she fallin love and they hava little baby!” My excited son wraps his arms together as if he holds one.

“It was successful.” I smile. “They fell in love and now have three babies. A firstborn son and twin girls.”

“Kishes. An’ then the other girl hada baby too, an’ itsa boy.”

“Yes. Tessa was the second woman, she mated their brother. She gave birth to a baby boy.”

“With tentacles.”

“Yes. The better able to swim with.” I tickle his legs, making him laugh.

That is one of the small-minded fears groups of opposing humans have, the purebred groups who want to keep our bloodlines strong. They think that legs are being stamped out of existence in exchange for tentacles. I’ve never heard such ridiculousness, but then again, I’m more open-minded than most. I’ve had to protect my son from others for being born different. Once they used to say his “disease” might spread. That one day we would all wake up with a touch of Down’s syndrome if those affected were allowed to procreate.

“All three of the children born have tentacles.”

“I likka them.”

“Now, go on and play, you scamp. Git. I have my gardening to do.”

“But momma! Where Pappy Elex?”

He asks daily.

“Don’t call him that.” I hush Kenny and look around the back yard to make sure no one heard what he called Elex. It’s so improper. He grins, the movement crinkling at the corners of his eyes.

The little shit. He knows it. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

“You know good and well Elex had to go to Pimeon for a while. He does live there, you know.”

“I know. An’ he livesin Eden too,” he says, eyes narrowed like he dares me to argue.

“Baby boy,” I say, grasping his hands. It breaks my heart that Kenny loves him so, nearly as much as I do. But we can never have Elex. “I know you miss him. I do. But Elex is a captain in the King’s Guard and has to go back to work there sometimes. I’ll let you know as soon as he comes, okay?”

And I pray that Elex will be more receptive to breaking up now that he’s had some forced distance between us, because each time he called, each time he messaged that he’d be in town, I managed to miss it, though Kenny was able. If not, he’ll be kind and continue to pretend for my son’s sake.

“Jaire an’ Ree liv here.”

“Yes, sweetie. But they’re both married. Mated.”

I can feel he’s angry with me for my answers and has no way to express it.

“Kenny, I love you. I know you love Elex.” I bend and pluck a dandelion that has seeded. “But sometimes things have to find a way on their own.” I blow the seeds, scattering them in the breeze.

His eyes grow big as saucers, and I wonder what the little man is thinking. “Okay, mum,” he says and then a huge, heart-melting grin scrunches up his little face.

God, I love this child.

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