Author’s Note: Time for another Wizard of Oz reference. 🙂
Time for an alien to learn a bit more about what makes a home…
“How was your vacation? Did you have a lot of fun? Are you two married now? Will you be reading to us again?”
Luna smiled, trying to answer all of the questions that the children and the rest of the crowd were asking her. She’d been missed—not that it should surprise her. She was the sort of person who drew others to her, and she always had been. He had been unable to resist her, and he knew better than anyone why he should have stayed away.
He should never have come back, but how could he do that? How could he have not stayed close to Luna, to everything she was and everything she taught him? He had learned so much from her, would have wanted so much more than what he had, and he could not deny that.
Sometimes he thought his hunger had shifted from the need to consume everything to a need to experience everything he could involving her. That was dangerous, and yet… he knew he could still destroy—he had done so with that metal piece—so that was not all of it. He would never hurt her or consume her, but he was still worried.
“Friend Tynan?”
“What?”
“Why do you not smile like Friend Luna? You are not happy to be home?”
He looked at Alvin. “This is Luna’s home. Your home, I suppose, but a vortex does not have a home. We do not have… anything.”
“You have friends.”
He did, though he kept wondering why that was. Luna and Alvin had decided to be his friends, but he did not understand why they had. He did not know that he ever would. “Yes, I suppose I do.”
“If you have a friend, if Luna is friend, and friend is home, if friend is hive, then hive is home, and home is here. Our home. Your home. This is home.” Alvin turned to hug the bookstore, his wings flapping with the increased speed that indicated his happiness. “Home. Hive. Good.”
He smiled at Alvin’s antics, wanting to laugh. Sometimes he thought he should not be so amused by the little one’s actions. He acted in such a patronizing manner, and it was not fair to Alvin. Just because he was a part of a hive did not mean that he was an idiot or deserved to be treated as less than he was. If he could think that a monster was a friend… Well, a part of Tynan thought that meant that Alvin did not know better. On the other hand, it might be a sign of a greater intelligence than anyone would have expected.
“Tynan, come over here, please,” Luna called, and he frowned as he went to her side. What was wrong? Did she need to get away from the crowd?
“Is something the matter?”
“No, silly. I just happened to remember you offering to read to me, and I figured out out how you could do it. You read what’s on the page, and I’ll turn them for you.”
He frowned. “You are much better at this than I am.”
“That’s only because you’ve never tried. Don’t worry about it. I’ve picked something simple, and the genius of Seuss will do the hard part. The crowd will love the story because it’s already good, and you can do this. Sit here.” She patted the spot next to him, shifting a book in her lap.
“What is Seuss?” He had never heard of such a thing. She lifted up a book, and he frowned. “You humans eat strange things, but green eggs and ham?”
“I will not eat them, Sam I Am,” she said, laughing. The crowd joined her, and all he could do was frown. She opened the book and pointed to the first line. “Try it. Please? For me?”
He sighed. “You know there is nothing that I would not do for you.”
“Exactly. So, now you will read for me—and everyone else—and we’ll all enjoy this together.”
“You know there is nothing that I would not do for you.”
:giggles: Oh, Tynan. You’re hopelessly in love.
Yes, he is. 🙂
Oh, this is sweet. I like that Green Eggs and Ham is a great equalizer. I don’t know the rest of the ‘verse, but this memory is well told.
Thank you. I couldn’t resist using Seuss’ genius there. When I was in elementary school, they had us read his books to the younger kids, and we all enjoyed it. That and my niece and nephews. Reading books together is a nice memory to have and to share.