Another Morning

“You got in late last night.”  Gena commented to her daughter as she stumbled down the stairs around nine in the morning.

“I know.  We went up to a coffee shop in town and watched the open mic night.  We finally left when one band was so horrible it made you want to throw up.  Walked home, and by the time we got here it was a little bit after twelve.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah.”

“Meet anyone else?”

“We sat by ourselves – to be honest, there weren’t many people there other than the artists who wanted to perform.  But, it was still fun.”

“He buy you your drinks?”

“Yes, mother.  Stop worrying.  He’s really cool and fun.  He’s like…a hot nerd, or something.”

I’m a nerd?! Arkonel thought, hanging out above the two, shaking his ethereal head.  I’ll have to back off on the conversation fillers about history.

“When are you going to see him again?”  She asked, offering her daughter waffles, fresh out of the waffle maker.

“He told me he’d be around, and I told him I’d be hanging out in the back yard all day.”

“Nice.  So basically, you kind of sort of have a chance of maybe meeting up and maybe spending more time together.”

“Shut up and eat your waffles, mom.”

“Fine, fine.  But you should really make concrete plans.  Especially if he’s living out in the woods.  He could be kind of hard to find.”

“Mom!” Ari protested, nearly spitting out a piece of waffle at her.  “He doesn’t live in the woods.  He’s living with his grandmother!  He was just camping!  He told me yesterday that it was the last day of his camping.  He’s actually at his grandmother’s house now.  That’s where he was all day – cleaning up and packing his gear.”

“Okay, okay.  Hey, when are your old friends coming down here to visit?”

“I don’t know.  They said they’d drop by in a few weeks after they got all of their college orientations out of the way.  Theirs are all in the middle of the summer, I’m glad mine is right when I move in.”

“They’re not that far away, you know.  You could always take a day trip.”

“I know, mom.  I’m alright right now.  I don’t need human companionship to be happy.  Plus, I think I’m going to go and see what treasures the barn holds.  I glanced in when we moved in, but I’ve mostly been exploring the woods.  I want to take a gander at what’s inside.”

“If you find anything dead, let me know.  It’ll make a great story.”  Gena told her daughter with a smile.  Gena already knew what the barn held – a lot of junk, and some interesting treasures.  The house used to actually be an animal sanctuary for domestic animals that owners didn’t want anymore.  Cats mostly, but also dogs and a horse or two.  Gena had actually worked some of her summers as a caretaker of those animals.  It was one of the other reasons she had wanted to move into, and not sell the house.  She knew that her daughter would be willing to help operate a small adoption business.  It wouldn’t take too much time and effort, and when she was ready, Gena would get right on that.  For now, however, her focus was writing.  And apparently, Ariana’s focus: Arkonel.

“Sure mom.” Ari said as she walked out the door, dropping her dishes in the sink on the way out.

Ariana made her way out to the barn and Arkonel, an invisible breeze, followed her.  He hadn’t checked out that area of the property, and he probably should have.  He would not be happy with himself if Arian managed to get stuck under something or hurt and he wasn’t there in human form to take care of her.

He flew in before she could step in to take a glance, and he was amazed what he could see that wasn’t apparent to Ariana.  There were all sorts of leftover energies – happiness, excitement, playfulness, and most of all, memories.  Everywhere he moved, he could see echoes of what had happened in the barn in previous years – dances, fundraisers, horse riding lessons, secret rendezvous.  It was a wealth of ‘healthy’ energy for Ari to feast on.  He turned his eyes back to the physical and realized that she was staring, speechless, in the entrance.  He looked around quickly and realized why.  Happy as the world may have left the barn, the objects inside were disarrayed and out of order, messy in the best sense of the word.  Arkonel decided that this speechless moment would be a good time for him to enter, human and visible.

“I thought you said you were going to be in your backyard.  That looks like the barn, to me.” Arkonel’s deep voice sounded behind Ariana and she barely flinched.

“Come look at this!  How am I ever supposed to sort through these things?  My god, who would want to!  Its so…amazing!”  Ari said, not even looking behind her.  Arkonel walked up to the barn and stood behind Ari, looking over her shoulder with human eyes.  Century old tools hung above them on the rafters of the barn, the loft bare of hay but covered in all sorts of chairs, blankets, and other large furniture objects.

“This is like a health hazard and a writer’s fantasy all come true.  I can see why my mom loves it here!”

“Your mom is a writer?” Arkonel asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you last night?”  She asked him.

“No, I don’t think so.  Are we going to explore or just stand here?”  Arkonel asked, wanting her to step into the barn and get a taste of the happy energy.  He knew from his father’s description that Ari was very capable of feeling stuff not normally available to humans.  He was curious as to how far her abilities extended.

“We can go in.  Where’d you come from, anyway?  How long were you watching me before you let me know you were there?”

“Oh, I just appeared.”  Arkonel said, hiding a grin.  If only she knew.

“Look at this!”  Ari said, motioning to a stack of yellowed papers.  “My mom will love to go through these!  When are they from? The sixties?  I didn’t even know that they published newspapers back then.”

“They’ve been publishing newspapers for a long time, Ari.”

“I know, but I meant around here.  Look – it says the Sanctuary Post.  I’ve never even heard of that before.”

“It looks like a pet adoption flyer, to me.”  Arkonel said.  It was pretty obvious – the paper was set up like a modern day classified ad, with each block of text a separate animal name and description.

“I wonder if my great aunt ran the animal sanctuary or just collected the newsletters?”

“Well, what’s the address on top?”  Arkonel asked.  “Is it yours?”

“Yeah!  And this house has been in our family for generations, so it must be my great aunt’s flyers!”

“I already knew you were an animal freak, but I didn’t know it ran in your family.”  Arkonel said, laughing, and Ari looked him in the eyes for the first time that day.  “Animal freak? That why you don’t want to date me?”

“Woah, back off, sparky!”  Arkonel said, laughing.  “I love animals.  And isn’t a little soon to think of dating?  We met yesterday.”

“Right, sorry.”  Ari said, distracted once more.  “So do you think my aunt kept all of those animals right in the house, or did she leave them out here?”

“Well, I’m guessing that Chestnut here,” Arkonel pointed to an ad about a horse, “Spent his nights in the barn and his days in the fields.  He’s a little big to put in that house.”

“True.  I meant the dogs and cats.”

“Oh, I don’t know.  Maybe your mom knows more about it?”

“Maybe, but she’s in writing mode right now.  The do-not-disturb sign and everything.”  Ari sighed.  “I guess I’ll just have to ask her about it tonight when we eat dinner.”

“Do you and your mom eat dinner together every night?”  Arkonel asked.  It was hard to keep coming up with questions that he already knew the answers to.

“Usually, more so now than before I moved here.  I was always out with friends during last summer and the summer before.”  Ari admitted.  Finally something that Arkonel didn’t know about.

“How many friends did you have?”

“Ah, just four or five.  But we were – and still are – so close.  I really miss them sometimes.”

“Would you have it so your mom and yourself stayed in the city?”

“No, not at all.  I’m a witch – I love it out here in the country.  I love the nature, and the clean air, and the dark nights, and the freedom it gives me.”

“Freedom?”

“Like being able to skinny dip.  I couldn’t do that back at home, way too many people.”

“You don’t have a pool.”  Arkonel pointed out.

“I know, but mom’s getting one put in, in just a few weeks.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”  Arkonel grinned, knowing that he would see it anyway.  He was assigned to watch her, and watch her, he would.  Through everything.

“I take it you two found the contents of the barn pleasing?” Gena asked her daughter and the boy hanging behind her.  “Hi, by the way.  I’m Gena, Ariana’s mom.”

“Hey there. I’m Arkonel.  The barn was very interesting.”

“I’m glad you liked it.”  Ari’s mom said.  “I wasn’t sure if you would stick around all day to keep Ari company, but obviously, you did.  Do you want to stay for supper?”

Arkonel looked at Ari for approval, then shrugged.  “Sure, but I’m not really that hungry.  I don’t eat much.”

“Oh, come on.  You have to be able to eat something.  We were working all day today.  Are you anorexic?”  Ari asked him.  She seemed to always be eating, and he always turned her offers of food down.  Well, always being the past two days.  Thinking back, they had had the option of sharing four meals – breakfast, dinner, brunch today, and now dinner, and he turned her down each time.

“No, not anorexic.  I’ll eat with you.”  He said, his human stomach turning.  He had grown bored of food so long ago that it was almost painful for him to digest it.  He had never tried it in human form though.  Maybe it would taste different.  He had always ‘tasted’ it in his natural form, even though he didn’t need it to survive.  “What are you making?”

“Really, we’re just having pizza.  It should be on its way any minute now.  So, Ari, what do you think?” Gena directed her attention to her daughter, who snapped her gaze back to her mother.  She had been staring at Arkonel.

“About what?”

“About the barn.  I figured that the fact that this house used to have an animal sanctuary might give you an idea.”

“But mom, I’m going to college in the fall.”  Ari said as the realization of what her mother was suggesting hit her.

“To be…”

“A vet… oh.”  Ari nodded.  “Do we even have money to do anything like that?  What do you want to do with it?”

“I was thinking… ‘Second Chance Center’; it could be a museum – we have all of the old equipment we could put on display – and it could be a refuge for injured and stray animals.”

“I’m for it.”

“I’ll help out.” Arkonel said automatically.  He could see why these two were so important to the adult gods.  They had a solid religion – even if it wasn’t apparent to the casual bystander – and they had a great set of morals and values.  He was almost ashamed to be in their presence.

“Really?”  Ari said, almost too quickly.  “Can he, mom?”

“Of course.”  Gena agreed, smiling at him.  “I’m glad you found a friend, anyhow, this is going to take a lot of work, and you’re going to do most of it.”

“I am?”

“Baby, I have to write.  Its going to be your project.  I just gave you the idea.”

“Oh.”  Ari was silent, and the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of their dinner.
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