by Anne Bishop
“I will stay in human form,” Henry said. “And Vlad will be there.”
Henry nodded. “Pete and Eve Denby are bringing their young as well. And the police who have use of the efficiency apartment and our human employees will be here.”
Then Meg came out of the kitchen with Sam bouncing around her, his gray eyes fixed on the hat she held out of his reach.
Couldn’t grab the hat once she put it on because it had ribbons that she tied under her chin to keep the hat from blowing off, and she might get hurt. But if someone happened to chew off one of the ribbons, and Air was willing to cooperate a little bit, they could play catch the hat.
Not today, Simon thought with regret. Too many onlookers today, so someone would notice who deribboned the hat.
“Are we ready?” Meg asked, her eyes so happy-bright, if she had a tail, it would be wagging.
Sam arrooed. Henry opened the front door. And Simon gave Meg’s hand a quick lick as he passed her to help him remember why there was a human pack in the first place.
* * *
Meg closed Simon’s door, then frowned at the area under her second-floor apartment. Simon’s apartment was two stories. Her place and his shared a back hallway on the second floor and stairs that led to the outside door. From what she had gathered, since she hadn’t found anything in her apartment that matched training images she had studied, the heating system and hot-water tanks for both apartments were in a utility room on the ground floor of his apartment.
So what was under her apartment? It was boarded up, like images of abandoned buildings, only neater. And there was a door that was also boarded up where a window might be.
During the winter, she had noticed it occasionally and dismissed it because it wasn’t part of what she needed to absorb in order to live on her own and keep her job. Now . . .
The Green Complex was shaped like a U, with apartments on the two sides and the laundry, mailroom, and social room taking up the back, along with the archway that led to the garages.
Meg looked across the open area. Henry’s apartment was across from hers, and it, too, had a boarded-up space under it.
“Henry, what’s under my apartment?”
He gave her a big smile. “That’s the summer room that you and Simon share. It’s been boarded up for the winter, but now it’s time to open it up and clean it out.”
She looked at Henry, then at Simon, who gave her a Wolfie grin. “Summer room?”
“A screened room to keep out bugs,” Henry said. “A cool place to sleep during hot, muggy weather. Come. It’s time to meet the rest of the diggers.” He started walking, clearly expecting her to follow.
When Simon paw-whacked her butt to get her moving, she hustled to catch up to the Grizzly, glancing back at the Wolf, who looked way too pleased with himself.
She hadn’t experienced hot, muggy weather yet, but Merri Lee and Ruth had told her the kind of clothing she should purchase for Lakeside’s summer. Which reminded her of the other thing she was supposed to ask someone.
“Henry? Should I buy a bathing suit?”
“Why would you need one?”
“Merri Lee wasn’t sure if there was a place to go swimming in the Courtyard. She said I should ask.”
“We have the small lakes and the creeks. In hot weather, plenty of us spend some time in and around the water. The Wolves especially like to swim. So do I.”
“So what do they wear when they go swimming in human form?”
He looked so baffled, she blushed and wished she’d waited to ask Tess about bathing suits and swimming.
Of course, Henry might be baffled because the Others never went swimming in human form. But she didn’t think that was the part of her question that puzzled him.
She hadn’t realized she’d stopped walking until Simon licked the back of her knee. She leaped forward and squealed, “Simon!”
Meg, if we’re going to be working outside today, you can’t wear long pants and long sleeves, Merri Lee had said. You’ll end up with heatstroke or something.
Ruth had partially agreed with Merri Lee, expressing concern about possible scratches as well as sunburn. They compromised on the choice of outfits, which was why Meg wore a pair of shorts, a tank top, and a long-sleeve gauze shirt. The clothing definitely suited the warmer weather. But Meg hadn’t considered the amount of skin now available to be licked—or what the unexpected swipe of a wet tongue would feel like.
Stealth licking, she thought with a sigh. A new game for summer.
Fortunately, the kitchen garden wasn’t that far from the Green Complex, and Vlad was already there with officers Kowalski, Debany, and MacDonald; Ruth, Merri Lee, and Theral; the Denbys; and Lieutenant Montgomery and Lizzy. Even Lorne from the Three Ps had come to help.
The humans eyed the Wolves, who were also there. Meg didn’t think all the Wolfgard had come to help, but there were enough of them. Then the Crows and Hawks arrived.
Would some of them have been in human form if the humans hadn’t been there?
She didn’t know, couldn’t care. This wasn’t a thousand new images, but one moving image full of new experiences. Making a garden. Working with friends. Finding the path that would allow other cassandra sangue to live in the outside world without being overwhelmed.
She wanted to take in as much of this experience as she could before she had to retreat and let mind and body rest.
Meg blew out a breath. Her eyes met Simon’s. This was a new experience for him too.
She smiled at him. “Let’s plant a garden.”
* * *
Simon gave them credit for one thing: these humans did know how to work. And humans and terra indigene had experienced each other in a new way as they combined skills to expand the garden.
Kowalski, Debany, MacDonald, and Henry cut the sod for the expanded area. Montgomery and Pete Denby used a tool with curved prongs and a long handle to break up the soil.
The Wolves, of course, used paws and claws to achieve the same results. But Simon noticed Blair sniffing around the garden tools the humans had brought with them and figured Meg would be given a list of tools to order for the Utilities Complex.
“Good thing we had a light rain last night,” Montgomery said as he broke up the soil while Pete stacked the squares of sod that had been cut.
All the other humans stopped and looked at him.
“It didn’t rain last night,” Kowalski finally said.
“Guess it was a localized shower,” Montgomery said.
A laughing grunt from Henry had the humans turning to the Grizzly.
Henry sank the spade into the soil, his movements easy and powerful. “We talked to the girls at the lake yesterday evening and told them we were expanding this garden—and that our Meg wanted to help with the digging and planting the seeds.”
“So it just rained in the Courtyard last night?” MacDonald said.
Simon glanced at the three children. The Lizzy was still petting the Wolf pups, but the Robert and the Sarah were playing with some of the juvenile Hawks by hitting badminton shuttlecocks into the air for the Hawks to catch and then drop for the next player with a racket to hit back into the air.
Eventually the pups would grow bored with being petted and run over to see what Sam was doing, since he had stayed close to Meg. Eventually the Hawks would tire of the game and fly off to see what else was happening in the Courtyard. Eventually the Crows would find the humans less entertaining a
nd fly off to work on their own garden—the cornfield especially.
And Meg, who had never dug into soil or smelled freshly turned earth, who had never had to be reminded to drink water when she worked outdoors or to put a cream on her skin to avoid sunburn . . . Meg was entranced by everything.
Simon kept a watchful eye on her and listened to the female pack as they talked about the garden and some of the vegetables and herbs they would like to plant. He wasn’t sure any of the terra indigene would care about the herbs. After all, deer was supposed to taste like deer, and you didn’t sprinkle anything on a rabbit before you ate it. But Tess wandered by and expressed an interest in the herbs, so herbs would be planted, along with corn, lettuce, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, beans, peas, and something called zucchini, which Merri Lee said tasted good with tomato sauce and pasta.
“Enough for today,” Henry said as he began to collect the tools that belonged to the Others. “Tess, Vlad, and Jester are saying it’s time to eat.”
A moment’s tension as the humans looked at the Others.
“Is this the picnic?” Meg asked.
“Not quite a picnic, if I understand what humans mean by that word,” Henry replied. “But something we hope you will enjoy.”
Nathan arrived in the pickup used by the Utilities Complex, loaded up the Wolf pups and juveniles, including Sam, and took them back to the Wolfgard Complex for their own kind of meal. Hawks, Crows, and a couple of sleepy Owls also headed for their own places, which left the humans and the residents of the Green Complex, who were walking back to the meal Tess had set out.
Simon trotted ahead of them, leaving Henry to watch over Meg. If he was going to eat with them, better to look human. And better to shift in private. Being terra indigene, he didn’t respond to female bodies the way human males did unless the female smelled like she wanted to mate. But naked wasn’t something done around human pups—although he wanted to ask the men why naked from the waist up was all right for them but females remained covered. That didn’t seem fair.
Shifting a paw just enough to form stubby fingers, he opened his front door, then rushed up to his bedroom to shift all the way and put on denim shorts and a T-shirt. Sandals. Reviewing his mental checklist for human grooming, he decided everyone else was going to be sweaty and leaving a strong scent, so he didn’t have to mask his own scent and could keep his grooming to a minimum. He splashed water on his face, combed his hair, brushed his teeth, and was back outside before the humans straggled into the open area that formed the center of the Green Complex.
A potted tree provided some shade for a water trough that someone had filled with fresh water. A couple of benches provided places for birds to perch or Others in human form to sit if they didn’t want the privacy of their own porches.
Henry picked up the sponge resting in the raised area of the trough and washed his arms, chest, and face before squeezing out water to run down his back.
Kowalski and Debany arrived next.
“Soap?” Kowalski asked when Henry offered the sponge.
“Not in this water,” Henry replied.
Before they could ask why, Jake Crowgard flew over to the trough. He took a drink, then had a quick splash in the raised area before flying off.
“Right,” Debany said, wiping down with the sponge after Kowalski finished with it.
Simon stepped in front of Meg. She looked tired, her eyes a little glazed.
“Too much?” he asked quietly, noticing how the other girls gave him a look before moving toward the trough. Was the look supposed to be a warning, a message, or just the curiosity human females and Crows seemed to have in common?
“Yes, but in a good way.” She smiled. “No pins and needles.”
“Tess, Vlad, and Jester opened up the summer room. Nathan brought over sawhorses and planks to use as a serving table. There’s not much furniture to sit on, but there are a couple of benches.”
She closed her eyes. She frowned a little, but the smile still curved her lips.
“I have training images of sawhorses and benches, but I can’t put them together to make an image of the summer room.”
“I can bring you food. You could eat on your porch, or inside.”
She looked at him, and her smile warmed. “No, I’m all right. I’d like to see the summer room. I’d like to see how the food is put out for a picnic that’s not quite a picnic.”
“Okay.”
Meg looked at the water trough. “But I’m going to wash up in my own bathroom.”
Simon stepped aside.
As soon as Meg went inside her apartment, Montgomery approached him.
“Is Meg all right?” Montgomery asked.
“She’s fine.”
“No problems with yesterday’s cut?”
“No. She was careful today.” And he’d stayed close enough that he would have caught the slightest whiff of blood if the cut had reopened.
Montgomery looked around. “This is something new, isn’t it? You and us.”
Simon shrugged. “Don’t know if it’s new, but I don’t think it’s been tried for a long time. Not with your kind of human.”
Montgomery hesitated, as if he wanted to say something else. Instead he smiled. “Guess I’d better get washed up.”
Simon watched the humans. Cautious but not afraid. Even the newest humans, the Denbys, weren’t afraid. Not like they would have been a year ago.
He hoped they stayed cautious, especially if the Courtyard started having guests.
Simon said nothing more because Meg returned. He followed her into the summer room to see what kind of food he was eating instead of a deer.
* * *
Now that he’d eaten, all Monty wanted was a hot shower and sleep. He had at least a decade on every member of his team, and today he felt those years.
Were they going to work this hard every Earthday until harvest?
On the other hand, the terra indigene expected to work hard for every meal, so today was just a different kind of work.
“Fresh corn on the cob is great,” Kowalski said as talk flowed about what everyone wanted to plant.
“Why?” Simon asked, puzzled.
“Corn is good,” Jenni Crowgard said.
Kowalski grinned. “Oh, yeah. Steamed until it’s tender and then brushed with melted butter. Only way to eat it.”
Baffled silence.
“Steamed?” Jenni said. “You cook corn?”
Kowalski, Debany, and MacDonald exchanged looks.
“Yes,” MacDonald said. “We cook lots of vegetables, including corn.”
“I never cared for the taste of it, but it might be appealing if it was cooked properly,” Vlad said.
Jenni huffed. “Maybe. But it’s fine just the way it is.”
If you’re a Crow, Monty thought. “How do you protect your crops?” They weren’t likely to put scarecrows in their gardens.
Henry laughed. “Didn’t you see the Hawk post? What comes to raid a garden is also food for many of us, so this is a season of plenty.”
“And protecting a garden is good training for the juvenile Wolves,” Simon added.
Forks paused. Eve Denby stopped chewing and eyed the dishes that Tess had contributed to th
e meal, no doubt wondering about the ingredients.
“There’s nothing here that you wouldn’t find in a human store,” Tess said, amused.
“Your pups have stopped eating,” Jester said. The Coyote pointed at the three children, who were fading after an active day. “I could take them to the social room to watch a movie.”
“Go ahead,” Simon said.
“I’ll give him a hand,” Theral said.
The rest of the women refilled their glasses and went outside. After a moment, Jenni Crowgard joined them, leaving Tess as the only female still at the table.
“We were wondering why having a share in the garden is so important to all of you,” Vlad said with a casualness that made Monty wary.
“You did offer,” Monty replied.
Vlad nodded. “We did. Why did you accept?”
Tension filled the room.
“Speaking for myself and Ruthie, being able to grow some vegetables means a smaller bill at the grocery store, and lots of foods are going to be more expensive, including fruits,” Kowalski said. “The price of anything made with flour has also risen in the past couple of weeks.”
“We have fruit as well as the vegetable gardens,” Simon said. “We have strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes. There are some apple trees in the Courtyard, as well as pears and peaches.”
“Walnut trees too.” Henry smiled. “While a particular form might have acquired a taste for certain foods, the terra indigene can, and will, eat much of what Namid provides. So our Courtyards have some of everything that grows in this part of Thaisia.”
“Why is fruit going to be expensive?” Vlad asked.
After a look around the table, it was Pete Denby who answered. “Shortages. Several of the regional governments are predicting food shortages this year, and prices are already going up. The loss of the farms in Jerzy—”
“The farms weren’t lost,” Simon snapped. “The farmers might be working for the terra indigene now that the land was reclaimed, but the work is the same. They keep what they need to feed their own and provide the food for the Intuits who moved into the hamlet to run the businesses that those farmers also need. The rest of their crops are sold to the markets in human cities, same as last year.”
