Quirks in the Misty Murks

by James Livingood

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jace decided that the best course of action would be to tell the whole story and plead with the mayor that he just wanted to find his way home. The mayor listened to each component of the story, not asking any questions.

  “And then I was brought here, in front of you.” Jace finished, throwing his hand up in the air out of frustration.

  The mayor leaned back and stamped his elk hooves. The mayor then scratched his fur near his chest and stared up at the ceiling. Both Mr. Mallory and Jace waited to hear what his response would be.

  Instead, the mayor clicked a button and asked his secretary a question. "Can you move up my next appointment? I need to see them earlier." The secretary agreed, and the mayor continued to look at Jace.

  “You are an illegal immigrant,” Mayor McFeeny started, “which isn’t bad. We need fresh ideas and perspectives. I don’t like the idea of one of our borders being unsecured though.”

  Jace began to smile and straighten up in his chair.

  "However, there shouldn't be any humans here. We have never successfully been able to integrate humans into our societies." The mayor said, shifting his head to meet Jace's eyes. "You are both a human, and you claim to have met a human while you were here."

  Jace asked a question before the mayor could continue, “Why don’t you live with humans? Are we too frightened normally?”

  The rich mouse laughed a bit, and the mayor shook his head, "I am going to be blunt here. Nothing of what I say can leave this room, okay?"

  Jace and Mr. Mallory agreed though Mr. Mallory was only half-hearted in his agreement. It was like he already knew what the mayor was going to say.

  The mayor sucked in a breath and said, "Humans don't mix well because you're too monstrous for our community. We have countless tales of your kind. You're portrayed as monsters. Many of us don't see you like an animal. Instead, some see you like a disease."

  He then threw out his hoofs and replied, “Keep in mind, that’s not me. I have a human that’s a friend.”

  The mouse looked at the mayor skeptically. The mayor shrugged a little and clarified, "Well, not so much of a friend and more of an acquaintance. She's a park ranger who works on feeding the birds near my house. Charming woman."

  "So, help me get back home, and you don't have to worry about the scary human," Jace said, leaning in towards the large shaggy mayor.

  The mayor put up his hoof on Jace’s shoulder and looked into his eyes. “I don’t make the passports, those come from a higher office than mine, and I don’t have the power to release you from this place. All I can do is to try to make you the most comfortable I can.”

  Mr. Mallory then chimed up, "He's a criminal, and you're concerned about his comfort? How is that fair? You should be worried about regular citizens comfort."

  “Whoa whoa, there, Mr. Mallory,” the mayor said, staring down the rich mouse. “That’s coming off a little species-ist. Not all humans are criminals.”

  “I told you! I found him participating in a thief ring!” The mouse chided back at the mayor.

  The mayor turned back to Jace and said, "I think he got mixed up in one because he's not used to our ways." Jace nodded his head and smiled. The mayor continued, "I think the best thing to do is to not lock him up like a criminal but to ensure that he has what he needs."

  "I need to get home," Jace said with frustration.

  “I told you, I can’t help with that. Higher political offices than mine make the passports. But there is something I can help with.” The mayor said. “You’re going to have to hear me out, but this is going to be a private conversation.”

  With that, the two of them looked at Mr. Mallory. The mouse threw his top hat to the floor. He ran up to the mayor with a finger outstretched. He seemed to be on the verge of scolding the mayor but then lost the words. He walked over, grabbed his hat, and shuffled out the door. A loud yelling could be heard from beyond the door, but the noise slowly quieted down as the mouse continued walking away from the building.

  “Yes, well…” the mayor started.

  A chime came up, and the secretary's voice could be heard, "Did Mr. Mallory need to make another appointment?"

  The mayor pushed a button and responded, “No, no, I am sure he’ll be back again once another misfortune has fallen upon him. Are the next visitors here?”

  The secretary said yes, the next visitors had arrived, and the mayor thanked her.

  The mayor looked at Jace and said, "So here's what we can do. I can't get you back home, and I don't have the power to make a passport. However, I can get you to a home. A place where you don't have to worry about falling for any schemes, and you can live by yourself until this sorted out."

  Jace looked skeptically at the mayor by squinting his eyes together. Jace asked a clarifying question, “What is it going to cost me?”

  The mayor smiled brightly and laughed. His laughs sounded of snorts as he roared through the nose. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Free of charge, on-the-house, pro-bono, no money down, no money paid, free!"

  “How can it cost nothing?” Jace said, stepping away from the mayor.

  "Remember how I said people weren't used to seeing a human? I need your help to change that. We need to show them that humans aren't monsters, ready to eat them, and spread disease." The mayor said, starting to walk to the end of the room. He opened a door, and two large bird officers entered the room. These were different from before.

  Unlike previously, these large birds were dressed in brown suits and had golden feathers. However, their heads were still hawk-like, and they had the same shiny metals as the previous officers Jace had met.

  “These fine folks,” the mayor gestured towards the birds, “are my top officers. The best of the best.”

  The mayor pretended to dust off their brown suits lightly using his hoof. “I want them to keep you safe and out of trouble while they take you to your new temporary home.”

  Jace got up and nodded to the bird officers, who nodded back. Jace started walking with them when he turned around and asked one more question, “You didn’t say how this home was going to be paid for.”

  The door began to close, and the mayor was going back to sitting down. Before the door could fully close, the mayor helped clarify how this new home would be paid for, "That's simple. We'll charge an admission fee."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jace again thought about Francis’s advice about disguises in this place. The mayor’s help didn’t come from an altruistic place in his heart and Jace had fallen for another trick. Jace sighed and took a look around his surroundings. He stood in a living room that had a non-working TV from thirty years ago. Jace walked around his new home and saw that the only room with privacy was the bathroom. The other rooms were cut in half, with one wall being a solid pane of plexiglass. Jace pounded on that plexiglass several times to determine how sturdy it would be. The unfortunate truth is that it was fairly sturdy.

  Jace walked towards the bedroom and saw a giant sign above the bed. It read "Robert, Human" above it. He realized that this place had been used before, and he wondered where ‘Robert' and went. Perhaps he would later see this man, or perhaps that man has long since died. Either way, ‘Jace' was the new exhibit.

  Children animals walked up to the plexiglass and pounded it, trying to get Jace to come over and interact. Jace didn't feel like interacting with the children. He felt more stuck than ever. He wanted to go home, and now he was stuck in this fake house being watched all the time.

  Jace curled up in the bed and went to sleep. Thumps happened at night time, and Jace looked back towards the plexiglass. The animal children had changed. During the day, it was mostly large mammal like creatures that tried to rouse him. Now, during the night, giant beings with bright red eyes were thumping on the plexi-glass, trying to get his attention. Jace groaned and put the pillow over his head. He didn’t want to hear anymore thumping and just wanted some sleep.

  Morning came, and Jace found a try of to
asted bread and jam on the table. A large pitcher of water with fruit in it was laid on the table. Jace came out of bed and started eating. He heard clicks coming from nearby. He looked up to see that people were taking pictures of him eating food. What was so amazing about him eating his morning toast? Jace shrugged it off the best he could and continued to devour the meal.

  Today, Jace would look around the enclosure for any weak points. He needed to find a way to get back home, whatever it took. Jace spent the majority of that day scratching and trying to push open various areas. Unfortunately, he did not have any success in finding a way out of the enclosure, instead finding scratch marks where he was going to try. ‘Robert' had already tried escaping. That gave Jace hope, as perhaps Robert did escape, and that's why the two of them had yet to meet.

  Jace had started to get used to the noise when he heard a burst of braying laughter coming from outside the plexiglass. Jace knew that laugh because it was so unique to his ears. Jace looked to see the female cat fruit vendor staring at him and pounding on the glass. Several children surrounded her and were also hitting on the glass. Jace walked up towards them.

  “Can you hear me through this glass?” He yelled, waving at her.

  She made movements as if the sound wasn’t reaching her ears. Several children began to giggle. Jace yelled again, this time louder, “Can you hear me?”

  She again made a motion like she couldn't hear him and cupped her ears. He was about to yell even louder when he noticed that he could hear the laughing of the children. If he could listen to their laughter, they could probably hear him just fine. Jace gave her a flat look and crossed his arms.

  "Yes," the fruit vendor said, "I can hear you just fine. I knew that they were going to lock you up, but I would never have guessed they would charge admission. The price to get in here? Now that's the real crime."

  "It's your fault I am in here. I just wanted to find a way back home, and you exploited that." Jace said, his finger touching the plexiglass.

  “I intend to fix things. I got quite a scolding about your situation from my business partner.” She pointed toward an animal at the other end of the glass. The animal had a cardboard tube attached to its head and had long fake hair. Jace looked closer and realized that he was looking at a horrible disguise. Underneath that disguise was a leopard humanoid of some sort.

  Jace looked back at the fruit vendor and asked, “So, how do you intend to fix things?”

  She shrugged and walked off to the far side of the enclosure. Jace couldn’t see who she was talking to, but could hear her say in a purring manner, "I've never seen a human up close, I know it would be the experience of a lifetime for my children. Please, Mr. human keeper, let me pay extra to see the human close?" She took a few steps back, caught Jace’s eyes, and winked.

  Jace rolled his eyes, went back into this living room, and sat down. True to her word, the fruit vendor came into his enclosure with a bear-like creature wearing a vest. The vest had the name of ‘TiddleView Park' on the front. The fruit vendor jumped onto the bear creature once they were in Jace's enclosure. She pressed quickly in three spots, and the creature slumped to the floor, snoring loudly.

  After that commotion, several cat children popped their heads in the door. One of them said ‘all clear’ and Jace began to sneak out of the enclosure with his former partner in crime.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The fruit vendor dug into one of the children’s backpacks and pulled out a hooded coat. She handed it to Jace who put it on and threw up the hood. No one spoke, except the children, as they left the area.

  Several twists and turns down the street led them to a dark alley. The alley smelled like straw and compost and had a couple of chairs nearby. As the two of them sat down in the chairs, the children went off to play. Jace realized that they were probably working as watch-outs, though it wouldn't surprise him if they were stealing too.

  “Why did you free me?” Jace asked.

  The fruit vendor shrugged, licked the back of her hand, and cleaned off one of her cat ears.

  "I still don't have a passport, and now I am a fugitive. Apparently, being human is a crime here." Jace said, slumping in his chair.

  “You do have a passport, which is why I freed you.” The fruit vendor said as she continued to lick her paw and clean off her fur.

  "No, I don't. Who told you that?" Jace asked eyebrow raised.

  The fruit vendor paused mid-movement and looked at the end of the alley. She threw out a word as if spitting it in distaste, “Francis!”

  Jace looked at the end of the alley for Francis but didn’t see him. He then realized that she was conned by Francis, just like he had been.

  “Why do you want a passport? I thought you had a source that could make real and fake ones.” Jace asked.

  She sighed and looked at him with half drooped eyes, "My contact for passports is Francis. I need to find one, so I can go to another town. My children have been a bit too industrious here in their charity work, and I need to find a new home."

  She looked around and then focused on his eyes, "I think we both need to find Francis. The only problem is that I have no idea how to find him. We usually talk via middlemen."

  Jace thought about where Francis may go in the town. He thought of all the places he would like to go, but couldn’t settle on anything there. He then thought about how he met the man. It was at a church. That sparked a realization about something Francis said.

  "I think I know where to find him," Jace said, rising from his seat.

  The two of them, along with a small cloud of children who zipped around them, made their way to church. A bell was ringing at the top of the church as if summoning them to worship. The fruit vendor looked at Jace with a distrusting look, but she went into the church with him.

  Nearly all the pews were empty, and they didn't see Francis anywhere. Jace had his hood up to avoid any questions. When they had finally sat down, a child came over and complained, "Do we really have to stay for church?"

  The fruit vendor responded, "No, you can go play outside. I'll be in here for a while.”

  The children ran outside and were soon playing a game of hide and seek. When the child was out of earshot, the fruit vendor asked Jace, “Why did you bring me here? I can’t imagine Francis going to church.”

  Jace clarified, "When I first met Francis, he said that he owned the church. I got him to clarify later that he just was a member and gave the usual offering. I can't say if he's going to make this church service, but it's the best guess I got."

  Jace looked around and motioned in a circle, "You afraid of the church?"

  The fruit vendor shook her head. "I am not afraid of the church; I am afraid my children are going to cause too much trouble with this crowd. Some are easy targets for charity work, and I don't need any more exposure. Hopefully, Francis shows up at this service, because I don't think we'll be welcome to try another round."

  The members of the church slowly filed in, and an older lady with a sizeable elephant-like nose began to play the organ. The light of the evening shown through the stained glass windows, which cast odd colors around the church. The organ played out an intricate melody that flowed together. Jace enjoyed the talent it must have took to play that piece of music. However, it sounded strongly similar to church music back from where he grew up. Jace wondered if there were more cross overs between these lands then he knew about.

  The pews filled up and a leopard man, with tiny elephant-like ears, walked towards the front of the church where there was a microphone stand. "Hello, hello, test 1, 2. Can you hear me in the back?" the leopard man said into the microphone. Jace started to giggle because he thought it was funny that a creature with elephant-like ears was asking about hearing. He received an elbow in his side, a few seconds after he made eye contact with the leopard man.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” The leopard man said. “Thank you all for joining us today! We have an exciting service planned for you! Please stand and clap wi
th me as we welcome our guest speaker today: Light Seeker Francis!”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Francis walked in from the side stage, dressed in a green robe. A large bright yellow sun was sewn into the front and back of the gown. When he got up to the microphone, the church audience was on edge. Jace heard murmurs around him, asking, ‘Is that a human? What's a human doing here? Are they even allowed here?'

  Francis opened his mouth to speak when he spotted Jace and the fruit vendor. Francis closed his mouth and cleared his throat. Francis scratched his jaw, nodded to himself, and began speaking loudly to the church audience. “Thank you for having me here today. I want to speak to you about honesty and being forthright. I need everyone in this place to know how light defeats the dark. After all, to be a light seeker demands a powerful need for truth. For that, let me take a moment to greet my good friends, whom I did not expect to show up here today.”