Thoreau - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

One major thing that I had to get used to at Bubba's was no rules.
Mommy Daddy had lots of rules, but Bubba said those were old rules and I never had to follow them again.
Gelo 'splained that I had routines instead of rules now, then he went over them very slowly and carefully until I understood them.
One of my daily routines was called hygiene. I had to shower and wash my hair, brush my teeth, and put on deodorant every morning when I got up. If I got sweaty during the day, I had to do it again before bed.
Gelo said later, when my peach fuzz turned to whispers, he'd show me how to use the 'lectric razor. When I asked him what peach fuzz was, he took my hand and rubbed my fingers on the tiny soft hairs growing on my cheeks.
"And it will become whispers like yours?" I tilted my head as I rubbed my other hand on his jaw and felt the sharp pricklies there.
"Whiskers, ometto (little man), and yes, eventually, when you get to be a big boy."
"I'm already a big boy!" I huffed and made an angry face at him.
"Oh, I am sorry, cucciolo. You're right! You are! I meant, when you are a bigger boy. Maybe by the time you're eighteen, hmm?"
And I nodded once, happy he knew I was a big boy and not a baby.
My other routines included eating three meals a day with snacks if I got hungry, taking naps any time I felt tired, and going to my room to "reset" whenever I got grumpy.
Bubba was 'specially big on that last one.
I didn't really understand why I had to eat and sleep so much, but Leo said Bubba and Gelo would worry about me until I regained my strength or Tanner woke up.
Bubba said eventually I'd have chores to do, like make my bed and help set the table for dinner, but for now my only chore was to rest and grow stronger. Since my routines were easy to follow, I didn't complain about chores.
In fact, I had nothing to complain about at all!
I was allowed to play outside and read as much as I wanted, I had lots of friends, and Bubba and I were part of a family again.
The del Vecchio flock was made up of Gelo, his sister and their three girl cousins, and now me and Bubba! The girls were all witches who could turn into beautiful little birdies. Sometimes they shifted and let me chase them around the front yard, but Bubba didn't let us go far, which was okay since I tired out fast. Sometimes, I just dropped down right where I was and took a nap.
At first, the girls told me to call them zia (aunt), but Gelo said I should use sorella (sister) instead. That led to an explosion of 'Talian between him and the girls, which ended when he threw his hands up and stalked off, muttering to himself. Bubba laughed and said he should have known better than to argue with them in the first place.
So now I had four aunts. Zia Sara was Gelo's little sister and Beta Crew's mate. She was a water witch and could turn into a cardinal. Of all the girls, she liked to argue the most and sometimes used a mean voice with Gelo and Bubba and Leo, but she could also be kind and gentle.
Zia Ariel was Gelo's oldest cousin and Beta Tristan's mate. She was an air witch and could shift into a bluebird, which I loved because Binda told me that bluebirds meant happiness. Zia Ariel was an artist and designed all the advertising for the del Vecchio magic shop, which they were building near Roger's Diner. The other day, she showed me a deck of tarot cards she was making and I couldn't stop looking at all the amazing details, including the teeny tiny letters she used to sign her name on each one.
Zia Beatrix visited us the most since her mates, Zayne and Zayden, were Gelo's 'prentices, whatever that meant. She was Zia Ariel's little sister and a fire witch who could make little flames dance on her fingertips! Her bird form was a tiny goldfinch, and she sometimes made a nest in my curls, which made me giggle as I ran around with her snuggled up in my hair.
Zia Maria, Gelo's little cousin, was an air witch and Beta Matthew's mate. She could turn into a cedar waxwing. I worried about her a little bit because she lost a lot of things and tripped over nothing and broken stuff, but she was always smiling or giggling, so I guessed it didn't bother her. I really liked it when she brought along her tabby cat, Squidge. Gelo said that Squidge was an evil son of a b-word who had tried to eat Maria in bird form eleven times! But I liked him. He let me pet his soft fur and even purred for me. I figured Gelo was just jealous because Squidge only hissed at him every time they met.
I loved all of my zias so much! They called me piccolo orso, which Gelo said meant "little bear," brought me cookies and cakes, and squished me in hugs all the time.
I liked Bubba's hugs the best because he squeezed me hard enough that I could feel it! But my zias' hugs were almost as good, only for different reasons. Zia Bea and Zia Maria were shorter than me and they laid their heads on my shoulder, which made me feel big and brave. Zia Ariel and Zia Sara were taller than me, though, but that just meant I could rub my face in the soft bumps on their chests.
When I told Leo that, his eyes got really big, and he coughed a couple of times before he 'splained the bumps were called breasts and I shouldn't do that because they weren't mine to play with.
"Whose are they to play with?" I tilted my head as I asked him.
"Beta Tristan's and Beta Crew's," Leo rumbled as his ears turned red. "When you get a mate, you can play with hers, but until then, keep your hands - and your face - to yourself."
"I can't help the way my zias hug me, Leo." I picked at the hem of my shirt, worried that I was being a bad boy. "They smoosh me into them."
"I'll, um, mention it to Gelo to tell them." He patted me on the head and mumbled, "No way am I having that conversation with them."
"I don't think my mate will be a girl, though," I said when I was sure he wasn't mad at me. "Girls are soft and pretty, but I don't like them in a mate way. Plus, even when my face is smooshed into their bumps, they don't make my penis hard."
Leo's cough suddenly grew worse, and he ran out of the living room.
Probably to get a drink of water, I told myself and didn't worry any more about it.
The only thing I did not like about my new zias was the smelly green stuff they made me drink. Zia Ariel said it would wake Tanner up, but it didn't do anything - and now Zia Sara sent over another jar of the yucky stuff and Bubba was trying to make me drink it!
"Please, Bubba," I begged as tears rolled down my cheeks. "Don't make me! I don't like it. It feels bad in my mouth and throat. It feels like drinking dirt!"
"Honey, it will help Tanner wake up. Don't you want your wolf to wake up?"
Of course I did, but I didn't want to drink that stuff! But now I was stuck. I couldn't say no and I couldn't say yes.
My head started to hurt because I didn't know what to say. Rocking back and forth, I grabbed fistfuls of my hair and pulled it hard, wanting everything to just stop and everyone to go away!
"Em, if he drinks any more of that, it'll make him sick," Gelo said. "It's not doing anything, anyway."
With a sigh, Bubba set down the glass and untangled my fists from my hair. Then he hugged me against his chest until I stopped crying.
"Sorry, Reau," he muttered. "Why don't you go see what Leo's doing?"
I nodded and leaped to my feet as soon as his big arms let me go, wanting to get away from him and that yucky drink. I loved my bubba very much, but I sure didn't like him right now.
"Remember to knock first if his bedroom door's closed," Gelo called as I raced out of the living room.
" 'kay, Gelo!" I shouted back and ran up the stairs.
I liked hanging out with Leo the lion. He always thought of fun activities for us to do, he had a lot of interesting things to talk about, and he liked to read with me. The only thing I didn't like about him was when he used his scary voice.
The other night, Gelo dragged my cage out to the driveway and set it on fire. The flames looked pretty, like they were dancing, and I wanted to touch them, but Leo used his scary voice to tell me to get back before I got burned.
"I wish I could sit in them," I told him, and he rolled his eyes, then grabbed my elbow to make sure I stayed beside him.
"Well, until you become fireproof, you can't sit in them," he rumbled in his normal voice.
"And you will never become fireproof," Bubba chimed in, "so get the idea out of your mind."
Reaching up, I rubbed my fingers all over my head. How was I supposed to get an idea out of there?
The three of them chuckled for some reason, then we stood in silence and watched my cage burn.
With it gone, I knew I never had to sleep in it again, and Leo told me we could put some fun stuff in the big empty space I now had in my room. I asked him what fun stuff was, and he told me we'd figure it out later.
Racing upstairs now, I saw his door standing open, so I went inside and found him slouched in his comfy chair by the window, just staring out. He wasn't reading or watching TV, so, since he was obviously doing nothing, I decided it was later.
"Leo! What is fun stuff?" I yelled.
"What are you talking about? And use your inside voice."
"Sorry. Are you tired? Did the ghost wake you up last night, too?"
"Ghost?" He sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face.
"Didn't you hear it?" I opened and closed my hands really fast as I told him all about it. "It made ooo-ooo! noises in the middle of the night. I got scared and tried to go to Bubba and Gelo's room, but the ghost got louder the further I walked down the hallway, so I went back to my bedroom and hid in my closet with my panda blankie!"
"Oh. Well, um. Hmm." The tips of Leo's ears turned red, and I wondered why that happened to him so much. "Next time you hear the ghost, come down here and bunk with me. I'm at the other end of the hall and I have a white noise machine running all night, so I hardly ever hear it."
White noise machine? I wanted to see white noise! But right now, I was more interested in the ghost.
"Do you think it's living in the attic?" I asked him.
"Probably." Leo's mouth twitched. "Why don't you tell Gelo to take care of it? That's his job, after all."
"Good idea!" Grinning, I clapped my hands together. "He can get rid of that noisy old ghost in a second! He is the Angel of Death!"
"Doesn't that scare you?" Leo tilted his head as he stared at me. "To know who he is and what he does?"
"Why would it?" I shrugged. "He kills monsters. That makes me feel safe, not afraid. He said he can protect me from anything, and I believe him. You know why? Because all those monsters must be so afraid of him, they wouldn't dare hurt me!"
"That's exactly right, buddy." He smiled a little. "Now what were you asking about fun stuff?"
"You said I could get fun stuff for my room since I have all that extra space now. What is fun stuff?"
"Oh. Well, which games do you like? We could set up a gaming system in the corner. No, scratch that. For you, I think maybe a library—"
"Library?" I gasped. "I can have a library?"
"Yeah, buddy. You can have whatever you want. I noticed you like to read, so that might be better than a gaming system. At least for now." His eyebrows drew together and he frowned."I doubt you know how to play any games, anyway."
"I do so know how to play games!" I made an angry face at him. "I can play Hide and Seek and Tag and Candy Land and Simon Says—"
"I meant video games. Have you ever played a video game?"
"No." I shook my head. "Do you watch a video, then play the game?"
"I'll show you another time. Tonight after dinner, let's start of list of what we need to create a library for you."
"Well, what can we do now?" I asked, then hurried to add, "And don't pick anything that includes Bubba! I don't like him right now!"
"I know you don't, buddy, but remember he's only trying to help you."
"I 'member, but I still can't like him for a little while."
"Fair enough. Well, how about we play a sport? I found some lawn darts in the garage yesterday. Or we could shoot some hoops if you want."
"Gelo said I will never touch his guns," I told him with wide eyes so he could see how serious I was. "Not ever, ever, ever!"
"And he's right. Never touch any of his weapons, okay?" When I nodded a bunch of times, he said, "Shoot hoops means to throw the ball into the basket, not fire a gun. There's a half-court by the garage. I can teach you Horse."
"I'd like to see a horse!" I clapped my hands and bounced on my toes. "They look so beautiful and soft!"
Leo blinked a few times before he shook his head with a tiny smile.
"We can ask Emerson about riding lessons sometime, but I was talking about the basketball game."
"Basketball! I 'member basketball from when I was allowed to go to school! You want to play basketball with me?"
"Yep. It'll be fun, good exercise, and fill up a couple of hours."
I didn't understand why filling up hours was important, but I liked doing anything outside. Plus, Bubba said exercise was good for me as long as I didn't overdo it or hurt myself.
"Okay, Leo the lion. Will you show me how horses play basketball, please?"
For some reason, he laughed, and I giggled to see him so happy.
Maybe he's excited to see horses, too!
Leo
The day he arrived here, Thoreau grabbed my hand, pressed it to his heart, and fell asleep clinging to it.
And just like that, he became my little brother, too.
I spent a lot of time with him during the day while Angelo and Emerson were at work. Despite my protests, they paid me as their live-in babysitter, but Thoreau quickly became far more than just a kid I watched to earn a few bucks.
The best thing about hanging out with him was how well he distracted me. He asked dozens and dozens of questions a day, and I had to focus in order to answer them so he could understand. Not only that, but his curiosity was as insatiable as his wide-eyed wonder was adorable. He was the most literal person I'd ever met, and I lost count of how idioms and figures of speech I had to explain after they went right over his head.
Needless to say, most days he kept my brain too busy to dwell on the past.
He also liked to help around the house, following me closer than my own shadow. He was good at dusting, mopping, and picking up, but hated the vacuum cleaner, saying it was rude for being so loud. I had to bite back a chuckle at that one. He had no interest in learning to cook, which was fine because I sucked at it, but we must have made a hundred "peabutter jelly sammiches" in the last week.
He took to yardwork pretty quickly, but I half thought that was only because it was outside, and he loved to be outside. He did not like the lawnmower anymore than he liked the vacuum, but we found some hand tools in the potting shed that made him squeal, especially the "big spoon" - a trowel - and the "jabber" - a weeder.
Yesterday, since the weather was so nice, I decided we'd dig the dandelions out of the cracks in the front walk, and he was delighted to use his "jabber." As we worked, he rambled on and on about his ideas for a garden and how some plants needed a certain amount of sunlight each day and others didn't need any at all.
I asked him how he had learned so much about gardening, and he said Binda had given him a seed catalog to read one day.
"Ah." I nodded, suddenly understanding why he was pronouncing some things the way he was. "It's dahl-ia, by the way, not dah-li-ah."
"Two beats, not three. Good to know. I tried to sound out the names I didn't know."
"I figured that," I said with a smile.
This morning at breakfast, I mentioned it to the others and suggested that gardening might be therapeutic for Thoreau, and Emerson agreed.
"There's an old, overgrown garden at the back of the property. One of us needs to check first and make sure it's safe and not a nest of snakes, but then he's welcome to turn it into his own space." Emerson thumped me on the back. "Thanks for thinking of that, Leo, and thanks for taking such good care of him. I know he can be a handful at times."
I nodded in acknowledgement, but said nothing.
I wasn't sure how much he or Angelo trusted me, but I liked to think they at least knew I cared for Thoreau very much.
When they told me they both had off today and tomorrow, I retreated to my room as soon as our pancake feast was over, even though they invited me to stay downstairs. I knew Emerson was going to give Thoreau a second dose of Sara's wolfsbane antidote, and I had no desire to be anywhere nearby when they did.
Can't blame the kid, I told Ruby as I dropped into the recliner in front of my window. I've never tasted it, but the smell alone is enough to turn my stomach. I don't think I could choke it down a second time.
And with Reau's sensory issues, it's probably a thousand times worse for him, Ruby agreed with a grimace.
As I stared out the window, my eyes were blind to the trees that towered along the edge of the property. I was too busy trying to remember if the demon had ever used any wolfsbane on my pack members at Tall Pines. I couldn't recall every evil deed it had committed while wearing my face and using my hands, and sometimes I thought that was probably for the best.
As my thoughts began to spiral down, Thoreau burst into my room, yelling something about fun stuff.
Before I understood what he was asking about, he was off and running about a ghost in the attic keeping him up at night, and I dreaded giving Angelo and Emerson a heads up on that one.
I mean, I'm barely recovered from the whole 'tell the girls not to smash Reau's face into their boobs' talk, I muttered to my wolf, which made Ruby burst out laughing.
When Thoreau asked me to show him how horses played basketball, I couldn't hold back a chuckle of my own, making the boy giggle, too.
"Hey, Reau? Leo?" Emerson called from the bottom of the stairs. "Luna wants us to come over for a bit, so let's go."
"Me, too?" I called back.
"You, too."
"Oh, boy, oh, boy! We get to see the pretty luna again!" Thoreau chirped, hopping up and down impatiently as I got out of my chair.
"Yeah. Wonder what's happening."
"We're going to see her. That's what's happening," he told me with a frown. "Don't you know how a visit works?"
"Yeah, buddy, I know. Come on. Let's go."
"So happy, Leo!" In his excitement, he bounced over and gave me a quick hug.
I ruffled his curls with an affectionate smile and knew one thing with dead certainty. If this fragile little bean could survive hell for years and still have the courage to enjoy life, shame on me if I couldn't be as brave.