*THE ROOMMATE*
Izzian had been asleep for hours when he became aware of an adult argument brewing downstairs. He was only half awake, and the voices were intermingling with his dream. In his awesome dream, Izzy was still on Klesia Moon Prime, playing the popular simulation game called Slime Craft.
Within the game, a player could build an entire city by mining for Slime. Along the way, he had battled a few Chulupean ninja's and was in the middle of destroying a horde of Pleverts that had decided his simulated bedroom was the perfect place for a nest.
For each rodent-like flying Plevert Izzian destroyed, another would immediately take its place, but the boy in the dream kept hacking away. Suddenly, the screams and shrieks of the dying rodents grew silent. He paused in his killing spree and listened to the Pleverts speak with the voices of his pretend parents Enot and Gala.
Izzian found himself within the plane of existence between wakefulness and dreaming, where the two worlds merged into one. Nothing else could explain the fact that a Plevert sounding exactly like Enot was expressing worries about "freaking out the neighbors." There was also no other reason why his pretend mother, Gala, responded by saying, "No one will see or notice," as she lisped certain words with her Plevert-like buck teeth.
Once he was fully awake, and the images of the talking Pleverts had dissipated, Izzy realized he was hearing a real argument between the real Enot and Gala.
Without even the hint of a Plevert-toothed lisp, Izzian heard Gala say, "I'm not asking your permission, Enot. It's already done. She's living with us for the rest of our time on earth, and then I'm taking her home."
The boy crept out into the hallway and peered down the landing, attempting to better hear the ongoing argument. The curved stairway on which he sat had some perfect hidey-holes where Izzian could listen more closely without being detected.
He needn't have worried about not hearing the discussion, because Enot had begun to shout. "I'm not debating the fact that she's here! You should have asked me first! Is this what's been causing you to act so sneaky and crazy lately, Gala? Is this the reason that you have been avoiding me?"
Whatever they were arguing about, Enot didn't seem to grasp the fact that most people were experts at avoiding him. Izzian couldn't blame Gala for keeping her distance. Enot was a fellow that begged for evasion, always nitpicking and whining about this or that, and Izzian felt the sudden urge to defend Gala's actions. Only, he had no idea of what her actions were. He wondered what Gala had done to make Enot angry enough to have a heated shouting match in the middle of the night.
Probably left the cap off the toothpaste, Izzy considered.
"Keep your voice down," Gala demanded. "She might hear you."
She? Izzian wondered. What about me? I suppose my elders aren't worried about waking me.
The elders began mumbling, too low for the boy to hear. He crept down the staircase and hid in the dark hallway between the kitchen, where Gala was currently pointing out Enot's shortcomings using creative expletives, and the living room.
Through a crack in the swinging doors that led to the kitchen-turned-warzone, Izzian could see Enot's face clearly, and the elder was clearly upset.
Gala had calmed down and was attempting to pacify Enot as well. "Look, Enot, it's already done. There is no going back. I snuck her out of the mental hospital and I can't just take her back. Mrs. Jesset can and will live in our basement," Gala said, plaintively.
When it dawned on Izzian that his pretend mother had stolen a mental patient and stuck her in the basement of 1313 Butterscotch Road, he finally understood Enot's ire. For a change, Izzian agreed with Enot and did not care to have a committed lunatic residing below the floors of his home.
Izzian was determined to make his voice heard. 1313 Butterscotch Road was his home too and he did not want to go to bed each evening afraid of being hacked to death by a crazy person in the middle of the night.
The boy stepped forward, about to push open the shuttered doors to the kitchen and speak his opinion, when a very large, very strange hand suddenly rested upon his shoulder, and another touched his arm. He could feel the weight of the meaty paw as it grasped his much smaller, obviously weaker arm, stopping the boy in his tracks.
A sudden realization came to light. If anyone happened to dispute the fact that a human was incapable of being scared "half to death," Izzian would call them a liar. His heart must have skipped three or four beats in terror as adrenaline coursed through his veins. He was powerless to screech for help and could not muster the courage to run. Enot and Gala were so close, though.
Slowly, Izzian turned his head, trying to determine what body was attached to the enormous hand that rested on his arm. Gala had mentioned the name of Mrs. Jesset, so Izzian hoped that he would only see the form of a little old lady, albeit a mentally unstable little old lady. An old lady he could handle- even one with such meaty, giant hands?
An croak escaped his throat upon the realization that he was looking at the creature's midsection. There was nothing small about this little old lady. Slowly, the frightened boy raised his gaze and continued searching for a face, until his head could tilt back no more.
Finally, Izzian saw an ending to the horrifically massive monster. Since the ceiling was not built high enough to allow the creature to stand upright, its head was bent forward at an awkward angle.
He saw her features, and they were female. Her face was larger than four or five normal faces added together, but even in his frightened state, Izzy admired the woman's curly, lush eyelashes as they fluttered, creating a slight breeze.
However, when the creature opened her mouth to speak, Izzian took his cue to faint. Her teeth were the size of dinner plates, and his system simply could not handle the uncommon spectacle of a Firithian in his living room. Sounding similar to a three year old child, Izzian screamed. The last thing he recalled was falling into the giant arms of the very creature that had frightened him into a fainting spell in the first place.
When the woozy boy came to, he realized someone had moved him to the couch in the living room. Looking to his right, he smiled at a blurry version of Gala. To his left, Enot hovered, fanning him with a book.
Still unsteady and slurring his words, Izzian said, "There was a Firithian in the living room." Only, it came out more like, "Fair weather Firifian riving room."
"Shush," Gala urged him. "Don't be scared, Izzy. You only saw Mrs. Able Mabel Jesset in her true form."
Suddenly, the boy snapped awake, "It was real?" he asked, looking wide-eyed around the room.
As if in response to his question, the ground shook, pictures threatened to clatter off the walls, and the windows rattled in their frames. A giant Firithian woman had slowly walked from the kitchen with a glass of water. The glass, however, was not carried in the meaty hands that Izzian had seen a few moments ago. Mrs. Jesset had unfurled her delicate tentacles and gently placed the glass to Izzy's lips, offering him a sip without spilling a drop.
They all watched in wonderment as Mrs. Jesset's undulating extensions placed the glass upon the table, directly on a coaster, thinking they were quite lucky to have witnessed such a rare spectacle
"A Firithian's tentacles are one of the most extraordinary appendages in the universes," admitted Enot, who had apparently accepted the idea of Able Mable Jesset residing in his home.
"Yes," agreed Izzian. "But why is she here? And, how is it that a Firithian was living in a mental hospital in Sudden Bluff, Oklahoma?"
"Izzian, you are surprisingly sensitive and ignorant for an enlightened alien," Enot stated, expressing his normal hypercritical opinions. "It's as if you've never seen a being from another planet. I mean, for a little green boy from such a cultivated place as Klesia Moon Prime, you seem to be shocked by the littlest thing."
"The littlest thing?" Izzian practically shouted. "Are you telling me that if you ran into a Firithian…on earth, in the middle of the night in your living room, you would have simply extended your
hand for a shake?" he said with indignation.
"Enough!" Gala interrupted. "I should have told you, Izzian. I should have told you both my plans, but I didn't. And now she's here and she's going to be living with us."
Gala sighed and said, "Izzian, meet Mrs. Able Mabel Jesset, formerly of Firithia. Mabel will be living in the basement next to the lab, in her true form. I wouldn't dare make her transform back into human after all she's gone through. Mabel will help us try to contact the Klesians. She's an asset to the family."
Izzian did feel shame at his reactions to a fellow alien. He'd probably offended the woman, and she seemed perfectly agreeable, despite her size. Endeavoring to be a more sensible Compassionate Citizen of the Universe, Izzian added, "I'm Sorry I fainted from looking at you. I was just…surprised. I didn't expect to see a Firithian on earth, in my living room."
He reached out to shake Mabel's giant hand. Instead, the Firithian woman extended a tentacle. It was an honor for a Firithian to offer a tentacle in greeting, a deed that did not escape Izzian's attention.
He also found some humor in the situation. Mrs. Jesset was a Firithian, and Gala had been right all along. So had Paksha, it seemed. Too bad he couldn't tell his curly-headed friend the truth.
After proper introductions were made, Gala went on to explain why she had stolen a mental patient from the hospital. Her plight to save Mrs. Jesset began when Gala had first arrived on earth and started her job at the Sudden Bluff Home for Mental Health.
She'd been outraged by the doctor who had claimed it was easier to give Mrs. Jesset drugs than to deal with her problems. Gala, angry at the doctor's admissions and lazy attitude, had stalked out of his office and into the room of Mrs. Jesset, who was languishing away in human form.
"I was so angry by the time I got to Mabel's room, I had turned green!" Gala announced. "I looked at my face in the mirror and, noticing my skin was not quite human looking, I panicked. But, Mabel didn't say a word. She showed me an old picture of a large Firithian woman. It was at that moment that I knew- Mabel was not human. I had to sneak her out of the hospital."
Gala went on to explain how she and Mabel got to know each other by planning an escape. "It was a surprisingly easy escape. I suppose security was lax because most people wouldn't think of stealing a mental patient. Finally, night before last, the storm knocked out the power, disabling the security systems. Mabel and I took our chance and snuck out of the hospital. I gave her a transformation shot and well…that's when I told Enot what I had done. Mabel's retransformation back into Firithian was difficult."
Enot rolled his eyes and said, "Yes. Although perhaps you should have considered that a Firithian stuck in human form for years might have difficulty switching back. I am glad you came to me and I'm glad I was able to help with the transformation. Are you feeling better Mrs. Jesset?" Enot yelled as though Mrs. Jesset was hard of hearing.
Izzian once again considered mentioning to Enot that he behaved like a crude Glotfish. With her enormous ears, Izzian imagined Mrs. Jesset had the ability to hear a Guzzy Gnat from a hundred miles away, wearing earmuffs.
Apparently, Mrs. Jesset was feeling better than ever, and she did not stir from Enot's shouts. Her huge head rested against the wall and the floor vibrated from her snores.
"Poor Mabel," Gala whispered. "She had convinced herself that she was actually a human."
"Let's try to get some sleep, too," Enot said, gently pulling Gala's attention away from Mabel's past struggles.
In a surprisingly thoughtful manner, Enot pulled a king-sized comforter from the closet, draping it over the sleeping form of Mabel. Both Izzy and Gala went back for another two blankets since the first one only covered a small section of the real estate that was Mrs. Able Mabel Jesset.
***