“Be a good girl for your parents, always,” Kapre said. “And when the time comes, you shall see your Lola in heaven.”
“Will you see Lola in heaven, too?” the girl questioned.
Kapre cast his gaze up towards the twilight, closing his eyes briefly. Imagined how it would feel to be in paradise with Nina, to be happy and free and loved. The yearning breathing into his skin, curling into the folds of his chest. He opened his eyes and looked down at the child. She had Nina’s eyes, Nina’s smile.
“No,” Kapre said. “I will not.”
* * *
He visited her grave often. It was a lonely patch of grass, a small headstone to mark her memory against other fading bones that slept underneath the soil. Some days, when the nights were dark enough, while the humans dreamt, Kapre curled his large spindly body against the hard ground, keeping his vigil long after others have forgotten, and wondered. His hands unfurled, crackling. A paper doll lovingly placed, underneath a granite cross.
Kapre closed his eyes.
If claws can hold paper dolls without fear of tearing, and if a baby’s touch can still a monster’s rage, then perhaps it is not so strange, he thought, that he would find a small piece of his soul within the lifetime of a woman he’d once loved, and knew that for the rest of his days it would fill him with a quiet, steady beat.
A PET IS FOR LIFE
Geneve Flynn
Ku let the humans wash past her. The order of arriving buses flashed up in yellow LED lights on the sign overhead. The early bus that went to Corinda pulled into the station with a gust of hot exhaust and a wheeze, disgorging its passengers into the steamy morning air. There were women in black and charcoal skirts and jackets, sweat shining through their foundation; men in grey and navy suits, red-faced and speaking intently into their mobiles; students in ripped jeans, short shorts and singlets, streaming towards the coffee shops.
Their small lives flashed through Ku’s head like flickering movies every time she brushed against one of them. She held her arms just out from her body, allowing the images to come; searching, searching. She had chosen her prettiest face: dark almond eyes beneath heavy black bangs, skin like fresh milk and rosebud lips beneath a dainty nose. It sometimes drew unwanted attention, but today she felt whimsical.
Today felt like a lucky day.
The crowds took no notice of the Asian woman waiting beside them at the bus station, except to recoil slightly or to hurry by with a little more speed and the slightest shudder. To them, it felt like nothing more than a brief drop in temperature or perhaps a sour pocket of air. One or two gave the surgical mask she wore a quizzical look, then their eyes slid away.
Someone brushed against her and Ku turned, vibrating like a tuning fork. A young woman in cargo pants and a thick army jacket had pushed past and was now threading her way through the crowd towards the triple-five bus. She seemed immune to the heat. Ku had gotten only the swiftest flash of the young woman’s life. A sister. Animals.
Loneliness.
A good sign.
* * *
Watashi wa kireida to omoimasu ka? It was a whisper, surfing above the noise of the voices at the bus stop.
Tully prickled with recognition. She frowned over her shoulder into the crowd of waiting passengers, the search for her travel pass in her cargo pockets forgotten. She rubbed the arm of her jacket, expecting her hand to come away stained, but there was nothing there.
“Fuckin’ get on or off.” A man shoved past, trailing the stink of cheap smokes and sweat. He plonked himself on a seat halfway down and shoved the sleeves of his fluoro shirt up, revealing corded forearms. Tully swiped her pass, ignoring the pointed stare at her chest and dropped into the seat across from him.
“Oh, hel-lo…” he said, sitting forward, his study of Tully’s breasts abandoned.
A young Asian woman had climbed onto the bus, fumbling for change in a purse shaped like a panda. Tights with cats on the thighs covered her long legs, and she wore a red jacket over a singlet and short black skirt. The dark eyes visible above the white surgical mask were long-lashed and exquisite. An electric pulse grabbed the back of Tully’s neck and shivered down to her fingertips.
She was the voice Tully had heard.
“Here you go, love.” The bus driver held out a ticket.
The Asian woman ignored his hand and walked forward, a slight furrow on her brow as she and Tully examined each other. The bus driver shook his head and crumpled the ticket into the bin at his knee.
The guy in the fluoro shirt watched the Asian woman approach and slid one steel-capped boot out into the aisle, blocking her path.
“Excuse me, please,” she murmured.
Several seats behind and the seat in front of him were empty. He smirked and spread his legs wider.
Without a word, the Asian woman slid into the seat in front of him. He shrugged and grinned at Tully.
Tully glowered. “You—”
His phone rang and he fished it out, holding one finger up in her face. Tully ground her teeth and considered whether it was worth biting his finger off at the knuckle. The Asian woman coughed delicately, adjusting her mask, and Tully decided against it. He wasn’t worth the bother.
The bus pulled away with a hiss of pneumatics and a judder.
Three stops before Tully’s, Mr Fluoro finally hung up. With a yawn, he glanced around and winked at her. Then he leaned forward and breathed into the Asian woman’s ear, “Take off your mask.” He licked chapped lips. “Show us your pretty face.”
Her face reddened, but she gave no indication she’d heard him.
“Come on.” He grinned and spoke louder. “Me love you long time.”
Silence dropped on the bus around them. An old woman swivelled in her seat and raked sharp blue eyes over the Asian woman’s outfit. Two girls giggled behind cupped hands. A businessman beside the old woman was stiff-necked with the effort of staying out of it.
Smothering a laugh, Mr Fluoro snaked one hand over the Asian woman’s shoulder. One grease-grimed finger crept towards the loop of the mask hooked around her ear.
Tully surged to her feet and slammed him back against his seat, her fingers clamped around his throat. “Touch her face and I’ll break yours.”
He goggled, face flushing an ugly red. His eyes rolled side to side, looking for help from the other passengers. “What are you, a lesbo?” he gurgled.
Tully sneered. “Oh yeah, I’m doing this ’cause I don’t like dick.”
The bus broke into instant applause. The two girls panned matching powder-pink phones around at the cheering passengers. The businessman raised his hand for a high-five. The Asian woman sat still and doll-like, face forward.
“What are you lot fucking clapping for?” Tully snarled.
She shoved the red-faced man away. He fell sideways with a squawk. The businessman snatched his hand back and shrank down. One person up the back cheered for a moment longer before realising everyone else had stopped. The bus lurched to a halt and Tully jerked forward, banging her hip.
“What’s going on back there?” the driver called, slapping off his seat belt. He heaved to his feet, hitched his pants up and waddled down the aisle. He scowled at Tully. “No fighting on council buses!”
Tully ignored him. “None of you were gonna help her.” She glared at the other passengers. “You all just watched, enjoying the show. So, you can take your clapping and shove it up your arse.”