Three by Justin D'Ath

Author:Justin D'Ath
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ford Street Publishing
Published: 2016-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

19

Humans Before Brids

Many hours later, I awoke on the floor of the little kitchen. I was lying in a tangle of new blankets, halfway under the table. Straightaway a great sadness filled my heart.

My parents were dead!

It still did not feel real that they were no longer in this world. Never again would Ama place her warm, soft palm on my forehead in the morning blessing of mother to son. Never again would Baba grip my shoulders and wish me strength and success for the day that lay ahead. Aaaaee!

Think of other things, I told myself.

The kitchen was no longer fully dark. When I went back early in the morning after saying goodbye to Holly, I must have left the door partway open. Light was coming in from the warehouse, where the gap around the top of the walls let in the brightness of a new day.

‘Ghoo morhee sahn-hay,’ said a strange but familiar voice.

It took my half-asleep brain a few moments to make the translation: ‘Good morning, Sunday.’

I rolled over. Three lay wrapped in its own blankets, less than an arm’s length away. A brid’s arm length, I thought. And tried not to hate it for being what it was, or for what one of its kind had done to my parents. I did not fully succeed.

‘What is good about it?’

The creature blinked at me with its one blue eye. ‘Holly go home?’

Now I remembered something good to think about. ‘She is coming back later,’ I said.

‘Holly nice,’ said Three.

I wanted to say, She kissed me, but that was only something you would tell a very close friend, not a monkey.

‘She is very nice.’

Pushing aside my blankets, I stood up and stretched. My ankle felt much better today. But the muscles in my arms and shoulders were stiff from carrying Three halfway across the city last night. Why had I done it? A bomber without its bomb was no use to anyone. It was just a waste of space, as they said in American TV shows. I stretched my stiff arms again and looked at the clock above the refrigerator. Its hands showed five minutes before three. I had been asleep for nearly twelve hours.

‘Thirsty,’ said Three.

So get yourself a drink, I nearly said.

But then I remembered how kind Holly had been to it. Almost the last thing she had said to me before going home last night was, ‘And take good care of Three’. I went to the sink and filled a mug with water. But I was thirsty, too, so I drank it down slowly-slowly, while Three looked on. Humans before brids, I thought. Only once my thirst was satisfied did I fill a second mug for Three.

‘Thank you, Sunday,’ it said politely. It seemed stronger today. It was able to sit up and hold the mug for itself.

While Three sipped its water, I checked Holly’s phone. There were no messages and no missed calls. I was disappointed at first, then I remembered that Holly had promised to call me only if she was not coming back today.

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