Falco
I stood and stretched my arms above my head as a loud yawn escaped from deep within me.
My bus stop was just ahead and I couldn’t wait to get home and sleep.
I hadn’t gotten much rest the day before while my neighbors were moving out, banging furniture and boxes against the wall as they made their way down the hall.
I should have been moving, too, but I hadn’t found a place yet.
Sleep was my priority on that Saturday morning.
As I stepped off the bus a few minutes later, I spotted many moving vehicles again.
Some parked in front of the building, while others were lined up in the small lot beside the apartment.
Our building, along with others on the street, were set to be demolished as part of the neighborhood redevelopment plan.
In other words, the city wanted to get rid of the working-class people in the area to build condos none of us would be able to afford.
I’d been to many city council meetings, along with my neighbors, to object to the plan, citing that we would have no place to live, but the council members claimed there were plenty of vacant apartments within the city limits, and the owners of our buildings didn’t object to the buyout.
Ducking into the entrance foyer, I waved to Mrs. Barnaby, a kind older lady from the first floor who sometimes invited me down for a meal, claiming she’d made too much food and didn’t want all the leftovers.
Her son was there to help her relocate, though I thought she’d told me she was moving in with him.
I climbed the stairs to the third floor, dodging and weaving past multiple people with boxes.
We had one week left in the place, but it seemed no one but me had delayed finding a new home until the last minute.
I had no vehicle and no one to help me move anyway.
Though I didn’t have many belongings, I would have to abandon my mattress, but once I found a place, I could easily get everything else moved in a few trips using my duffle bag.
I unlocked my apartment door, and just as I pulled out the key, I heard my next-door neighbor open her door.
“Falco! Oh my gosh, I’m so glad I caught you.” Megan hurried toward me, her hands fluttering in the air.
She was about to ask me for help. I knew the signs. Yet, all I wanted to do was sleep.
“Can you do me a huge favor?” She folded her hands in front of herself and somehow managed to make her eyes appear glassy. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t so desperate.”
The same words she always used.
I sighed. “What is it?”
“It won’t take that long. I promise.” She squeezed my arm with a tentative smile.
“I need someone to take my kids to the rec center. All you have to do is drop them off. Candy would take them in her truck, but it’s only a regular cab which won’t fit all of them, and I don’t have a booster seat for the younger two anyway. ”
I was confused. Maybe because I was so tired. “Um, how am I supposed to get them there?”
She smacked my shoulder. “By bus, silly. You take the bus all the time, so I figured you’d know how to get them there. I’ll pick them up after. Our new place is just a few blocks away from there.”
She used to get her boyfriend to drive them to the rec center on Saturday mornings before he’d come back to the apartment, and they’d have sex all morning.
I knew because her screams often woke me up.
But the guy had dumped Megan when she’d suggested they all move in together since she had to find a new place to live.
I sighed and closed my eyes for a few moments.
“I guess I could do that for you.” If she was moving out, it was the last favor I would ever do for her.
I doubted I would find a place near wherever she was moving.
And her kids were pretty cool. I babysat them quite often for her on Saturday nights, as I never had anything better to do.
“Okay, great!” She grabbed my shoulders and pulled me against her. “Thank you so much. They’re just eating breakfast now and their bags are packed with their lunches and everything they need.”
With my arms crossed, I nodded and gave her the best smile I could muster. “The next bus comes in twenty minutes. I’m just going to use the washroom and then I’ll be right back out to take them.”
“You are the greatest!” She smiled, her lip quivering a little. “You’ve helped me out so much while we lived here. I’m really going to miss you.”
I wanted to share the sentiment, but I was too tired. I just wanted to take the kids where they needed to be and get back home to sleep. Falling asleep on the bus was not a safe option.
By the time I returned to the hallway, Amelia, Noah, and Samantha waited for me, their adorable faces wide-eyed and their bodies buzzing with energy and excitement I wished I could absorb from them.
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yes!” They screamed with more enthusiasm than they should have for kids who were moving homes. Maybe they didn’t know. That was a conversation I was glad I didn’t have to have with them.
“Here’s money for the bus and a little bit extra as a thank-you.” Megan handed me two twenties and a ten, probably not knowing the bus didn’t give change. But it wasn’t my money. I had enough to get them there plus extra to buy myself some groceries.
“Okay, let’s go.” I picked up little Samantha and carried her. She always got distracted everywhere I took her, and we wouldn’t catch the bus if I let her walk. The other two followed along as we made our way down the stairs and outside to the bus stop.
Noah tugged on my hand as we waited. “Are you going to watch us during our swimming lessons?”
Guilt wrenched my heart. If he were my kid, I definitely would have stayed to watch him. “I need to get some sleep, but maybe another time.”
Amelia crossed her arms and pouted. “Don’t lie. We know we’re moving and probably won’t see you ever again.”
That hurt even more. “I’m really sorry. I worked all night, and I’m only staying awake just to get you to your lessons.”
“It’s okay,” Noah sighed. “No one usually watches us anyway.”
My heart couldn’t handle much more. With my lack of any kind of class, I doubted I would ever find a guy, let alone one who wanted kids. But if I did one day end up with children, I would try to attend all their lessons and events. Something these kids craved, as did I, growing up.
The bus came then, giving me a reprieve from the guilt of simply leaving them behind once I got them to their lessons.
Since most kids always seemed to run to the back of the bus, we took the two sets of double benches on the right side.
I claimed my spot closest to the aisle and put Samantha by the window so she wouldn’t try to escape if I happened to doze off on the ride.
Amelia and Noah sat behind us, but with them kicking the back of my seat, I didn’t think I would be relaxed enough to catch a quick nap.
At the Main Street terminal, we transferred from one bus to another.
The next leg of our trip was longer in terms of distance, but the bus took the expressway, so it didn’t take much more time.
Plus, the rec center was only a couple stops after we exited the highway.
All three kids stared out the window with their eyes gleaming and mouths open, as if they’d never traveled on the expressway before.
Or maybe it looked different from the bus’s height.
“There it is!” Noah pointed over my shoulder to the rec center in the distance, visible by the giant lit signs indicating which children’s recreational programs occupied the building.
I applauded Megan for at least enrolling them in the various activities to socialize them and teach them new skills.
Maybe in her new place, and without her ex to occupy her time, she would make time to watch them. I hoped so.
“One of you can push the button.” I thought it was something kids liked to do, but I didn’t expect the three of them to fight over who got to press it, each of them shoving the hands of their siblings out of the way.
Eventually it got pressed, but I suspected someone at the front of the bus set the stop request off first. As we approached our destination, I stood and helped the kids get their backpacks back on.
“Wait!” I shouted, trying to stop the older two after they rushed past me to exit the bus.
“Get back here and hold hands.” It was too dangerous for them to run ahead.
In front of us, cars zoomed back and forth with parents dropping off their kids and patrons of other nearby businesses that shared the parking lot.
Noah tugged my hand, trying to get us all moving faster, but Samantha didn’t move quickly enough and refused to be carried into the building.
Amelia tapped my side. “You have to take Samantha to the daycare first. I’ll show you where that is. Then we go to swimming lessons, and Noah needs help getting changed.”
Great! I hadn’t been told about that. Or that I’d be grilled at the daycare because Megan hadn’t let them know that I was dropping off the kids. “She’ll be here to pick them up. She’s moving today and asked me to do her a favor.”
“Oh, yes,” the woman replied. “She did give us her new address last week.”
I sighed, just wanting to get the drop off over with and get back home to my mattress on the floor.
At the pool on the other end of the first floor, Samantha went into the girls’ changing room while I took Noah into the other.
They were always dressed in their pajamas when I babysat them, I’d never had to change them, so I didn’t know what to do.
I figured Noah would tell me. But he got his trunks and towel out all by himself and changed without my help.
“I ask Mommy for help just to get her to stay a little longer.” Noah smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “But I know you want to sleep, so I did it myself.”
“Thank you.” I patted his head before taking him to the showers to rinse off before entering the pool room.
Samantha was already there, and they both gave me a quick hug before waving bye on their way to their swimming instructors.
That meant I had completed my obligation, finished my last favor for Megan.
I left the pool room then the changing room, sadder than I expected to be to leave them behind.
Maybe I liked having kids around more than I’d thought.
Lost in my feelings, and not paying attention to where I walked, I smacked into something hard. A person. An older, bearded gentleman wearing a hooded robe.
I quickly stepped back. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
He stared at me, his head cocked to the side. “Do you have kids here?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I just dropped off my neighbor’s kids as a favor.” I didn’t know why I told him that, but suspected him of being someone’s grandfather, probably doing the same thing.
“Ah.” He nodded. “Well then.” Reaching into his robe, he grabbed a business card then handed it to me. “Maybe you could use this. But be sure to read the back first.”
I took the card from him and quickly skimmed the back of it to understand what he meant.
I saw the words Enchanted Forest , shifter , and male pregnancy .
I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or if my tired brain was playing tricks on me.
All that stuff was fictional. Sure, I’d read mpreg fan fiction but never expected an older gentleman to share that type of story with me.
When I glanced back up, he was gone. Not a trace of him as I spun around to catch another glimpse of the elder man.
Maybe he’d been advertising a new fan fiction site.
I flipped the card to the other side. No website. Only the words Make a Wish .
My tired mind was confused, but I headed toward the front doors.
A wish… I would love a place to live, a million dollars, and a family.
A real family that cared about each other.
Not like my parents who had beat me in a drunken stupor, trying to turn me straight.
Leaving had been the safest option, but between staying at various shelters and finally getting an apartment only to lose it again, I’d struggled ever since.
The automatic doors opened in front of me as I thought about what I would wish, truly wish for. “Right now, I simply wish for a place to live.” And sleep. The two things I desperately needed.
I walked out of the rec center, hoping I wouldn’t have to wait too long for the next bus.
But instead of the concrete and asphalt parking lot I expected in front of me, I stepped into a meadow.
I glanced behind me, wondering if I’d gotten lost in my sleepy daze and wandered out a back door.
But the rec center was gone. It was just me in a meadow with tall grasses and little pink, yellow, and white flowers.
A light breeze blew through them, rustling the stems. The sound made me even more tired.
The sun had started to set, which was impossible since it was still morning.
I had to be hallucinating from being so exhausted.
Maybe that meant I didn’t have time to get home.
My body was making me sleep. I was about to lie on the ground—I could sleep anywhere—when I heard the quick pounding of feet. Someone rushed toward me.
I didn’t have time to turn and see who before the being smacked into me. Hard. I fell over. The last thing I remembered was a bare-chested man with buckteeth, a beard, and a red-and-black plaid trapper hat leaning over me.
“Sorry! I’m so sorry!”