Page 6
Daphne is an odd duck, but I guess that’s to be expected.
She didn’t sleep at all but quietly flipped through the channels on the hotel room TV for five hours as I slept.
She was mesmerized by the flickering boob tube having never seen one before.
We ended up getting fast food to save time, and she groaned in delight with every greasy bite from her burger and sip from her cola.
It was entertaining, but I was careful not to react in any sort of positive way.
The last thing I need is for her to think we are friends.
I plan to get her settled and out of my life as quickly as possible. But I can’t deny that I’d love to watch her consume something decent. If shit food makes her moan in delight, some high-quality cuisine may explode her. I wouldn’t want to miss that.
She finally dozes off around midnight, and it’s three in the morning by the time I exit the tunnel, into the city, and gently tap her shoulder.
She sits up and rubs her eyes. “Are we here?”
“Just a few minutes,” I say. “Thought you might want to see the city while the streets are, for the most part, empty. It’s packed with people and bumper-to-bumper traffic almost all of the time. So, this is a rare opportunity.”
She leans forward and her mouth drops open. “There are so many lights. Do you see that? These buildings reach up into the clouds. How do they not fall over?”
My resolve to remain indifferent to her starts to melt away. She seems more like an innocent child than anything resembling her demon origins, and despite my inner protestations, I am bemused.
She blabs a ton of observations and questions, without leaving me time to answer, as I drive slowly through the deserted streets.
“Is that a homeless person? That shop has the world's best coffee! Look at the size of that TV on the building. Do you work in one of these towers? What is the smoke coming up from the ground?”
A laugh escapes me, and she turns and smiles at me, her face still stretched in awe. “What? This place is crazy.”
“So, you really haven’t seen much of Earth, then?” I ask.
“All I’ve seen is hell’s fire chambers, and the boring ol’ crossroads. Other than seeing cars and the building with the blue light, my experiences have been, shall we say, limited.”
“This must be wild for you.”
“You have no idea. I’ve never eaten food before today. Or slept.”
“That explains the moaning,” I say with a chuckle, surprised by my own candor. “I suspect you have a lot of firsts on their way.”
“Speaking of that,” she says, suddenly squirming as her face crunches. “I am having a strange sensation near my fornication shaft.”
If I had a drink in my mouth, it would have come flying out. “Your fornication shaft?”
“Yeah, you know,” she points between her legs. “Down there. It’s an odd feeling. Like pressure and burning. It is not pleasurable like penetration.”
I swallow hard. “I think you may have to go pee. Urinate. The building is right here, so let me find a parking spot and I’ll get you to my bathroom quickly.”
“Oh man, I’ve never done that before.” She sinks into her seat and blows out a deep sigh. “There's so much I don’t know. This human thing is a lot more complicated than I anticipated.”
I laugh, but then stop myself when I catch her frightened expression.
I luckily find a decent parking spot not too far from my building’s front door, and as I pull in, a sobering realization hits me: It’s going to be up to me to teach her all of it.
Hopefully, bathroom stuff will be the worst of it.
“Let’s take this one step at a time,” I say, offering a soft smile.
She nods. “Why are you being nice to me now?”
Not really sure myself, I shrug. “I don’t know. But if we are stuck together for the next few days or until I can help get you sorted out, it might as well be as pleasant as possible.”
She smiles, satisfied with my answer, but she gasps as her face morphs into a look of terror.
“What is it?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”
“Is that pee stuff hot and wet?”
I nod, pretty sure I know where this is going.
“I think it just escaped.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get you inside and cleaned up.”
I exit the car, and as she gets out, I make it a point not to look at her accident. I hope my doorman is as kind. But mostly, I just hope I will still get my deposit back on the rental car. I doubt her pee smells like cinnamon, too.