On The Rocks

Rick walked into the living room and saw that Lydia was almost ready to go. He watched her put four bottles of drinking water and a packed lunch into her backpack. Her hair was swept back in a ponytail and she wore a comfortable but flashy outfit that made her look like a female matador. He just kept watching as she laced up her rock-climbing shoes.

"That outfit is too nice to go rock climbing in," he finally said.

"No, it's not. It's made of special fibers that feel like silk but won't wear out or tear very easily."

"They make men's dress shoes?"

"Rick, did you call Kim?"

"Yeah. She didn't take any of my calls though. Her dad said she's been sick all week."

"You're going to the meeting with that teacher this afternoon?"

"What's it to you?"

"What do mean 'What's it to you?' I know what's on your mind, Ricky."

"You don't know anything."

"She's too old for you, Ricky."

Rick stood facing her. He sighed and then shook his head. The whole house became quiet and seemed to hold its breath for a second.

"You're so immature, Lydia." He put his fists on his hips.

"I know what you're thinking."

"Is your name Lydia or Debra?"

"What did Deb say to you in the lighthouse?"

He remembered what Debra had said to him and his face went ashen. All of sudden the fire in his belly to argue with his sister went out.

"You had better mind what was told to you, Rick. I know it must have something to do with this teacher."

He saw that she meant it with her whole face. He couldn't think of anything to say back but then Davy-Jake drove his pickup into the driveway and she went out the door.

As Davy-Jake was filling up the hydrogen fuel tank in his pickup, the first transgenic person he had ever seen in real life stepped out of the store and into the bright morning sunlight. The female creature was pale with long turquoise hair, had a perfect hour-glass figure, and had eight arms. Her face was mysteriously beautiful. She noticed Davy-Jake and Lydia staring. All her eight arms bent up or down at the elbows and each hand started doing an intricate Balinese-style hand dance as the face moved sideways rhythmically like a lizard warmed by the sun. When the octopus-lady finished the dance all eight hands paired together gracefully and the turquoise-haired head bowed. The creature got uncomfortably into her mid-sized car and drove away.

"Did you see what was just in this store?" the cashier, an old man, said to Davy-Jake when he went in to pay.

"I sure did. She was a sight. Gave us a little show."

"She left a business card," the old man said. "She's a masseuse. She's going up to the Mile-High Tower in Peoria to work."