With Temmit back at the house to finish up his fencing, we headed to town where we found Mearve jostling through his usual tasks in the store as we camped out the front of it.
When he caught sight of us, he checked Bartie, who was tying up newspapers at the counter, and tried to ignore us.
Eventually, Barrie looked up and smiled when he was we were there.
"Boy, the bucket."
Mearve shot us a look and disappeared to fetch it. When he returned, he marched straight past us for the tap outside.
"Don't get wet!" Bartie called out in concern.
"Has anyone else seen that side of you before?" I asked now, checking the storefront while Mearve dropped the bucket down to begin to fill "or is it just Bartie?"
Mearve fidgeted as he checked the filling bucket for an excuse to escape.
"Well...."
"Well what?" Stew piped up "you actually showed someone?"
Mearve's eyes dropped elsewhere and I let out a frustrated growl.
"Who else did you show?" I moaned out now.
Mearve took off his glasses to rub his eyes and swipe his brow.
"I'll show you. Please, just.... be nice. Let me sort things out with Bartie here, then I'll take you right there after i finish. You'll see you have nothing to worry about."
Turning off the tap, Mearve left us by the bucket so he could slump back to the store, running his hand through his hair nervously as he went.
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When Mearve eventually returned, his face was filled with fresh determination. He quickly scurried along the pathway so he could duck around the block of shops and start to head downhill.
"It's not far, just up here."
I followed Mearve's gesture and saw that the place he was referring to was swamped in overgrowth.
There was a shielded wooden ramp leading up the side of the house to the verandah hugging it's right side.
The left was shrouded in greenary and rotting pink flowers that bees flitted around.
I couldn't see Bartie's beloved car here. There was only room on this corner property for the house itself.
He didn't live with Bartie then. Whose house was this?
"Just be careful" Mearve warned us as we crossed the road to head for the ramp "the bees can get a bit close if you dawdle."
Ducking down and darting through, we copied the stance to bring ourselves up to a table and chairs tucked into the corner of the veranda. Stew cried out and darted around behind me when one of the bees did dare to follow after her momentarily.
Veering around, the front door was adorned with a hung blue tie-dyed blanket that had been pinned over the glass that was adorned with colourful stickers throwing rays of rainbow light.
Mearve pushed it aside and climbed through. He held up the blanket for us so we could gather around the entry he quickly closed.
"Maisie! I'm back!"
The woman from the vet sat at the table. She had her head down as she mixed up powder into a cup of water she was balancing out to try and get the right consistency. Her curly hair fell past her face to dangle above it.
On the table before her was a yellow towel that had been shaped into a hoop. I could see the begging beak and fluttering wings of a baby bird tucked inside it demanding food.
On the other side of the towel was perched a yellow and white cockatiel. It bobbed it's head as it sang its rehearsed song to the ignorant baby.
Maisie lifted her head at the noise and broke into a wide smile when she saw Mearve had company.
"I'm so glad you two finally came here!" she beamed as she mixed and dribbled the slop back into the cup to check its consistency "It's good that Mearve has some friends now!"
"They aren't exactly friends" he muttered back when he approached her "more like people I know."
"Well, you must have something if you led them here" the woman teased, grinning to the cup she dipped a plastic syringe into "Soup and Stew certainly haven't followed me home all the time I've been here.
Mearve huffed at Maisie who tilted the baby bird's neck upwards to slide the syringe into. She smirked in response.
The baby bird squeaked as it fed from the syringe, it's wings flicking out with each high-pitched head-bob that guzzled down the liquid.
The cockatiel leant towards it to try and pick at the food dribbling off the baby's beak.
"Come" Maisie waved us over "you're here, you might as well be comfortable. Come and check out this cutie."
Stew's ears flicked up and she wedged in beside Maisie so she could lift herself up and get a better view of the baby bird.
I pulled up on the other side of Maisie to see the absolute gunked mess that was supposed to be the birds beak.
Maisie picked up a dampened hand towel to gently wipe at the mess. She bundled up the bobbing bird to carry around to a cardboard box a lamp was directed onto.
The cockatiel followed to land on Maisie's shoulder, bobbing and clicking another tune for her.
I noticed Mearve's hardened eyes on me when Maisie had her back turned. He was on edge too now that we were in his safe space and around the kind soul caring for him. I was the same when Mearve simply slipped into our backyard. Even that was too close for me.
His Maisie was my Missy. I could see it already.
Maisie glanced back at us warmly when she crossed into the open kitchen opposite the table. Mearve dragged out the seat closest to the door. I took the one to his right, opposite her. Stew was on my left, opposite him.
"Are we having tea together?" Maisie smiled when she promptly snapped the kettle on and fished through her cupboard for four cups.
The noise of the warming kettle had the cockatiel mimicking a whistle which made her grin.
Floral cups were laid on the bench before her. I felt every muscle in my body seize when I realised she knew that there was more to us than met the eye. It was as if she expected us to sit here as her equal now that Mearve had shown her what to expect.
The cups gave away her wishes completely.
The kettle snapped to call Maisie to it. Steam swirled from the cups when she filled and placed each one in front of us. Maisie sank into her chair to smile at her bird sliding down her arm towards the hot cup to play with the dangling string of the teabag.
Stew and I exchanged an uneasy glance. Mearve cradled his cup to gently blow the curling steam from it. Maisie did the same, looking to us expectantly.
How was she so collected, knowing fully well that Mearve could look like us and vice-versa?
Lowering my face to the steeping tea, I became aware of my stooped posture and curled fingers. The way I sat wasn't natural. It was animalistic, rough, and guarded.
I saw my own red eyes sweep over my pale face. They lifted to Maisie who only smiled back.
She wanted me to be human, like Mearve, but I wasn't made for that life. Who was I trying to fool by sitting here with a cup before me like he was?
Even as a human, I wouldn't be as practiced as Mearve was. I'd be too used to living a life feral. I went missing because I hated that pitiful existence. Now, seeing how easy it looked to play pretend, it was making me think about how much different things could have been if I just suffered a little longer.
Why was the simple action of lifting a teacup just too human for me then? It didn't feel right acting that way around a stranger.
"It's not going to kill you" Mearve grinned over his "if you let it go cold, it'll taste worse."
I smiled politely but left my cup untouched. Stew did the same when she saw mine, even giving it a little push away.
I felt like I was being put on show now; like Missy was at the end of the table instead of Maisie, waiting for me to show her what I had been hiding from her all this time....
Would she scream? Cry? Laugh? Dance like we had that night together?
"Thank you for the tea" I slid down to the floor promptly "it's been nice to meet you, Maisie.
Stew groaned as she followed, looking up at the cup before dropping her eyes down and sighing.
"Aren't we being human anymore?"
"We have to get home" I jerked my head to the front door.
Stew sighed again. I shot her a stern look that had her ears drop down. Following after me, she glanced back to the others who watched us go.
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"Why did we have to leave?" Stew questioned when we darted under the flowers and past the looping bees "she was nice. She reminds me of Ma."
I ignored Stew's questions and observations so I could focus on getting us home.
"Can we go back again one day?" Stew begged when we crossed the road towards the stores "I liked that. We could be actual humans an..."
Stew took my silence as an answer, pouting when she slinked up beside me.
"I want to sit at a table with Ma" she almost whispered, falling quiet when her eyes met mine.
Sighing in frustration, I finally stopped to face her.
"Stew..."
"I want to show her" she whispered.
I could see her mind was racing like mine. She dropped her eyes down and started to walk again, disappointed. This time I had to keep up with her.
I had been denying her this for years. I was running on borrowed time before she stopped listening and acted for herself.
"If we show her and it comes to it, will we still follow her?" she grimaced at me.
"Well...." I blew out my breath and tried to smile "....we were going to. Once the house is cleared, we're taking those tracks."
"But if she can't take us, why should we?" Stew looked down to the bridge we walked away from "we'd be chasing the train for nothing again."
Stew ran herself to the brink of death chasing the train the first time. Why would she do that again for someone who lost faith in her, even if that person was her own mother?
"Where did you want to go?" I spoke softly "if things didn't work out here?"
Her eyes followed my gaze to the horizon, then frowned when they met.
"Are you coming too?" she breathed "you love Ma more than anything. You'll chase her, even if she says no."
"I can't just leave you out here by yourself" I winced at the thought "I can follow the tracks for Missy any day. I won't be able to find you again if we split up. We have to stick together."
I saw a little smile come from Stew. Her tail started to flop.
"Maybe we should have tea together" I commented, feeling my gut twist "I mean, we are kind of in a position where it would be suitable. It'd be like our own goodbye to her."
Stew stopped in her tracks. I did too, swallowing back down the lump in my throat.
It had to be before she left or not at all. Missy would want to know what would be following her to her new life and lingering within it. And, if things did go badly before she stepped onto that train, we still had plenty more track to follow elsewhere.
If I didn't do it then, Stew would explode. I might even destroy our new lives beside her.
It had to be when Missy was leaving. It had been far too long.
"Can we really?" Stew's eyes shone.
"Whatever happens, it's us versus the world" I bumped her to make her giggle now "besides, whose going to teach you to hunt properly? No matter where we go, there'll be plenty of stars to explore and land to run through. It'll be amazing."
Picking up our feet again, we walked for home. Now that our minds were made up, there was no turning back. Stew smiled at me and I returned it wholeheartedly.
Even if the uncertainty of it all was the most terrifying, I knew we were doing the right thing when I felt my insides burst with excitement and saw Stew's smile never leave her face.
We were actually going to do this.
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After returning to their home and having Mearve translate our wishes over more cups of tea, Maisie excitedly created an elaborate farewell for Missy which helped push our plan into motion.
The final day was spent cheekily hooking lights from one store to the other. During breaks, workers would snatch the chance to tack up the thread of lights zigzagging across the road to each shop.
Maisie had given everyone plenty of time to prepare. Foldable tables and chairs of all shapes and sizes were stacked in back rooms, behind counters, and even against stores themselves to be ready for when the sun started to set. The amount was more than enough for what was planned.
Bright orange cones had been planted along the roadside in leaning towers to later divert any traffic that might want to pass through. It was a very unlikely scenario, but still one that had to be prepared for.
Then, there was the place where Missy would meet both Stew and I tonight.
It was away from the road and in the bushes a bit. Maisie had already broken a path into the little nook she had set a single metal table in with three mismatched chairs. Crackled white solar lights were being twined around the trees and overhanging branches by Mearve.
I could still glimpse where the main festivities would be through the foliage, but with the darkness of the night, it would be enough to keep us in our own seclusion for long enough. With the lights bunched over us, we had our own blanket of stars.
Maisie would set her best teapot, chamomile tea, and cups beforehand. She gifted me a nice white shirt with dark longs and brown shoes to look the part.
Stew was giddy from receiving a cute dress decorated with plump oranges and crinkled leaves. She only had until tonight when she could wear it herself and show her mother. Until then, it was safely tucked away with my outfit at Maisie's house where they could remain a secret.
With passing days rolling into this last one, the house was finally packed into boxes that were stacked beside the front door. All that was left was to make the street come to life one last time for Missy.
Then, our fates would be decided.
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