A Change of Plans

Now that I've got the Pony novel done, I've got a few Thursday Prompts from Poetigress to catch up on. This one, from June 23rd, was "caught," and it makes the 18th trip into the neighborhood. The previous 17 can be found under their respective numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

     "Serena!" I hissed, rolling out of the elevator into the back 

part of the house and hoping the other residents were down having 

their sessions with the PTs.  'Cause, sure, regular human ears 

can't hear it when I talk animal talk, but I was pretty sure even 

a human eye couldn't miss the random moving bulge of the squirrel 

squirming around inside my jacket.  "Hold still!"

     "But the excitement, Mr. Augie!" she squeaked.  "The lovely 

smells of lovely food, the lovely coolness here inside after the 

sticky heat outside, the very texture of the air!  It is more than 

magical to think I'll be living in such conditions from now on!"

     I blew out a breath.  "You won't be if El Brujo 

catches wind of you!  Now will you--??"

     "I don't fear the mean kitty!"  Serena's head popped up from 

under my lapel, her black eyes wide and dancing.  "You have 

promised to keep her from eating me!  I will dwell ever in 

safety!"

     "Not if--!"

     "Gus."  A human voice, familiar and the worst possible thing 

to hear under the circumstances; I looked up to see Eric, the head 

physical therapist, standing in front of my door at the first bend 

in the hall, his big arms folded across his big chest.  "Did I see 

what I thought I saw?"

     "That depends," I said.  "Do you think you saw a squirrel pop 

out of my jacket?"

     He just stood there.

     Now, don't get the wrong idea.  Eric's a great guy.  He's 

motivation incarnate, really, the sort of person who knows exactly 

what you need to hear when you're down in the dumps or feeling 

sorry for yourself.  Not the stereotypical muscle-bound jock, in 

other words, no matter how much he looks the part.

     This is a good thing except in two very particular ways.  

First, cases like mine where it doesn't matter how much time I 

spend working with weights or floating around a pool.  He knows 

that, not only will I never get better, I'm only going to get 

worse, and it irks him.  And second, he's just too damn smart to 

fool most of the time.

     "'Cause I know the rules," I went on, Serena now clinging to 

me as fiercely as she had when I'd first introduced her to Heather 

less than an hour ago.  "No unauthorized animals in the house.  I 

know why we have that rule, I agree with it wholeheartedly, and 

I'll be showing little Serena here the window as soon as I can 

figure out how to do it without either her or me bleeding too 

badly."

     For a long moment, nothing, then he gave a slow nod.  "Ten, 

fifteen minutes, you figure?" he asked.

     "Tops."

     He nodded again and moved away from my door, stepping past me 

to the stairwell as smoothly as El Brujo.  I wheeled the rest of 

the way down the hall, pushed into my room, and closed the door.  

"El Brujo's not the one we hafta worry about," I told Serena.

     She didn't relax her grip.  "Humans are scary," I heard her 

muffled voice chitter.

     "Which is why," I continued, "I wanted to introduce you to a 

bush of my acquaintance."

     "Bush?"  Tiny prickling claws against my chest, and Serena 

peered out from inside my jacket again.  "Do you mean those small 

sorts of trees?"

     "Exactly."  I gestured toward the window, the blue of a mid-

afternoon summer sky outside it.  "If you'll scamper across my 

bed, up the wall, onto that windowsill and then look north, you'll 

see a lovely big bougainvillea flooding over the back fence from 

the De La Vega's place next door."

     Serena blinked at me, her nose and whiskers jittering, then 

she leaped onto my knees and streaked up to the windowsill without 

seeming to touch another in between.  She turned to face north, 

and her ears and tail perked.  "It is a bush!  Just as you 

said!"

     I held up a finger.  "Your new home."  

     She whirled on the sill.  "And so close to your home!  Yes, I 

see!  We will be able to continue our work together!"

     The vise-grip of tension around the back of my neck loosened 

with a snap I swear I heard.  "Exactly!  Now, why don't you go 

look it over while I find El Brujo and tell her what's going on?"

     "I shall!"  She leaped out the window, and I could hear her 

claws scrabbling over the shingles outside.

     Which took care of problem number one.  Now to find El Brujo 

and explain that she has to stop bothering the squirrel who's 

always been one of her favorite playthings...

Which leads immediately into 19.