Zib's Kid

Chapter 3

At some point Zib shook the boy's shoulder gently and asked if he was awake. The kid responded with a low hum, still emitting an even lower purr, but he didn't move, didn't open his eyes. Zib carefully lifted him and got up, then placed him back on the seat. He walked up to Galileo and told him he needed to go, and to keep an eye on him.

Galileo nodded with a smile and made sure no one was looking as Zib opened the secret door and walked downstairs.

At this time of day there wasn't much movement at the Lackadaisy, and the music wasn't supposed to start for quite a while yet. Zib found the usual crowd. He greeted Jasper, the guy behind the bar, a fluffy black cat with orange patches and broad shoulders. He got a drink and lit another cigarette, and then moved backstage.

The band was playing cards and chatting as usual, but when he walked closer they went quiet and gave him odd looks. He stopped in his tracks.

"What?"
"Nothing."
"Mhm."
"What is it?"
"Nothin', cat. You've been gone for a while, that's all. Wanna join?"

Zib emitted a deep sigh, "Sure," and forgot all the rest.

They bantered. The time came to play some music, and they did. There was dancing and cheering and drinks... And if he got some more odd looks from known faces he probably didn't notice.

Much later in the night, or, more like early in the morning, they put down their instruments backstage, said goodbye to a good day of work and went home.

Once again, Zib tiredly and drowsily walked looking at his feet... And nearly stumbled on the bundle curled on his doorstep. He had to take a couple steps back and blink a few times to assimilate what he was seeing. Rocky was sitting on the floor curled against the door to his place, asleep.
He couldn't believe it.

"Kid? Hey, kid! What are you doing here?"

The kid didn't wake. He crouched down and shook his shoulder.

"Hey, Rocky, wake up! What are you doing here? This is no place to sleep. It's dangerous."

The boy lifted his head and looked at him groggily. He wasn't understanding one word that came out of Zib's mouth. Maybe he didn't even know where he was at the moment. He looked so tired and out of place.
Zib groaned and sighed, opening the door as the boy took a few moments to disentangle himself from the hard floor and walk inside.

Zib's broken heart beat with confusion, and a little suspicion crept around it that he refused to acknowledge. He just walked inside, placed the kid on the couch and threw a blanket over him. Then he went to bed.

He woke up with the little one sprawled next to him. He pressed his hands against his face and wondered what he was going to do with him.

He didn't make breakfast that morning. He got dressed in a hurry and took the boy back to the Little Daisy Cafe. He told Rocky to wait at one of the booths and walked up to Alexander.

"You know about kids, right?"
"Whatcha need?"
"Okay, how do you tell the difference between a wimp and an emergency?"
"I don't follow."

Zib sighed.

"How do you know if the kid is just being stubborn or he actually has a real, serious problem?"

Alex stood tall and quiet, wheels turning in his head. He took a deep breath and started explaining.

"You have to watch their emotions. The body language. If a kid just doesn't want something they will just say no and complain or throw a tantrum. But you can usually put them in place with a little insistence. They're just grumpy. Most of the time you can just ask them, for example, why don't you wanna do this? And they'll answer with something like 'I don't know'... But if the kid actually has a good reason to steer clear of something... Well, you can tell. If he's afraid of the couch he'll sit anywhere else in the room and just stay away from it until you force him. Make sense?"