No Strings

Chapter 5--Boy and Girl Go with Friends for a Nice Jog

The light from the kitchen bay window reflected through Williams's hair and on those blue striped pajamas. He yawned and glanced back at me.

"Am I that entertaining?"

"Yup, you are," I said, swallowing my half soggy Cheerios. They were nasty to bite into so I was ignoring their texture.

He smiled at me and stretched his neck.

"Since it's Sunday, I'm going out for a run. Do you want to come?"

"Where are you going?"

"Around the park once or twice. It's nice out."

The spring flowers were blooming. Violet squill peppered people's lawns. I said, " Sure."

"I'm inviting Lacey and Jack."

"Who is Jack?" I asked.

"Oh, an old college friend. You can invite other people too."

Jealousy flared in me for a moment. I didn't have old college friends. I'd gotten my associates degree in advertising by going to night classes at a local community college.

"I thought I met all your college friends," I said.

William shook his head, still in a daze. "I met him after you met that guy at your Aunt's party."

"Oh," I said. "Not John-whatever Cookie Girl was going to set me up with?"

He held his head as if remembering were painful.

"Don't mention that time. So do you want to come?"

"Yes. I'll invite Abigail and Lu-Yin."

"Deal. Let's have fun today. Maybe it'll relieve the stress you're feeling."

"I thought you weren't going to interfere in my life..." I said, smiling at him.

"Call this an act of friendship."

He settled across from me and bit down a stale biscuit he had made before. He was on a biscuit kick these days. He'd put in fried and scrambled eggs.

"How is it going with your clients?" I asked.

"I think I may have to go to Los Angeles again. They are building some new apartment buildings there as part of a restoration project."

I didn't feel like saying anything else. I sipped my coffee letting the effects of the bitter yet sweet aroma overtake my body. I drank a half a cup. We spent the morning without saying anything to each other. My thoughts wandered. I found comfort in the soft stream of spring light.

I climbed the stairs to the animal room and fed them. The ferrets came to the door to greet me. A bunch of my missing socks were in the cage as toys. The socks shouldn't be in the cage. The door to the animal room was always shut. I dismissed it. The socks were half-shredded. They looked up at me waiting for me to drop a treat or a new toy. They ran around me chasing each other. I laughed.

I called my friends. They said they would come. I played with the ferrets. One ran up into my shirt. "Oh c'mon..."

I reached into my shirt and then stared into her black eyes. She stared back at me. I cradled her and she flipped over in my hands. The other one protested. I brushed the ferret reaching for the comb. He licked his lips. He played with the comb rolling on his back and trying to chew on it. But then Mary saw the shiny hair tie and tried tugging on it. She managed to tug the hair band loose and then ran away with it. I ran after her, but she was too fast. I tried to lure her with a bit of peanut butter, but this attempt failed because she didn't notice and climbed into the network of tunnels I had built for the ferrets in the closet. Instead, Barry saw that I had given up combing him and managed to nab some of the peanut butter. Then it ran after the other ferret.