Living with Spirit Girl: Cp23

Living with Spirit Girl
Chapter Twenty-Three

I wanted to get out once the agents had identified what had been called a ramp. It looked more like an
old house had been flooded by the river than a recognized place for putting boats into the water. The agents called the police station to verify the location, then they told me to stay in the car so as not to arouse suspicion of the ramp being watched.

A number of phone calls occurred as various enforcement groups worked on assuring that the bad guys would be tracked. It was boring staying in the car, but Arraelly helped me pass the time by working with me on the homework. She needed to work with our alphabet, but after I had finished my work she showed me how things were written in her language. It seemed complicated to me, as letters would be jumbled up in symbols that stood for a syllable. My name only had one syllable, so it would be written in one strange character. Arraelly had three syllables in her name, so it took three symbols to show her name. I did begin to understand some of the things she was telling me, but only found myself understanding some of her problems with our written language in hearing her speak of how she would write things. It did help pass the time between phone calls for the agents to have Arraelly explain some things to them.

Eventually the call came for the FBI agents to quit for the day. They had the boat identified, and spotters preparing to keep a constant surveillance on the ramp and surrounding area. I was bored, even with the attention from Arraelly, so was actually glad to hear the FBI agents say they would take me home.

Dorothy was eager to hear about my day. Wanting to speak with Arraelly as well, I had her take the brooch. Dorothy was glad to see that we could both be substantial before her, but looked to me noticing the effect upon my body.

She asked, “Does it hurt you, Blake?”

“No,” I answered. “I feel as if Arraelly had gone past her limit. I’m tired, but I think I will improve.”

Arraelly said, “He recovered rather quickly today, but I will watch him. I’m still not feeling hungry or anything, so I believe he is still responsible for the physical part of me.”

Dorothy asked, “You’re not going out tonight?”

“No. Fernando is resting for the fight tomorrow. I will probably do what I can to gain information on what happens tonight with Lorither.”

Mrs. Tork acted delighted to have Arraelly with us, and made us promise to have supper with them. I however heard Arraelly speak to me about having something to eat or drink. Mrs. Tork overheard, and I guess she understood, as she quickly returned with a small cookie.

No sooner did Arraelly swallow than the pieces fell as crumbs to floor beneath her with Mrs. Tork saying, “Even if you do not eat, it will still be an honor to have you at our table, Arraelly.”

Arraelly replied, “I just do not want to be thought of as rude.”

“I want to one day be able to speak of spending time with you, Arraelly. To have to say in the future that I passed on the opportunity because of some minor circumstance will deny me the honor. Please, Arraelly, stay.”

It ended up being a fun evening of learning about languages. Hearing of Arraelly teaching me and the FBI agents about her written language had Mr. and Mrs. Tork speak of the Japanese characters. It seemed that some of them were combinations of other characters, although they usually stood for words and not just a syllable.

When I went home, I found my mother waiting up for me. Her expression had me thinking that I was in trouble, but there were no words of being scolded from her. She simply had me come to her, then held me. I however felt I was in trouble when my mother began to cry.

“Blake, I need you. Today I was called at work by Felix getting into a fight at school, then Wendy being taken to jail for suspicion of narcotics. At each place I however heard people speaking good of you. There I was being worried about a child doing something wrong, and hearing of my youngest child doing things right. I don’t care about how weird and strange whatever you are doing is. I need you to keep doing it, because right now you are the only thing keeping me sane.”

While I heard the words, I still felt worried, so said, “I was at the Torks, Mother.”

“I know. They called. Things are supposed to happen in threes, so I suspected the call to be something bad happening with you. They however spoke of their honor in having you stay for supper with them. Mr. Tork said, ‘honored’ to have you stay for supper. They are proud of you, Blake. I want to be proud of you too. When this is all over, I expect you to tell me.”

“I still think it will weird you out.”

“I believe that I will be surrounded by people who are not weirded out, and they will be proud of you. I want to be proud of you as well. I’ll manage, Blake.” As if to give me hope, she added, “Felix told me of this Spirit Girl, this ghost, you are going around with. I believe I met her once, but I really did not press getting to know about her.”

“She’s an alien, Mother. It’s strange.”

“Well, if the Torks like her, she cannot be too strange. The Torks are a rather formal family. So, what did you talk about?”

I sat and explained what I had learned of Japanese writing and that of Arraelly’s world. Mother actually showed interest, and worked to draw the characters for herself. When I had explained all I could, Mother hugged me while saying something comforting.

“I would have enjoyed that conversation, Blake. I don’t consider it weird at all.” I thought to ask her if she wanted to meet Arraelly, but then Mother said, “But you keep doing what you are doing. I have enough troubling me for the moment. You are not troubling me, Blake. It helped a lot hearing good about you today. Stay my good child, please, at least for the moment. When other things calm, then I might have you weird me out.”

“Arraelly is a good person, Mother. I think you will end up liking her.”

“I believe so as well, Blake, but I love you. Now, go to bed.”

As I went up to my room, Arraelly said, “I don’t believe those of my world will believe what I tell them of yours. Your people are nothing like what our scientists say a society of predators would be like.”

I would have replied, but as I opened the door to my room I heard Felix say, “I heard Mom call you her good kid.”

“She said you got into a fight,” I replied.

“Yeah, and I won. If Dad had shown up, it might have counted for something.”

Arraelly said, “Ask him if he thinks Fernando will win tomorrow.”

Wondering about the question myself, I parroted it and heard Felix answer, “I don’t know. There will be a whole lot of people in the cage. The publicity he gained might have them jump him first.” He then asked, “What’s it like being around girls? I actually got into a fight attempting to impress a girl, but it did not work.”

“I don’t know. We don’t talk about girl stuff, at least I don’t find that stuff interesting. They however can talk on other stuff.”

“What did you talk about?”

Wondering if I would have a certain conversation one more time, I answered, “Different forms of writing.”

“That’s boring. I was thinking you talked about Fernando.”

“Arraelly would like to go to the fight tomorrow, but we might be busy with the FBI.”

“You could give me her tickets.”

Arraelly told me something practical to say, but I replied with, “I believe you’re grounded.”

“I’d sneak out for that. There is no amount of punishment that would stop me.”

“Depending on what happens, I might suggest to Arraelly that we sneak out on the FBI.”

It was good to hear a voice in my head say, “Depending on how things go, I might agree with you to do that.”

Felix said, “Arraelly is hot, Blake. You really should hit on her.”

I replied, “I know she’s hot, as she looks like Melanie Morcock. Still, she is older than me, but I do like hanging around her.”

“What about Dorothy? Are you hitting on her?”

“I think she likes me, and her parents like me.”

That was all I could say before certain thoughts had me shut up. I found myself admitting that I did like Dorothy. It was hard for me to realize that I considered her different than I did Arraelly. While Justus constantly mentioned how good our alien companion appeared, I really did not think of her in a romantic way. Dorothy however did come into my thoughts as someone to spend time with in other ways than I did with Arraelly.

I heard a voice in my head say, “You like Dorothy, don’t you?”

“I, uh.” I hushed not wanting Felix to hear me say anything on that topic, so simply said, “I need to go to bed.”

Felix grinned as he said, “Yeah. Let me go take a shower. A cold one.”

Arraelly commented as my brother left the room, “It is interesting how much of your references I can understand. I do understand cleaning our bodies, as there is dirty water. Worse, we have to breath that stuff at times. We don’t just bathe to get the dirt off us, but out of us.”

I asked, “You take cold showers, Arraelly? I believe Felix was trying to be annoying.”

“I understood the reference. Cold water will dampen our moods as well. However, we have a phrase, ‘even in cold water,’ which means that we are so committed, or horny, that we will continue even if we move through cold water.”

“’Even through cold water,’” I repeated. “I like that, but not too certain if it will work.”

“Yes, that is what Fernando said as well. I am waiting for either one of you to start using it to see how well it will work.”

“Might try it on my friends tomorrow. See how they like it.”

Arraelly must have realized that I was heading to bed, as she said, “Let me have the brooch, Blake. I don’t think I will go out or anything, but I am going to work on the computer.”

I immediately pulled it out. Whatever essence Arraelly was appeared and took it from me. I felt myself loose some energy, but as I was already going to bed it did not bother me. I however immediately reacted feeling arms around me and a kiss upon my lips.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said.

“You are connected to this lady that looks like a pop star, and you don’t want to be kissed by her?”

Not wanting to speak against that, I simply replied, “You’re older than me, Arraelly. You don’t feel like a pop star, but as a guardian.”

“I can accept that, Blake, but I want you to know that I am proud of you. I promise that I have no plans to get us into trouble, but I need to find out what I can about Lorither.”

“I understand, Arraelly. I guess we will be with the FBI again tomorrow.”

“If we are, there is important work to do. If not, Fernando Freight Train fights tomorrow night.”

Sounded like a plan. I almost collapsed on my bed, but thought to stop and blow Arraelly a kiss. They must have had a similar action on her world, as she blew me one back. Feeling like whatever plan developed for tomorrow would be a good one, I went on to bed.