TRIAL AND ERROR | short stories + snippets

Best Friend Space Adventure: The Garden, pt 3

Aff nods in understanding. "We strakkol have workers, soldiers, and carers. A lot of us still think that the form you have determines what you will be capable of, what your personality is like, what you enjoy.

"I'm a carer. That's why I have two sets of arms. My skin doesn't have that same sort of protection as Zilša and Emoǩ which makes me more sensitive to the outdoors. My parents think it's ridiculous for me to want to be a gardener. But it's what I love to do, even if my body isn't physically optimised for it. The forest is where I feel like myself."

Caleb recognises the lump in his throat but does nothing to get rid of it. He does not cry. He doesn't cry much, apart from when he has meltdowns. But his chest squeezes and words are difficult to get out, so he says nothing.

"Do you feel like yourself?"

It's the sort of question that no human who understands social cues would ask within hours of knowing somebody. Caleb isn't bothered—in fact, he admires Aff's sincerity in that moment.

If it was him, he would have to throw in a joke to soften it. Nikki tells him all the time that he shouldn't hide behind comedy but it's an instinct by now.

"Yeah. I do." The lump is still hard in his throat but he smiles. "Sometimes I don't. But yeah, most of the time now."

"That's good."

They sit until the feelings glide away and Aff leans in and turns the page of The Humans of Earth book on his lap until they find one, still black and white, of cherry blossoms.

"Have you seen the cherry trees?"

"Not in Japan but I've seen ones in England. Nikki likes plants."

"Yes." Aff nods. "I noticed."

"Well he likes to go to the botanical gardens in spring. It's really beautiful."

They look through more of Aff's favourite pictures and Caleb does his best to describe the colours of things on Earth (he realises only later that Aff might believe all cowboy hats to be hot pink like his). The flat door slams back open, announcing Emoǩ's arrival.

"Wait," Aff stops Caleb when he goes to stand. They climb onto the bed to peel one of the many prints off the wall. "I love this poster. It shows the different kinds of aquatic animals that are native to the Gauka Lake. Would you like to have it?"

Caleb looks at it. The creatures are not too bizarre from ones found on Earth, but then again, aquatic life on Earth is already bizarre. Each species is labelled with its name and an overview of facts. He loves it immediately.

Aff beams when he nods and rolls it up, slipping it into a cardboard tube so that it won't crease on the trip back to Manchester.

They return to the living room to find Emoǩ impatiently waiting. Nikki is there too, with his arms wrapped around himself. He avoids Caleb's gaze.

Emoǩ holds out the Mirror Way to him, and despite all her huffing and puffing, she speaks kindly. "I oriented the dials to take you back to the same place that you came from. Wouldn't want you to end up on another planet, would we?"

With that, she strides into the kitchen and starts looking through the crate of fresh vegetables. "Now, I want food."

"I'll help!" Nicolás offers but Caleb stops him before he can move.

"You alright?"

Nicolás hums in confirmation. The third bedroom door opens and Zilša steps out, trying, and failing miserably thanks to her size, to go unnoticed. Nicolás watches her and shifts his weight on his feet.

Caleb tries not to roll his eyes. He tries, honestly. "Did you have sex with her?"

"No," he says, then more forcefully, "No, I didn't." When it's obvious that Caleb doesn't believe him, he shuts his eyes and groans. "I was crying. She comforted me. She's actually a well good hugger."

"Not better than me though!" Caleb jabs his arm, then takes his hand. It trembles in his hold. "Why were you crying?"

"It just makes me think of... home."

Caleb understands that he does not mean England but the Amazon, maybe even Africa—a good chunk of his ancestors would have considered that home. He had, of course, recognised it too, which is what made him so enthusiastic about de-sporing, but he has never felt severed from home in the way he knows his friend does.

They may change the names but the rivers will always sing in Ticuna². It's something Nicolás's mother had told him that he told Caleb during a sleepover when they were fifteen and stayed up whispering in the dark until daybreak.

There is nothing to say. What could anyone possibly say? What he does is pull Nicolás into a hug.

Notes

1. University halls: university dormitories/accommodation.

2. Ticuna: one of the many indigenous peoples of the Amazon and also the name of their language.