Mana Pool Snippets - The Days After

One

Jonathan fidgeted in his seat, but he spoke for his wife. "Me? Katie....What do you expect us to say?"

"A little support maybe," Katie said. "With time, it might be used for..."

"Support my ass, Katie," Jonathan said. Katie held her breath and he continued, "Support is out. I still have trouble catching up with the news but do you have any slightest idea what all this means to us? To your family?"

"Do you?" Scott asked. "You've been disappointed in Katie ever since we left for Big Bear. Give us a break. Maybe you forgot our stories how we survived being prisoners in a government base, how we were saved by aliens. And my near death expe...." Scott winced again from his chest pain. "Jonathan, for all it's worth, this is what we have, and hard to believe, I'm for finding out our limitations."

"Preach it, buddy!" Keeji barked.

Jonathan did not like Scott's statement. "Or maybe who I'm looking at is not my little girl anymore."

Only a few deep breaths stopped Katie from yelling at Jonathan. Her tail jerked from side to side and she hoped that he understood that his words had hit a nerve. Part of the negative propaganda surrounding terrans in the news was that after the transformation there was nothing left of the human personality, and Jonathan's accusation stung.

"Dad, please. Hear me out," Katie said. "You hope this will go away and hear what the President says." Brenda swallowed as Katie's tail continued to sway. "This is happening. This was not our choice, Dad. What I'm learning and what I know might protect this family, maybe improve our lives."

"'Might' and 'maybe' unsettle me, Katie."

Arana flew onto the coffee table and stood in front of Katie's parents, startling them. "I hate to disagree there, Mr. Walsh," she said. "Katie has tools and she is not afraid of finding out how to use them. More and more humans are changing. We have to adapt."

"You're talking to someone in his fifties," Jonathan said to the bird. "And still, the animals. Look, I'm the man of the house and for this whole family, and Scott, we need to take this slow before we barge and blow something up."

Before Katie could add anything to the argument, the front door was kicked in. The two hinges of the door were ripped from the threshold and the doorknob had punched a hole through the wall.

The humans in the room screamed at Jaruka Teal, standing in the doorway in his alien form with his green four-fingered hand pressed onto the door, pushing it still more from the frame. He was caked in mud, and his right eye twitched in rage.

"You two. We talk. Now!" Jaruka yelled, he pointed at the terrans with a dead skunk in his other hand.

The round of reactions was simultaneous.

Keeji screamed, "Crazy alien in the house!" He ran to the kitchen.

Arana was startled and flew back to the fireplace mantle.

Robert cursed and jumped off the couch and followed Keeji.

Jonathan stood and yelled incoherently.

Brenda, in fear, could not leave the couch. "Forget what Jonathan said, Katie. Kill...whatever it is!"

"Wait just a second, just cool it!" Scott stood from the recliner but his chest burned with pain. "Jaruka, what the hell is wrong with you? You promised we'd introduce you slowly?"

"Drop that deal, kid," Jaruka yelled. "I spent two days scrubbing my skin raw to no relief! The mud doesn't do crog at all and the leaves around the site makes everything itch!" Jaruka came in and slammed the skunk carcass onto the coffee table. The smell from the Halcunac was horrendous enough to make the couple and family gag. "Please tell me there's a remedy to get rid of this smell. I am one step closer to set my skin on fire!"

"Who in god's name are you? We're you human?" Jonathan yelled. "How do you know my daughter?"

"Stay out of this, old man." Jaruka shook his head. "For goddess' sake, I need hel..."

There was a loud clunk and the few seconds of terror ended with a shimmer of light that enveloped Jaruka for a second. Jaruka fell forward and crushed the coffee table and skunk carcass. The couple backed away and Brenda jumped out and behind the couch before anybody else was hurt.

Robert dropped his lucky shovel, gasping for air. No one had seen him come from the dining room with his tool amongst the confusion. "Jesus fucking Christ," he said. "Dad, call the cops. Right now."

Jonathan had already put the number into his phone before Robert had said anything.

"No, not the cops," Katie said with a gasp as she stood between her family and Jaruka's unconscious body. "Nobody is calling the cops. Dad, stop, we can explain."

"Explain? You explained enough," Jonathan said. The phone was at his ear.

Katie grabbed the phone from him and ended the call, her fight with him would have to wait. She knelt beside Jaruka, ignoring her parents' and Robert's pleas to stay away. Jaruka snored soundly and Katie figured that there were no injuries to his head, she was more concerned and curious about the light that had appeared. "I hope he wakes up."

"He looks like a Predator knockoff, keep him knocked out. And how the hell does this guy know you two?" Robert asked.

"This guy you hit," Scott started, "happens to be our cellmate at Area 51." The Walsh family went quiet. "We we're hoping to tell you guys later before you guys have a spaz attack."

"And his alien friends saved our lives," Katie added.

"That too."

Robert looked back at Jaruka. "Wait, wait, wait," he said. "He looks like that guy at the gate when you got back."

"The same person." Katie was concerned for Jaruka, more than ever, and somehow that bothered her. Jaruka seemed okay, but getting rid of the smell on him would be another ordeal.