Magic Senegalese [Wen Spencer's Elfhome]

Chapter 2 - Road trip

"Pittsburgh?" Naomi gaped. "It's on Elfhome. Has been for as long as I've been alive. What are you talking about? I can't go to Pittsburgh. It's another planet. I don't have any papers, just my driver's license."

"You were born in Pittsburgh," her father said. "Drive, Naomi, and I'll tell you your true story."

"I was born in New York," she objected. "I saw my birth certificate." She ventured a sideway glance at him.

He seemed inscrutable, as always, and she returned her attention to the road.

"It's a duplicate," he said. "They issue one to every baby born in a foreign country of American parents, when they first arrive back in America. The original was issued on Elfhome. In Pittsburgh. It's in here." He patted his breast pocket.

"Really? What about my mom? Was she an American too? Or is she still in Pittsburgh? Is that why she isn't living with us?"

As far as Naomi knew, her father never talked about her mother, except saying she couldn't raise her daughter for family reasons. He never answered any of Naomi's questions, never blamed her mother for anything, but Naomi had always been resentful. She had always assumed her mother was a white married woman and wouldn't acknowledge her illegitimate daughter with a black lover. Maybe she just didn't want a half-blood girl? On the other hand, if her mother was an Elfhome citizen, perhaps the situation was different. Perhaps she couldn't leave home. Maybe the elves, who ruled Elfhome, wouldn't allow an illegitimate child? A mulatto child? Who knew what the elves thought?

Her father sighed. "Your mother is an elf."

"What?" Naomi gasped. He hands tightened on the wheel. "My birth certificate says Janette Smith."

"Yes. Janette was a girl about your age. She wanted off Elfhome, but didn't have the money. Your mother paid her to put her name on the certificate. Janette also signed an agreement with me: she relinquished all the rights to her baby—namely you—to me. You were never hers to begin with."

"But why? My elven mother didn't want me?"

"It's not that simple. Your mother is a domana caste elf."

"The ones with magic?"

"Yes. By the elven law, the domana caste can't have sexual intercourse with anyone else. Only among themselves or with their sekasha."

"Their bodyguards," Naomi translated softly.

"Yes. If anyone finds out that she had sex with a human, had a baby with a human, she'd be in trouble. They might even kill her. And you. And me."

"Wow! Slow down. The elves might kill me? Then why am I going there? Might as well stay at home and risk my murderous former classmate. At least I'd know what to expect."

Her father snorted without humor. "Nobody in Pittsburgh knows about you, except one person, your mother's friend. She is some sort of a healer at the elven hospital. She helped with the birth. In secret. You shouldn't tell anyone either."

"But," Naomi sputtered. "But if I'm half-elf, what about my ears? I don't have the ears."

"You did. When you were born. She... they..." He winced and looked away from Naomi towards the window.

"They what?" Naomi yelped. She was so flabbergasted she felt as if she was listening to a fantasy show on the radio. It didn't feel real.

"They performed some kind of surgery on you, sculpted your ears to the human shape. I think they did it with magic. There was no blood or scarring, but you cried for a week, poor baby. I was terrified. Then you stopped crying, and I took you home. Became a single parent to my wonderful baby girl."

"What did you do in Pittsburgh anyway? I didn't know you ever went to Pittsburgh."

"I was on a student exchange program. Went to Elfhome for a month. Met your mother. Fell in love. Stayed for a year and left with my daughter."

"Darn, what a story." Naomi mulled it over for a while, and her father kept quiet too. "What was her name?" she asked at last. "My mother's."

"Better you don't know. I promised her not to tell anyone. Besides, she was going to leave Pittsburgh right after I left. I doubt she is there now." His face assumed a faraway expression, and a small smile played on his dark lips. "She was so beautiful," he said dreamily.

Naomi shook her head. "I didn't know any of it."

"No," he agreed. He still gazed out the car window and wouldn't meet her eyes.

Time to disperse with his reminiscences and focus on the practical stuff. "Dad, pay attention. The way to Pittsburgh only opens once a month, on the Shutdown day, when the Chinese shut down their gate. What do I do before then?"

"Shutdown is two days from today, Tuesday night," he said. "I always keep count. We'll stay in a motel for the next night. Then you'll go to Pittsburgh, and I'll go home."

"And then I'll stay on another planet alone? For a month?"

"Probably longer, pumpkin. On the next Shutdown, send me a letter, to let me know how you are. I'll keep you informed about the situation with Bob. If it is ever resolved, you could return home."

"That's why you wanted me to have the cash."

"Yes. You could buy a house in Pittsburgh for one dollar. Find a job. Teach dancing to the local kids. You should do fine."

"What if Bob or his associates come after you?"

"Why? Nobody will trouble me. I didn't witness a murder. I won't even know where you are, at least not for the first month. If anyone asks, I'll tell them you took off to San Francisco, to a dancing gig. Let them look for you in San Francisco."

Naomi smiled, probably her first smile since she witnessed Bob killing a man. "Fine. But I don't know anyone in Pittsburgh. Could you at least tell me the name of the elven healer, my mom's friend? I'll only contact her if it is an emergency, I promise. Would she help, do you think?"

"Probably." He hesitated for a few seconds. "Her name is Field of Rye Bending to Wind. I called her Rye."

"Thank you," Naomi said.

"But only in an emergency," he admonished. "Tell the guards on the border you're considering immigration. You have the rights: you were born in Pittsburgh."

"Fine." Naomi's lips moved, as she mouthed a few choice profanities. She wouldn't say them aloud. Her father didn't like it when she cussed, but if ever a situation called for swearwords, this was it.

Unlike many of her classmates, she had never longed for adventures. She was happy at home, with her father and her dancing. Now, to escape a murderer in New York, she was driving to Elfhome, an alien planet where immortal elves wielded magic. Where she didn't know a single person. Where she half-belonged, maybe even could work magic herself, but she couldn't tell anyone, because if someone found out about her mother, they might kill her. In her wildest imagination, she could never imagine such an adventure. A road trip to Elfhome nobody but her would ever make. She shook her head and started laughing. It was either that or howling, and she preferred laughter.