Page 34 of The Emerald Boa's Lover
“All four of us.”I add, my heart skipping a nervous beat.
“Oh balls.” He glances at the four mottled eggs from Gjenti, and nods to me with a sad smile. “Yeah. At least we can give these two a home.”
“Oh, actually?” I use my tail-tip to take out the gift envelope and offer it to Charlie. Perhaps part of plan A is appropriate after all. He slides his thumb between the wax and the paper to flip the letter open and reads it in his right hand. His left is still busy holding mine, after all, and my left is carefully carrying the incubator pod. I keep turning my head to check on the eggs, and then Charlie’s face as he reads the drawing.
“What am I looking at?” He turned the letter this way and that as we walk hand in hand towards the exit.
“A state-of-the-art hybrid Nest house I designed for you.” He inhales sharply and examines the letter more intently. “I was thinking about Gjenti’s eggs and the fact they’ll struggle for scale to shell contact once they leave the hospital, and I didn’t like the idea of you worrying about them.” He’s looking at me like I’ve just said something profound. But surely it makes sense that if my partner is suffering, and there’s something I can do, that I would do it? Because I care about him? “So I’ve designed a new Nest house. One where humans and Ucfeni can run it together. An Orphanage?” I test the human word, and he nods at me. “My business is based on Ucfeni and humans cohabiting. It occurred to me that there must be plenty of mixed species couples now that would love to adopt. Two Ucfeni being a scent match for a youngling is hard to achieve. But for a mixed couple, only the Ucfeni parent would need to be a scent match, not the human.” I grin at the look of surprise and awe on his face. “I call it ‘The O’Hara Orphanage.’ I have spoken to my cousin, and Rerasha assures me that Alaric will be happy to assign newly thawed out Allico Inc humans to the Nest House to give the Orphaned eggs skin to shell contact until they hatch. To reduce the chances of stunted development or still egg syndrome. Deployments will start with the O’Hara Orphanage, of course, and Rerasha has even arranged that Gjenti’s eggs will go there. So…?” I tip my head to one side and try to gauge his reaction. “It’s my gift to you, Charlie. Do you…like it?”
“Dal?” His voice wobbles and he cleared his throat, rolling his shoulders and sniffling. “I love it.” He squeezes my hand and licks his lips. “Almost as much as I love you.”
Chapter 26
O’Hara Orphanage
Charlie
Two months later.
“Alright, okay!” I laugh, a youngling wrapped around each of my limbs and Luha laughing at me. When the O’Hara Orphanage was launched and it needed Eggs and Orphans, sadly, that wasn’t the hard part. Staffing, however? That had been trickier. Luha asked me outright if I needed a receptionist or an assistant since I’ve now left the clinic and the other doctors are jerks. I replied by telling her about the Orphanage and asking if she wanted to work there. She was delighted! She was the only Ucfeni offered the job that was.
I remember standing in the livingroom as Dalahan and Rerasha both paced around our living room on the com-calls. Each pulling out all the stops with various agencies to get Ucfeni to agree to work there. Scent matching was a real issue, it seemed. Who would want to go to work where any day, they could be bombarded with pungent and nasty smells all day? Alaric had sat on a beanbag at the time, sipping from an expensive coffee in a travel cup, and madeonecall to human resources. Ten humans on the next thawing were assigned to the Orphanage. It must be nice to be the big boss man…
It was stillreally weirdhow often Alaric and Rerasha came to visit now we have eggs. He ululates sweetly and cups his hands to his chest to aww over me, Dal and the two eggs. I suspect, and Dalahan agrees, that Rerasha is a bit envious of us. The Ambassador has been very helpful in getting the Orphanage up and running, and keeps coming to visit.
Today I’ve come to check on Gjenti’s four eggs, as they are due to hatch any day now, and I like to come and check on the kids.
“Uncle Charie!” A little rattler’s tail that reminds me of a baby’s rattle is shaking like crazy. She’s wrapped around my left arm and giggling as I turn on the spot. Or rather, shuffle on the spot. I still have two Albino Ucfeni coiled and giggling around each of my legs. I’ve always been good with kids. I’ve neverwanted my ownbefore, nor am I the guy who coos over babies. Honestly, I used to look at them like snot and shit factories. I still do when the newly hatched ones emerge, and the slime on them makes my stomach turn. My kids though? I’m sure that will be different. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“The sweet jerky you always bring them?” Luha outs me, and I mock gasp at her playful betrayal.
“Give it up Uncle Charlie! We can smell it!” The boy around my right leg slithers up to wrap around my waist. All three of them are moving to nuzzle at my chest and flicking their tongues out to look for the hidden treat.
“Please Uncle Charlie? Pleeeeaaaaassse?”
“Ohfine.” I laugh and use my remaining free hand to lift the packet of treats from my shirt pocket. “Alright,oneeach.”
“Yay!” The three Ucfeni younglings drop effortlessly from me to make an adorable line-up. I chuckle and hand them a long strip of sweet jerky. They start snapping off segmented pieces to pop into their mouths and sing with delight. “Thank you Uncle Charlie!” Then, just like that, they scarper off. Having got what they wanted from me.Kids.
“You know, the Orphanage could use an on-site doctor for all the first aid—”
“Nope, but nice try.” I cut Luha off and bump my hip with hers. I offer a sweet jerky strip, and she accepts it with a giggle. “I’m here on my day off, but I’m on lay-leave, and then I’ll be on hatch-leave, and then I’m working in a nice air conned lab with my precious Petri-dishes. I have missed them dearly, and my assignment is waiting for me.”
“Oh fine.” She huffs, and the lovely yellow snake waves as another Orphanage employee walks up to us. Like Luha, she’s wearing a soft pink set of scrubs. Luha wears the Ucfeni version, a skirt, a shrug used for little ones to curl up and sleep under, and a face mask to protect her scent pits. The human that joins us, Mandy, is wearing full pink scrubs and also the shrug. “Hi Mandy. How is the Rattler nest this morning?”
“All in the green.” Mandy has a tight black afro with a different hair accessory every day to adorn it. Today it’s a hair slide taming the middle section of her afro and it has butterfly wings. She and Luha give each other the eye, and I smirk without commenting on the obvious vibes I get from the two of them. How close they stand to each other. How Luha’s tail curves ever so around her feet. Those two are so cute, I feel I need a couch and some popcorn to watch them together. Neither has admitted how they feel yet. Me and Dal have a running bet about who is going to crack first. My money is on Luha. “Number 4 is up for rotation today.” Mandy’s lovely ebony hands lift up the shrug to show she’s wearing a sling and holding the egg to her chest. There is a tiny set of four marker dots on the shell. Ucfeni don’t name their offspring until they hatch, as until then, they don’t tend to know the gender or their appearance, other than their sub-species. Some Ucfeni lay lots of eggs per sitting, like Rattlers, so numbering the eggs helps to keep track of laying order, and rotation. “So is number 5. Do you want to snuggle together?”
“What?” Luha’s throat scales darken, and Mandy flusters at what she’s said.
“The eggs! I mean the eggs. Snuggle the eggs, but at the same time, together.” Damn. Dal’s going to wish he was watching this. It’s a live action rom-com. They are both mumbling over their words, their hands restless and blushing like crazy. In my mind I am putting a hand on each other their backs, shoving them together whilst shouting ‘I ship this!’.
I can tell they’re going to be like this for a while, and I turn to look around. The way Dalahan has designed this place, the bottom tier is the main living area. There are lots of beanbags, bookshelves, toys, and an eating area. The second tier is the hygiene tier. Then he has a third tier for the younglings to coil up in bowls of cushions, slither up into hammocks, or nestle on basking rocks. The fourth tier is for the eggs. Heat rises, after all, and the eggs need to be kept nice and toasty. As this is a hybrid building, the hygiene level has human facilities to the left, and in the middle is a set of spiral stairs. I’ve already told Dal that he needs to install some of those at our place, and his answer was hilarious.
“I already have.”
“What?”
