When your life is turned upside down by kobolds, crazy goth girls, and Fae-hunting Marines, having coffee with a cute girl who talks to her pet mouse is a nice change of pace. It’s when the mouse talks back that things get interesting for James O’Neil…
What follows is a fragment from “Sigils”, my current work in progress.
There was a basket with fragments of cracker in it next to the register. Meg sniffed, and her eyes lit up. “That is a wonderful smell! What is it?”
The barista looked over her shoulder as she worked on their order. “Garlic herb. On sale today. Free samples. Go ahead, help yourself!”
Meg picked up a napkin, considered the basket seriously, then drew out two pieces of cracker. She paused, then pulled out a third. “One for me, one for you, one for Tapaidh.”
“Tap aid?”
“Tapaidh,” she said, drawing it out. She smiled shyly. “I shall introduce you in a moment. I would not want to distress our hostess.”
The barista returned with their coffee, hot and steaming. James paid, and they made their way outside to sit at a table outside the coffee shop. James placed the drinks on the table, and Meg put down the napkin and laid the crackers on it.
“Never understood people who put all sort of stuff in their coffee,” James said. “Double Carmel whip chocolate mocha? Ugh. Just a candy bar in a cup.”
Meg sipped her coffee tentatively and made a face. “I’m still liking tea more, I think. Though…” She took another sip. “I can see how this would grow on you. Here now, though…” She set her cup down carefully and opened the pocket of her shirt. “Come out, now, you. No, no, it is fine. His name is James, and he is being a perfect gentleman. See? We even have a nibble for you.”
With that last, a small white head poked itself up out of the pocket. A mouse titled its head, nose wiggling and whiskers quivering, as it looked up at him.
“Aw!” James held out a finger. The mouse followed his motion but stayed put. “He’s a cute little thing.”
Meg laughed. “He is, is he not? Cute, but fierce, too.” She pursed her lips seriously. “He is a fighter among his people.”
James couldn’t help but smile. “Is that so?”
“Yes!” Meg reached up with her right hand and used one finger to stroke the mouse’s head gently. The little thing looked at him with what just had to be an indignant expression of long-suffering and cheeped. James laughed out loud.
“Oh, be patient, you,” she said. “He does not hear you, I do not think.” She raised an eyebrow at James. “Unless you speak Mouse?”
“Uh, no. A little Spanish. No mouse.”
“I do not, either,” Meg said. “Which makes it strange, because Tapa speaks in Mouse, but I hear it in People.” She frowned suddenly, brow furrowed. “I am not sure how that works, but it does.”
The mouse tilted its head up to look at her and chittered.
Meg’s frown disappeared. “An he says that he hears me in Mouse quite clearly, and that he heard there was tasty bread, so he is wondering if he could have a bit, please?” She nodded at the crackers on the table and tickled the mouse under his chin, eliciting another indignant peep.
“Oh. Sure.” James picked out the smallest of the cracker bits and held it up tentatively. Tapa squirmed further up out of Meg’s shirt pocket, tiny little paws reaching for the cracker. James let him take it.
The mouse started to retreat into Meg’s pocket but stopped and looked James in the eyes. He gave out a small peep and disappeared. James could hear faint nibbling sounds from Meg’s pocket.
“He said thank you for sharing your table, from one warrior to another.”
James shook his head, smiling slightly. “Did he, now? I’m no warrior, though.” He shrugged. “Don’t know what I am, but I’m pretty sure I’m not that.”
The nibbling sounds from Meg’s pocket stopped momentarily. Tapa popped his head out and cheeped emphatically before diving back in and resuming his meal.
“Well, he seems to think you are,” Meg said thoughtfully. “He told you to get your head out of your hole and look around before your cat finds you.”
“More, please, sir.” 😁