Читать книгу Ailleianne - Tina Marie Maes - Страница 2
Beginnings
Оглавление“What are you doing?” London yelled, almost dropping her keys as she stumbled out of her car and marched over the lawn towards Ailleianne, her very interesting non-gendered tenant. Ze was also an alien.
Said tenant was perched on a ladder and currently painting the autumn oak leaves of the tree in her front yard. Green splashes covered the robe covering zis tall, wispy form.
“Aillie! What the hell?” London whispered, looking around her lawn to see if her neighbors had noticed anything.
“I have been watching the discoloration of these beings over the last few weeks.” Ailleianne spoke, a tremor in zis voice. Ze applied another swatch of green paint to a bright red leaf. “I waited for the mating cycles to start. But now these attachments have begun falling. Is this world dying?”
“What?” London looked up at Ailleianne, wondering for the umpteenth time why she’d bothered to allow zim to be her tenant. Remembering the few dollars in her bank account, and that fact that ze paid rent, London shook her head at Aillie, trying to mask her annoyance. “No. Why would you think that?”
“That man on the bus whose hair had discolored and falled from his head. You explained he was getting older; that he was going to die.” Aillie’s hand clutched the paintbrush.
London watched as specks flew from the brush, “I said he was getting older, not that he was on death’s door.”
Aillie’s hands flew in the air wildly, more specks flying through the air. “This is what is happening here! This being has attachments which are also changing color. It has lost its source of nutrients! This being is dying!”
“The tree is not dying,” London sighed. “It’s the change of the seasons.” London looked around. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you about it.”As Aillie grudgingly stepped off the ladder, London asked slowly, “How did you think that painting the leaves would help?”
“It would maintain the look of the leaves and then I would ask you how to save the planet.”
“You thought that the planet was dying. Really? That’s … Okay, we need to talk about this.” Aillie stepped toward the house. London stopped zim. “No, first we are going to clean this mess up.” She grabbed the paint can and quickly pounded the lid on. “Please tell me no one from the neighborhood saw you doing this.”
“No one from the neighborhood saw me doing this.” Aillie repeated obediently.
“You’re just saying that, aren’t you?” London lugged the can into the garage.
“You told me to.” Aillie followed behind, a note of confusion in zis voice.
This is what happened when you try and do a good deed, London thought, wrenching open the door to the garage while balancing the increasingly heavy paint can. She stumbled to the wall with it, dropping it with a dull clunk to the cement floor.
She stretched, feeling the burn of muscles as she moved. As she turned around, she realized that Aillie had followed her, zis hands hanging uselessly at zis sides.
“Couldn’t you have brought the ladder in here with you?”
“You didn’t tell me to.” Aillie continued to stand there.
“Argh.” She moved to push past zim and then stopped, very clearly enunciating. “Okay, please go get the ladder. Put it back together so that it lays flat and bring it in here.” Aillie turned on a heel and walked out. London followed zim, watched as ze did as asked, and then grabbed the jumble of used and clean paint brushes, buckets, and other accouterments. After getting everything cleaned and put away, she and Aillie headed out of the garage again.
“Okay, if you could…” London started, then reworded her request. “Please come with me to the car and help me bring in the groceries.”
Thankfully Aillie listened. While they moved her few bags inside and she had put it all away, London thought back to the events that had brought Ailleianne into her life, and subsequently changed it completely. It had all started when London had needed another source of income.
*** *** *** ***
It was the worst spring storm the city of Madison had seen. That was the straw that broke London’s back, or at least the event that sucked away her savings. A tree branch fell onto her house, puncturing the roof and taking down the power line. It had killed the electricity overnight, spoiled the food in the refrigerator, and blew a few of the fuses. All of that had taken money to repair. London had barely had enough to scrape together; she had just paid off the furnace, which had gone out over the winter.
A week before, after hearing her mother was in the hospital, she’d caught her live-in boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend.
Now that everything was fixed, she needed a new roommate to help her out with the bills. She hoped to find someone nice, quiet, and low maintenance. But she also needed to find someone quickly; she didn’t know how she was going to pay her next electric bill.
London spent most of a week making fliers and then drafting an advertisement for an online classified notice. Finally she posted it.
It wasn’t more than fifteen minutes after she clicked the ‘submit’ button on her Roommate Wanted ad when she heard a knock on her door. She grabbed the bank statement she’d been brooding over as she went to answer it.
“Hello?”
“I am here to inquire about the space for rent.” Emphasis enhanced the words, straight from the ad itself. London sighed.
Had it really come to this? On her steps stood the weirdest person she could imagine. London glanced up at the person at her door and realized ze was still one step from the top of the stairs. Ze already towered over her. The person must be over six and a half feet tall, maybe seven feet. Where other people would have a muscle mass to encompass their frame, ze seemed mostly skin and bones. The person was either tall for a man or really tall for a woman.
Actually, that wasn’t the first thing. She couldn’t actually tell if the person on her doorstep was a man or a woman. There were no breasts or pecs to speak of, no visible Adam’s apple. Nothing to clear London’s confusion. She wondered if she could ask zim or if it was against the landlord/tenant laws.
He? She? Ze was strange.
( The third gender pronoun would work for now until she knew for certain.) Whatever the deal was, London had other worries. “How did you know where I lived?”
“The ad contained the address in its details. It was not too difficult to find.”
The person blinked slowly, then repeated, “I am here to inquire about the space for rent for the next six months.” Ze paused, waiting for her to speak. When London did nothing but stare, ze blinked again, and then recited, “Space for rent dollar sign five hundred forward slash one hundred forty-four square feet period No lease housemate requested period internet comma heat and utilities included period Eastside Madison just off Northport period fifteen pictures period No lease period Includes own furnished room in two story bungalow period private bathroom semi-colon all utilities included period No pets comma no illegal activities period If you are a quiet comma clean comma responsible person m-dash who can provide background references and a security deposit of dollar-sign two-hundred and fifty m-dash you will find a great home here period Six month lease available period Please call or email with any questions period Hurry, limited time offer exclamation point.”
London stared, trying to remember if ze’d even breathed through the recitation. It took her a couple of minutes to piece together the words.
It was her ad on the website:
Space for rent
$500 / 140 square feet. No lease housemate requested. Internet, heat and utilities included. Eastside Madison just off Northport.
No lease. Includes own furnished room in two story bungalow. Private bathroom; all utilities included. No pets, no illegal activities. If you are a quiet, clean, responsible person -- who can provide background references and a security deposit of $250 -- you will find a great home here. Six month lease available. Please call or email with any questions. Hurry, limited time offer!
When the person continued to stand there, London blinked away her confusion and scolded, “You know I had a boyfriend as weird as you. Seriously, it’s just wrong to pronounce punctuation.” She made to close the door, but a noise stopped her.
The person, ducking zis head to the side, made a sound in the back of zis throat again, looking quietly discomfited. “I will not pronounce punctuation again. I would still like to inquire about the space for rent.” Ze added, “please,” although the effect was ruined at zis confusion.
“Ah, right.” London found herself backing up, her bank statement still clutched in her hand, as a wave of compassion came over her. “Um, come on in. Let me show you the room. But please ignore the living room; it’s a little messy in here. I wasn’t actually expecting that quick of a response.” She walked a couple of steps towards the rental room, muttering, “And not expecting anyone to show up on my doorstep.”
“The ad required speed.” Ze spoke up from zis post by the doorway. London whipped her head around, wondering how ze heard her from way over there. But no, ze couldn’t have heard her. Ze was commenting about the living room.
“If you wanted to see the room, you might have to walk over this way.” Ze obliged, a stiff hesitant step as if ze was uncertain where to plant zis feet. London looked at the floor, but couldn’t see anything that would make a person wary. She’d cleaned up, even swept. There was nothing between them but the rug and couch. Nothing was even out of place; nothing was in the way. She’d even swept up the dust bunnies.
She waited, tapping her foot. Ze finally made it over to the door, taking a second to peek in. London tried to see it from a stranger’s point of view. There was a full-size bed in one corner of the room. To its right, the closet; the door was opened and the rack and shelves above were bare. Along the next wall was a window. A light breeze ruffled the beige curtain, hopefully invitingly. Next to it, a pressed wood five-drawer dresser stood. It was also empty, although the drawers were currently closed.
London couldn’t help but remember when the room had been her boyfriend’s bedroom-turned-office. Hauling all his shit to the curb had been one way to sever ties, in case he hadn’t gotten the hint when she threw him out. She’d been thinking of making the room into a guest room before she’d had to advertise it as rental space.
“I will rent this space. I would like to stay here for the next six months. Do I give you the background references and security deposit of two hundred and fifty dollars now?”
London snapped her head back to zim again. “What!? Don’t you want to check to see if the closet is big enough? Check out the dresser? I have to show you the bathroom you’ll use. I mean, I have one… This is a two-bedroom, two-bath house, so you get your own bathroom.”
“Is it not common to have two baths in a house?” The person asked, ducking zis head to step into the room, zis big feet remarkably silent on the plush carpeting.
London stared for a second. “I’m not sure. I think it depends on the house.” She looked around the room, waiting for zim to satisfy zis curiosity. “Don’t you want to look in the drawers or the closet?” She swung her hand around the room and its furniture.
Ze obliged her by opening a drawer, although with a bit of difficulty. Finally ze accomplished the task and glanced inside before pushing it shut again. Ze opened another one, closed it. Opened another and closed it as well. London couldn’t help but wonder if ze thought she might have left something in there.
She cleared her throat to get zis attention. When that didn’t seem to work, she spoke up, trying for patience. “Um, would you like to see the bathroom?”
Ze stopped incessantly opening the drawers, hands dropping to zis sides. Then ze turned in one quick motion. “Yes,” ze replied tersely.
London turned and lead her possible housemate to the bathroom. She stepped to the side to let zim look in, and only then realized that ze wasn’t following her. She grumbled a little under her breath, praying ze wasn’t going through her underwear drawer. But she was pleasantly surprised to realize ze was still standing by the dresser where she’d left zim.
“You know, when I ask you if you want to see something and then walk away, that generally means I want you to follow me. While I’m really glad you’re not wandering aimlessly, it’s a little hard to talk to you and show you stuff if you don’t follow.”
Ze gave a short nod. London shook her head. She needed to get this showing over as soon as she could. Very slowly, she asked, “Would you like to walk with me so you can check out the bathroom?”
“Yes.” Ze replied firmly. London turned around to lead the way, but kept looking back to make sure that ze was actually following this time. They finally made it to the bathroom. Again she stepped to the side to allow zim to walk in. Ze did when she motioned for zim to do so, ducking zis head again to fit under the doorway.
She looked expectantly at zim. Ze didn’t seem to care about the room at all. Instead ze said, “It is a bathroom.”
“Uh, right, yes.” London said, trying to explain, “It’s yours. Or it would be yours to use if you rent the room. So you won’t have to worry about sharing, unless either of us have guests over.” When the person didn’t confirm nor deny the possibility, she continued, “You are very tall though, so you may want to step into the shower to see if you’re okay with the fit. Um, while you look in here, I’m going to go grab the information sheet in case you want to call about it later.”
She practically ran to the kitchen to the pile of pre-printed fliers. She fished one out of the manila folder and hurried back to the bathroom. She peeked her head in, and was confused when she didn’t see her prospective roommate.
“Um, excuse me? Sir? Or ma’am? Where did you go?”
A door to her left opened and out stepped the prospective tenant.
London wondered if she’d really just seen that. She couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Um, what were you doing in the closet?”
“This room is not the shower?”
“Uh, no.” She shook her head emphatically. “No, in no place is a closet a shower. Where are you from anyway?”
Ze reared zis head back, looking shocked. London shook her head. “Nevermind; forget I asked. It’s probably something I shouldn’t do anyway.” She looked away again, trying to rein in her annoyance. Her friend, Sophie, had told her she’d probably get some interesting people looking at her house, and this person ranked high on that list. But there was nothing about zim that actually alarmed her. She vaguely wondered why that was.
“Anyway, I’m sure you found the facilities to be adequate.”
“Yes, I found the facilities to be adequate.” The person looked at her again, zis green eyes unblinking. “I would like to inquire about the space for rent.”
“Um, right, you’ve been doing that. If you can give me a list of background references, I can check them and get back to you in a couple of days. You remembered that part, right?”
“Yes. Background references are used to perform a check or investigation and is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records, and financial records of an individual or an organization.”
“Well, I’m not sure of the commercial part of that, but sure. I just want to make sure you’re not an axe murderer.”
“Would another kind of murderer be acceptable?”
“No,” London laughed, the tension inside of her breaking. “It’s a joke. You have a worse sense of humor than I do!”
“Yes. Would you like me to recite my references now?”
“Actually I’d prefer them in print. If you don’t have them written down, I can find us some paper. Um, I think I’ve got some in the kitchen.” London turned but didn’t get more than a few steps away before calling back, “Please come with me to the kitchen.” Then she watched to make that ze was indeed following her.
She grabbed a pad of paper and riffled through the mess on the counter, trying to find a pen. Holding it aloft in triumph, she quickly dropped her hand as she noticed the confused look on the other person’s face.
“Anyway, let’s get those references, huh?” She thrust the paper and pen at zim. When ze didn’t immediately reach for it, she realized ze had assumed she’d write it down. “Sorry, um. I bet you have as bad of handwriting as my ex. So…?” She waited, “Um, what were those references again?”
Ze recited names and contact information so quickly she had a hard time keeping up with zim. As she was finishing up the fifth in the list and it looked like ze had no intention of stopping, she held up her hand. “Um, I think this is enough to go on for now. If I need more, I can ask you then, but I’ve got plenty here, assuming at least half of the names you mentioned aren’t related to you?”
Ze shook zis head slowly, “No relations.”
She breathed a barely audible sigh of relief. “Um, great. So let me call these people and I will get back to you in a couple of days.” She looked down at her list, but almost immediately looked up again. “Sorry we never did introductions, did we? Wow. I’m really bad at this. Anyway, I’m London McRae. What’s your name again?”
“Ailleianne Smith.”
“What? Um, can you say your first name again, or spell it so I can write it down? Something?”
“Ale-Lee-Ann.” Ze said, slowly, “A-I-L-L-E-I-A-N-N-E.”
“Oh my god! Are you a girl?” London could stop her voice from squeaking. “I have been thinking you were a man this entire time. Or some sort of non-gender thing. I mean, not a thing; obviously you are a person. But I wasn’t sure if you were a girl or a guy. I mean, not that it matters… Oh, god, I sound like such a cis asshole right now.” She gritted her teeth to stop from digging herself into a bigger hole.
“I do not understand your concern.”
“It’s not really a concern. I just… I don’t know what pronoun to use. Like, for whatever gender you are supposed to be. Or you know what, I can do that whole ze/zis/zim third gender thing. But I think I’m supposed to ask what you’d prefer?”
“Gender is of no concern to me.”
“Okay...” London wished the ground would swallow her whole. “Agender? That’s a thing, right?”
“I do not know if it is a thing. I do not have a gender.”
“Okay, I can do third gender pronouns. Right. This … this is not a thing I was expecting to ever have a conversation about.” London felt her face flush, as she turned away from Allie. She took a few deep breaths and then asked quietly, “So, Ailleianne? Is that your preferred name? What do you want me to call you?”
“What would you prefer?”
“I can call you Ailleianne. That’s fine. I was wondering if you had a nickname. But Ailleianne is fine. It’s a great name. Very unique.”
“Nickname?” Ailleianne said slowly, seeming to perk up in thought. A small smile appeared on zis face, zis happiness shining through. “A nickname is a shortened version of a proper name, give to those considered friends or family. I believe a nickname would be preferable. I would prefer a nickname. Do you have one in mind?”
This wasn’t really going the way London had imagined. Not that it was going badly. Ailleianne didn’t seem perturbed about the questions. Still, something felt off about about the whole interaction. Weren’t people supposed to have their own preferences about themselves?
“Okay,. Um, How about Al? Or Aillie? Or Leanne?” The names tripped over London’s tongue. “Any of them seem okay to me, but it’s your nickname.”
Allie nodded, smiling. London felt tension run from her shoulders.
“What will happen now?” Allie interrupted.
London sighed again. She wondered if the person ever laughed or relaxed. “I have to check your references which can take a couple of days. Plus I may get more people who want to look at the room.” She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping that that would be true. This really wasn’t the best time to rent, since most college students had already signed year-long leases a few months before. But there had to be one who still needed a place. She could only hope. “I will call you by next week to let you know what I’ve decided. Can I also get your phone number or email address? Some way for you to be contacted?”
Allie uttered a phone number that London quickly jotted down. It wasn’t an area code she was familiar with. “Are you from out of town?”
“I am currently inhabiting a motel room 3.6 miles from here. I would like to move in soon.”
“So, is this your cell number then?”
“Correct. That is a mobile number.”
Finally, unable to think of more questions, London had ushered zim out the door. Ze had left in the same hesitant way ze had arrived.
London had shut the door, unaware of the adventure that awaited her.