August 8
Cayenne woke me up when she came back to the room. I heard her close the door, and I opened my eye to see who it was.
She had her horn lit just a little so that she could see where she was going, and she went into the bathroom so I put my head back down and closed my eyes but I hadn't fallen back asleep when she climbed up in bed with us and pulled the covers over herself.
I stretched out my wing to cover her and she slid in a little bit closer and nuzzled my cheek, then dropped her head to the pillow right next to mine.
When I woke up again in the morning, she was still there, tucked up against me and I actually felt kinda sad for her.
We stayed in bed until she woke up, and then she got our coffee basket and brought it inside. There was a little latch on the door that we could use to make it not close all the way in case Gusty came by to visit, so we used that and then got in the shower together.
She hadn't shown up by the time we were done showering and grooming, so I went down the hall to her room and knocked politely on the door. I knew she was up because her coffee basket was gone.
After a few minutes, Nicky poked her head out the door and I asked if they wanted to come to breakfast with us, and she said that would be nice, but that they weren't ready yet. I told her to just come by our room, and gave her the number in case Gusty had forgot.
Cayenne had a late afternoon flight out of Detroit, and she said that Mister Barrow had told her that they wanted to leave around one just in case there were delays at the border. And we could leave whenever we wanted to, since we were riding in Sienna all the way back.
I wasn't actually sure how Gusty had gotten here.
So we hung out in our room until Nicky and Gusty came by, and then we went to breakfast together. I found out that Gusty had come on a bus with all the other actors and that had been nice because it was big enough that they could lie down and nap if they wanted to and they also could practice their lines in little groups, plus she said that it had been important for them to all bond again before the play.
Me and Aquamarine and Cayenne got a big order to share—we got an omelet and steel-cut oats and also French toast and then split it all up except for the omelet that Cayenne didn't want, so we gave her all the potatoes that came with it instead.
And Gusty and Nicky shared their breakfast, too, which was really cute.
So we were talking about what we wanted to see, and Gusty said that we ought to visit the Shakespearean Gardens, which weren't too far. I didn't know what that was, and she said that they had plants that were in Shakespeare's plays, and that she had gone there on Friday with all the other actors and it had really helped get the scene in their minds. She said that the flowers on stage had been false flowers, but that she could still smell the Cupid's flower that they had in the garden.
We got directions from her—it wasn't too far away at all—and I was kind of hoping that Gusty would want to come with us but she wanted to stay with Nicky, so when we were done eating we all hugged and nuzzled each other and wished each other safe trips home, and then we went out of the hotel and to the garden.
It was strange going through town because it had been so crowded with theatre-goers all weekend long, but lots of them were leaving or had already left, so there weren't all that many people out on the sidewalks.
We were almost on the same street at the gardens, so it was really easy to find. And it was just like Gusty had said it was. The park along the lakeshore in Chicago had been bigger but this one was really nice because it had the kinds of plants that Shakespeare knew and there were little signs that told you what it was called and what play it was in.
The Cupid's flower—which the sign said was also called Cupid's dart—was a really pretty lavender with strange-looking petals that had a sawtooth end, and it didn't look much like the flower that she'd had in the play.
When we'd looked at all the flowers and smelled them all we all sat together on a bench that overlooked the river and closed our eyes and let the smells of the garden mix together in our noses and that was really nice, and I could almost imagine that if I opened my eyes I might see the fairies running around in the garden.
There was a path back that mostly followed the bank of the river, so we took that until we got to the Festival Theatre, which was sort of right behind our hotel.
We had to go across another park, and there were a couple of men in red coats and tan hats riding on horses, so we went over to greet them. I'd seen men dressed like that a couple of times over the weekend, but always from a ways away. They were easy to see, 'cause being on a horse like that put them above the crowd.
They said that they were from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and they were really friendly. One of them was blonde and his horse was interested in us, which kind of scared Cayenne. When he leaned down to sniff her she backed away, which wasn't very friendly. Both me and Aquamarine made friends with him, and we finally coaxed Cayenne to come closer so she could be friends too.
As we were walking back to the hotel, I asked Cayenne why she'd moved away, 'cause even though they were big they mostly acted like foals. She said in Chicago, the police sometimes ride horses so that they can bully their way through crowds and she'd seen a policeman on a horse pushing people back at the rally where she'd gotten arrested.
We both helped Cayenne pack her bags back up. She said that she wasn't supposed to take the liquor across the border, and it was a shame to pour it out, so we each had one drink and then she set it on the desk. She said that maybe one of the hotel maids would like to have it.
Our helpers were waiting for us in the lounge, and so we took our bags out to the vans, and then we went inside for lunch.
It was sad to split up after we'd finished eating—if it hadn't been for Cayenne needing to get back to Detroit for her flight, I think we would have made dessert last a little longer. Maybe not too much longer, 'cause the ice cream would have melted.
So we nuzzled her goodbye and hugged her helpers and then she got in their van and we got in Sienna, and me and Aquamarine still hadn't thought of anyplace that we wanted to visit while we were in Canada.
I asked if there were any casinos in Canada, and Mister Salvatore said that there were but we weren't going to stop at one because he had done nothing to deserve having to fill out that much paperwork. Miss Cherilyn said that was what he got for trying to corrupt me.
Then Aquamarine saw a sign for the Stones n Bones museum and it had a picture of a big skeleton that looked like it might be a dragon and we said that that sounded like a fun place to visit. And Miss Cherilyn thought so, too.
Well, it was kind of disappointing that it wasn't an actual dragon skeleton. Instead it was a dinosaur, which was kind of like a dragon but it couldn't fly and it couldn't breathe fire. But they used to live on Earth and then somehow after they'd died their bones had turned to stone, and then someone had dug them up and figured out how they all went together and reassembled them into a skeleton.
There were drawings of what the dinosaurs might have looked like when they were alive, which was pretty neat to see. And they had some other kinds of fossils, too, of other kinds of smaller dinosaurs and mammals and even some fossil plants, which Aquamarine was really interested in. They even had a small collection of fossil dinosaur eggs.
Another room had butterflies on the wall and they were pretty but it was sad that they were all dead. Butterflies were a lot prettier when they were flying around.
When we'd had a look at all the displays, we went to the gift shop and Aquamarine bought a book about ancient plants, and Mister Salvatore found a package of astronaut ice cream and bought that. He was really excited about it because he thought that they didn't make it any more, and he said that we should try some and I told him that we'd both had it before in Lansing.
So after that we got back in Sienna and he gave us our earrings and told us that we shouldn't mention having visited the horse racing track unless they specifically asked about it. He said that if they asked if we'd seen any horses in Canada, to say no.
But I said that wasn't true because we'd seen the mounties and they'd been on horses and he let out a long sigh and said that he was glad that he'd gotten ice cream and while he was waiting at the customs house he was going to see if he could use his badge to get a cup of coffee.
It turned out to be quicker than on the way over, though. We still had to take turns answering questions, but not very many. And I did get asked if I had any alcohol or drugs or firearms in my saddlebags. I also wasn't supposed to have any fresh fruit, which I didn't.
Mister Salvatore had gotten his cup of coffee—when I came back out he was sitting on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs with it in his hand and he said that if I wanted he could get me a cup, too, but I said that I didn't need it.
So once Aquamarine had had her turn to answer questions, we all got back in Sienna and drove back home.
She asked Mister Salvatore if he could take her to the greenhouse instead of her apartment, because she wanted to check her plants, and he didn't know where it was but she gave him directions on how to get there and Miss Cherilyn offered to wait and give her a ride back home.
Aquamarine thanked her but said that she would probably be at the greenhouse for a while and could get a ride from Jenny if she wanted it, so we nuzzled and then I got back in the van and we went back to the highway.
Mister Salvatore offered to buy me dinner on the way home and I was getting kinda hungry, so I said that we could stop somewhere if he wanted to. So we stopped in Charlotte and had dinner at Pizza Hut, then we went the rest of the way to Kalamazoo.
I was kind of sad that the trip was over, but I was glad that I was back home and the first thing I did was put on my flight gear and took a nice flight around town until it was getting dark, and then I got undressed and flew over to Meghan's.
She was really happy to see me and gave me a big hug and then when we were inside crouched down and kissed me, and we went upstairs and snuggled on her bed and I told her all about the trip and everything we'd seen. She was kind of jealous that I'd met a couple of the actresses from Orange is the New Black.
I didn't get to tell her everything that we'd done today, 'cause we'd started kissing and pretty soon most of her clothes were in a pile on the floor and I was on top of her. We didn't wind up having sex, 'cause she'd just come off estrus, but I didn't mind. Just being curled up with my head on her breast and her hand on my back made me happy.