John was in the kitchen preparing one of the few non-carnivorous meals he knew: Mexican tomato soup. He was careful not to add any sort of animal based products. He fried the onions in vegetable oil just enough to brown them and later added the diced tomatoes. Then quickly poured the tomato sauce and the star noodles. After letting the tomato paste simmer with water, it was done and their meal could commence. He left out the chicken broth he normally added for flavor. He didn’t want to torture the poor girl.
John set the two bowls on the table and watched closely for the expression on her face. She gazed at the soup placed before her, and she smiled at John in thanks. Fluttershy reached for her spoon, grabbing it in a fist. As she held it underhand, she tilted it towards her, spilling the broth.
John sighed. Reaching for her hand, he attempted to position the fingers in the correct manner. Smiling at her, he moved her hand back and forth into the soup and towards her mouth. The first time he spilled on her. The yellow sweater turned a dark shade of orange from the tomato sauce. Panicking, the woman jumped from her seat was shocked that her clothes were dirty. John giggled, instructing her to take off the sweater and throw it in the laundry to clean it tonight.
Fluttershy cried for forgiveness, expecting to be yelled at for punishment. John calmed her down and called her back to the table. She cautiously made her way back, wearing a summer blouse which had a light red spot where the soup spilled, and the meal continued.
After the meal, John took a look at his phone. The clock read ‘5:23’ . John still had an hour and a half until Sven and the rookie arrived. John needed to prepare.
Mumbling to himself, he tried to remember what he is missing. ‘Food? Check. Beer? Check. Fresh clothing?’ He took a sniff at his shirt. His face twitched with disgusted curiosity. ‘Unchecked.’ His thoughts continued, ‘next up, a shower. I haven’t showered in two days.’
Following his train of thought, he came to think, ‘I can’t leave her alone doing nothing. Her curiosity already cleaned his living room and threw away perfectly good meat.’ John did not want to her to rummage through the fridge and get rid of his meat. Thinking about it a bit more, he remembered, ‘she hasn’t bathed the whole time I knew her.’ He worried for her. A normal woman bathed at least once a day. She hasn’t done so once since he met her. The thought of a woman not bathing confused him. From his experience, women always kept themselves clean.
“Fluttershy?” He called to her.
She looked up in question, her mouth filled with the last of the soup.
John’s face went red as he prepared to ask, “When was the last time you bathed?”
Fluttershy’s face mimicked his. Her head turned nervously as she placed her hands flat on her lap. “Well… I-it was before I… I came here.” She responded. “I-is that a problem?”
“Sorry if it’s too personal, but…” John turned his view away from her, avoiding full eye contact. “I think you need to shower.” Expecting a barrage of irritation from her, he stared over at the hallway leading to the bathroom.
“Oh…” Looking down at her body, she took a sniff of her clothing. “I think I am due for one.” Her voice trailed off.
“Okay…” John was surprised by the lack of anger in this woman. “Well, let me show you to the restroom.” His face still colored, he led her to the restroom. Upon arrival, he opened the door and asked what he felt to be a very important question. “You do know how to bathe right?”
“Well, yes.” She responded as she tried to hide her irritation, “I do it almost every day.”
“Right, just remember to stay in the bathroom when you’re naked.” John remembered the incident from that morning. The headache he got from that scare is something he wanted to avoid. With a red face he thought, ‘What am I going to do with her? I can’t be seen looking at her every time she undresses, shaking her rump in my face. and the curves of her body... ’ he stopped himself from thinking further.
“Mister John? Would you like to get out now? If it’s not too much…” Fluttershy calmly asked, seeing as her red-faced friend was staring into space.
“Right, right, I’ll leave you to your duties.” He embarrassingly stumbled out of the restroom and marched his way to the living room to prepare for Sven’s arrival.
He searched for an activity for Fluttershy to keep herself busy with. Not wanting her to look through his private things or possibly toss out the last of his meat, he felt the need to have her entertained.
‘Video games?’ he asked himself. ‘While entertaining, I doubt she would know how to play on the first try.’ He continued his search.
‘Books?’ He scoured his library for a good read. The only books he had were three Stephen King books, the whole series of 20th Century Boys and Monster, and three non-consecutive Wheel of Time novels. ‘Nothing she might like.’ John sighed.
Having just remembered something girly he had in his possession, he shot up across the living room and landed in the neatly stacked DVDs from this morning. Passing through the boxes, he came across the one he was looking for. It was a DVD of a show he watched as a child: one he was sure Fluttershy would have no trouble watching.
The shower was shut off after four minutes. The woman stepped out wearing underwear and a towel. John politely asked her to put on some clothes, adding, “I have a surprise for you.”
Selecting her clothes carefully and returning to the living room, she found it surprising to see the moving pictures on such a small screen. On the screen were the cutest little creatures, furry rodents running about to the beat of a song with the lyrics, ‘when we work together it’s much better. My ham ham.’
The show attracted her to the television like four year old to candy. Her cheeks stretched from the constant joy she was experiencing for the first time since she arrived.
John smiled at her joy, something he hadn’t experienced at her level in years. Seeing her knelt on the floor half a meter from the television, John lifted her and sat her down on one of the available seats.
“There are three episodes in this disk,” he said. “Have fun watching.” he turned away and commented to himself, “I need to shower.” Leaving the woman alone, he remembered one vital piece of information. Peeking around the corner he added, “Don’t touch anything else.”
Fluttershy gasped loudly, curling up from the statement. The sight scared John whilst making him giggle as he headed off to the shower.
As customary to John and other men he has met, the shower was a sanctuary for a man and his thoughts. John readied his place of meditation, setting the elements to the perfect pitch, and set his mind to meditation mode.
‘First things first,’ he thought to himself, ‘what am I going to say to Sven when he gets here?’ his mind raced from this clause as he worried about it. ‘I can’t tell him the truth, I don’t know the truth,’ he added. ‘ But I can’t leave him with a big lie that would make things worse.’
His place of meditation had become a place of agony as the tsunami of bad ideas washed him back and forth through this storm he had sailed his way into.
‘Sister? Nah, they won’t believe it. Refugee? That could work, although not believable. Old friend? Been using that one and it hasn’t backfired. But then again I can’t lie to the only person that I trust. I have to at least tell him what happened last night.’
His meditation was cut short as he heard the faint sound of knocking. It was a quick medley of five knocks followed by the double chime of the doorbell going in and out. It was a familiar chime to anyone who watched the Looney Toons.
John had very little time. He shut off the water and dried himself off in the stall. After half a minute of towel drying he shot back into the clothes he came in with. Rushing out he saw the two guests already in the living room. All were smiling, except for Fluttershy.
“Guten Abend.” Sven said with his hand in the air and the joker’s smile of his. “Mary let us in.”
Fluttershy sent signals to John that stated the opposite as she shook behind the couch.
“Did you barge in when she opened the door?” ‘Like you did with me?’ he added in thought.
“Well that’s just splitting hairs.” The Sheriff stated. “Besides, we’re here aren’t we?”
“An hour early.” John grimaced, “I was in the middle of my shower.”
“Sorry about that.” Michael rubbed the back of his head. “Officer Leiber insisted on coming early.”
“Stay here.” John lifted his arm in annoyance, “I need to put on some clean clothes.” John left, hearing the giggles of the guests as he walked off.
As they waited for John to return, the two took their seats on the couch staring at the television. Watching part of the show, Sven looked confused. The cuteness of the little rodents brought some odd feelings to his heart and stomach. Fluttershy was sitting closest to the screen, absorbing the adorableness of the adventures and misadventures of the fluffy characters.
“You like this?” Sven asked.
“Oh, well... Yes,” Fluttershy strayed from talking to him. His unfamiliar face frightened her.
“Why?”
She mumbled in silence avoiding the interrogation. The placed her attention on the rodents as they played around in their clubhouse, the orange one getting the attention of the camera. “Maybe Mousey Jr. would like a jungle gym like tha…” She paused having realized the sad truth. She began to shed tears.
Wiping her eyes, the soft whimpering got the attention of the men on the couch. They worried for her.
“I’m sorry.” Sven responded believing it was his fault. “I didn’t think it through. Miststück.” he scolded himself.
“Don’t cry.” Michael shook in his shoes not knowing what to do. He turned to Sven, eyes panning back and forth between the woman and him. “I’ve never dealt with a crying woman. What do we do?”
Sven looked at her, his eyes were showing some worry. “We can either comfort her, or let her cry it out.” He said in a calm manner, showing his experience with women. “We just have to know why she’s crying.”
Heading his words Michael sprung up and knelt next to the crying woman. “Wha-what’s wrong?” he asked stammering in his speech. “Why are you crying?”
“I -sniff- I don’t think I’ll ever see my friends again.” She cried her hands covering her face.
Their sudden realization left them speechless. The sobbing filled the room. Following the cry was the sound of a harsh voice.
“What happened here?” John had entered the room, wearing new clothing and a face of concern. “Well?”
“She started crying about not being able to see her friends anymore. We didn’t do anything.” Sven responded in a hurry.
John looked at them, his eyes panning back and forth between them. “Well you should have done something.” He coldly commented to them heading around the couch to the sobbing woman.
As he whispered in her ear, she slowly stood back up wiping her eyes. Her whimpers came sighing down to a soft squeaking. Lastly it calmed to some quiet sniffling.
John sat her down on a recliner across from the television, getting her a glass of water and placing the box of drinks in the floor. Having settled her down, he turned the two police officers, “So, what do you want to know about her?”
The two stared at him. His sudden comment alerted them to the point their curiosity was piqued. John braced himself for the questions to follow.
“First of all,” Michael asked, “who is she?”
“Do you want to hear the lie I have been telling people all day, or the facts I got last night?” John passed around the drinks, one being a glass bottled Mexican drink for Michael. Their silence led him to say both. “I’ve been telling people that her name was Mary Posa, an old friend of mine from high school that came to visit me but lost everything on the bus ride out here.” He paused to take a drink, “but her name, or alias, is… Fluttershy” he rolled his eyes. “She came from a hippie commune called ‘Ponyville’. It’s likely she was exiled for some reason and sent to live with us.” John took a break to analyze the faces of his guests.
“Not the name I would have chosen.” Sven scoffed. John looked at him, thinking he didn’t believe him. “I would have named her Rosa Schön. Posa is such an ugly Hungarian name for her. One shouldn’t be called by a man’s name if they are a beautiful lady.”
John was surprised they took it like this. “It was just a name I gave her. I didn’t know what it meant.” John defended. “That’s beside the point.”
“Why the pink hair?” Michael burst out in question. The other three darted their heads towards him. The woman gave a faint blush. “I mean, if it doesn’t offend.”
“You know,” Sven added. “I noticed the pink hair when I saw her. I thought it was a wig.”
John looked at her in suspicion. “I didn’t notice much. Being in a school where everyone dyes their hair and pierced their skin, it passed my mind.”
“It’s not dyed.” The soft voice spoke out. The crowd gazed at her, eyes shifting between her hair and her reddened face. “Umm, this is my natural color.”
Perching forward on his seat John could not believe what he said. He looked over to the guys for confirmation. Sven was sipping his beer nonchalantly.
“You know, my cousin back home had a spot of white hair, in contrast to her brown hair.” Sven explained. “It was a skin mutation on her scalp that caused it. I’m not sure if it could make it pink, but it’s possible.”
They were baffled. Curiously, they looked closely at the base of her hair, just to be sure. Her face darkened in its shade of red. Taking heed, Michael asked the next question trying to divert their attention.
“How did you meet her?” Michael’s face turned red from the sudden gazes he received.
John placed down his bottle to explain his story the best he could. “Last night I received a call from Mr. Evans saying there was something running around his orchard. I took my Colt incase it was another cougar or something.” Fluttershy’s head tilted as she heard the word ‘Colt.’
“Why would you take a ‘colt’ with you?” she interrupted, “I don’t think he could fight a cougar.” Her confusion leaked into the others. Realizing she had stopped John’s monologue, she clapped her hands over her mouth, “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
John took his palm to the face as he realized the confusion. “I didn’t mean a horse,” he explained, “I meant my pistol.” He scanned her face for a sign of understanding. He didn’t receive one.
“What’s a pistol?” She continued with her question.
Remembering the reaction she had over the meat John was afraid what her reaction would be if she learned he had an instrument of death with him. Unfortunately, Sven did not did not see that reaction and his mouth was faster.
“A pistol is a short-barreled one-handed firearm. They are commonly used in close range combat, secondary hunting arm, and self-defense it is also used in crime due to their ability to be hidden.”
Point by point, Fluttershy grew more and more frightened. The thought of something being used for crime made the image in her head even more frightening. Fluttershy's whimpering had broken the silence drawing the boys’ attention to her.
“Do you always have to be such an encyclopedia?” John growled at Sven as Fluttershy’s whimpers grew.
“I didn’t know she would take it like this.” Sven shrugged his shoulders.
“I said she was a Hippie.”
“Your point being?”
“I forgot to mention she went ballistic when I tried to eat meat!”
“She did what?”
“She hates meat!” John’s exclamation made the whimpers halt for a moment just to resume with more force. “Wouldn’t you think she would hate violence as well when I mentioned the word Hippie?”
“I don’t care if she was a hippie or even Mother Teresa; I had the right to answer her question, Ideology aside. Besides why should I care for some longhairs?”
“What is your problem with Hippies?!”
“My great uncle joined them and got himself killed back home. They have no right to pull their Peace and Love crap on if they’re just going to use it to break laws.”
“Even so they-”
“Stop!” The quiet voice uprooted from the argument. “Can’t you see you’re upsetting her even more?” Michael pointed at Fluttershy, who was in the midst of breaking into tears. The two felt the pain of guilt for making a woman cry. Climbing between them, Michael reached forward to touch her shoulder. Her quick flinch made him wary, but he was sure he had to do it. With a soft touch he brushed her shoulder soothing the pains of the woman’s heart. She turned to him her eyes wet as he spoke some soft words. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you. The bad men have stopped.”
‘Who are you calling bad?’ John and Sven both thought.
To their amazement Fluttershy cleaned her face and directed a smile at him, while still looking to her right towards John. She sat up straight, her hands on her lap and took some deep breaths, In and out, In and out. She calmed herself down and looked at them.
“Why would you have such a scary weapon with you,” she asked him with all her heart. “Are you trying to hurt someone?”
John felt the need to defend himself. “I‘m not trying to kill anyone, I just need some protection from bad things.” His protest left him in a tight spot. In one chair he had a person who has a possible biased look on firearms. On the couch he had two police officers that could take his gun away if they feel the need to. He had to tread lightly in this situation. “I can’t really kill anyone with my gun anyway.”
The interest of the group perked up like a Meerkat on watch.
“How?” Sven asked with a curious smile.
John was nervous. There was only one person who knew about this, Mr. Evans. He felt forced to answer. “I use only non lethal rounds.” He let out in a sigh.
The group stared at him. The woman was the most confused about it. John didn’t want to leave it at that. He was compelled to explain further.
“Ever since the incident back home, I had people harassing me, calling me a murderer and a liar. Some even trashed my car. I wanted to protect myself if they decided to come at me when I was at alone. But I didn’t want to kill anyone and be a real murderer, so I decided to only use ‘non-lethals’ or ‘rubber bullets’ as it is known to others.”
“So you don’t carry lethal rounds because you were an accused murderer?” Michael asked, “I don’t understand, who did you not kill?”
John went silent. He played with his beer, churning it with a twist of his wrist. His eyes were soulless, staring at the feet of his guests as the emotion fell off his face.
Sven, knowing how much of a touchy subject it was, took a sip and hastily attempted to bring them back on topic. “So what were you saying about how you met?” John didn’t respond. “John?”
John returned to their world. “Oh, what did you say?” He mumbled audibly.
“You didn’t finish explaining how you two met.”
Rubbing the back of his head, he gave a discomfited smile. “Right, forgot about that.” taking a quick sip to clear his throat, he tried to remember where they veered off. “So as I walked through the orchard I followed the sounds. I then heard some moaning and rustling near a tree and chased after it. The chase led me to the center shed where I had time to see her. She had only a dress on and her tattoo was showing on her bare back.” Michael choked on his soda thinking of her bare back. “We headed back to the farmhouse to get things settled. That was where she told us she was from the so-called Ponyville. Joe was the one that suggested she was from a commune.”
His eyes panned to see Fluttershy, who was listening while liking her apple soda. He looked at her clearing his thoughts, thinking about what he just said. Some part of him rejected the idea.
“Then after that, they suggested she stay with me until we can sort something out.” John finished.
“Amazing.” Sven joked. “So she was only wearing the dress. No shoes?”
“I don’t believe hippies wear shoes.” Michael rebutted.
“Anyway, I want one thing.” Sven declared. The crowd looked at him with curious eyes. “I want to hear from her.” He pointed to Fluttershy.
Giving a soft squeak, she gasped. “Me?” She looked at the group whose eyes was locked on her. Her face turned red. Her eyes skewed to the left in defense.
“Well, we want to hear it.” Sven demanded.
John noticed her whimpering. Remembering his experiences with her he sprung up into action. “I don’t think she wants to talk about it.” He said in her defense.
“Really?” Sven asked, “Is it too painful to talk about?” He looked at the woman. She gave him a simple nod. “Well then, how’s about we talk about the weather?” Sven joked.
“Oh, um… it’s raining outside.” Fluttershy blurted out between her whimpers.
John rushed over to the window. Lifting the curtains, he looked outside. “Shit!” He exclaimed. “Another day without work.”
Sven and Michael laughed at John’s exclamation. Soon the quiet feminine giggles joined the conversation as John ranted about how he is running low on his spending money using colorful allegories.
It was a fun night after that, and they all had their share of drinks. Eventually a board game was brought out and more fun was had the drunken cop flipped the table. Even though John said to keep the conversation under wraps, Fluttershy could say she made some new friends.
______
It is near dusk. The light rain overhead cleared the dust from the nearby stony walls of the cliff. Along the base, a small cave cut its way into it, surrounded by a broken chain link fence. The fence had a large post with several encased cameras, two of which were larger than the others. The sight was forlorn and wasted. That is, until a sound broke the serenity of the forest.
Coming along a forgotten trail, a battalion of large SUVs with trail lights ablaze stormed the small cave. Their lights fixed on the cave as several armed men became visible. In the center, was a slightly shorter man wearing a formal suit. They inspected the area of cave for signs of disturbance.
“Sir,” called one of the armed men. “Could it have been another bear?”
The man stayed silent as he inspected the land. His eyes fixed on a glint of light deeper into the cave he ordered his men to investigate. Using prongs they brought back a cloth shoe with a metal rail turning around the ankle. The man looked closely at the footwear, taking in all its grooves and threads.
He lifted them up, and called to all his men. “Gentlemen! We have a code 15.”