Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
"Well, when you put it that way, it does sound kind of gross." I get up and fill a tiny bowl with water and set it in front of him. He daintily—daintily!—flicks his fingertips through the liquid and then looks around for a towel. Biting back my amusement, I hand him one of those, too.
My amusement dies a moment later when he finishes with the towel and drops it on the floor.
"Okay, see, that is a problem," I tell him, my hands on my hips. "That's fucking rude."
Zhur looks astonished. "But how else will the staff know I am done with the towel?"
He seems so very surprised by my reaction that I sense he's not being a jerk. "There's no staff here, Zhur. And with humans, it's rude to throw something down on the floor because it implies that the mess you make is now someone else's problem."
"Where I come from, it is normally someone else's problem," he says. He gazes down at the napkin on the floor, then at my angry face, and then cautiously picks it up again. "I am truly not trying to anger you, Maeve. I have no desire to return to the barn. But my ways are clearly different than yours."
"Your ways are different than most people's," I correct. "Just how much money did you have? How powerful were you? What are you doing here?"
"All excellent questions I must never answer. Ask me something else."
I resist the urge to kick him out again. I'm letting my temper get the better of me when only a few minutes ago, I was willing to overlook his personality flaws to have a temporary companion. I can't let his annoying personality distract me. How many times did I do something “human” when I was in my aquarium only for the watchers to laugh and point and talk excitedly amongst themselves over the most innocent of things? It made me feel like a freak.
I know what it's like to be different and for everyone to see your actions as wrong or inappropriate, so I need to remind myself of that with him, over and over again. Maybe I should write it on a piece of plas and stick it on the fridge. "I'm trying to be your friend here, Zhur. Let's not fight over napkins."
"I do not wish to fight at all, Maeve." For all that he's covered in hay and his fur is sticking up in crazy tufts, he manages to look pitiful and woebegone. "If I had my wishes I would not even be here."
"I know, I know." I drum my fingers on the table. "Okay. Fine. Against my better judgment, I'm going to help you, but there's a few conditions."
Zhur brightens and gestures at me like a lord gesturing at his servant. "Name them."
"No more of this servant and master crap. We're equals, okay?"
His face screws up and he looks as if he's sucking on a lemon. He's silent for a long moment and then nods slowly. "On this planet, we are equals, yes."
"Great," I say in a tone that does not imply it is great at all. "You can work for room and board. You can help with chores around the house and the farm and I will teach you what you don't know."
Again, he nods.
"And since we are equals, and you are paying me back with manual labor..." I pause to let those words sink in. "I don't want to hear bitching about the shampoo or my towels or the food or anything else. Because you should be happy that I'm giving you anything at all, okay? No one gave me clothes when I was taken captive from Earth. I sat in a glass aquarium, naked, for three years. I shat in a pan for three years. I drank from a tube in the wall like an animal, and I managed to not be a dick to the people that freed me. So if I can manage that, you can, too. Got it?"
Zhur's sour expression changes to one of complete confusion. "Someone kept you without clothes?"
"They treated me like a pet lizard," I say, putting my fork down and touching my robe to remind myself that it's there. Sometimes I still have naked dreams and those are the worst. "Gave me a fake tree and a heat lamp and a bowl of food and just, like, left me. Anyhow, I don't want to talk about it."
He blinks. "It is literally the only thing you don't wish to talk about."
I roll my eyes at the ceiling. This fucking man. "How about a 'thank you, Maeve'?"
"I do not thank because, like apologies, words are meaningless." He gives me another haughty stare, like a tiger sneering at his prey. "Instead, I shall repay you for your kindness. I may not seem appreciative, Maeve, but I am. To show my appreciation, I shall demonstrate how to use the water in your lavatory."