SOW'S EAR
by perletwo
The yellow one is spending the day with me in my world again today.
I like it when he does that. My girl likes it too, because it usually means he stayed here with her all night. She goes off happy on mornings when that happens. Sometimes she doesn't even complain about the silly clothes she has to wear on days when he stays in our world with us.
I keep Yellow company when he stays here. It's a very important job, because he doesn't like to go out and talk to the rusty-furred one. Later in the day he'll go play with the new brown-furred girl, but he and Rusty make each other uncomfortable. So he stays up here with me in the mornings.
Yellow's got a new game for us to play today!
He spent a long time at my girl's little table, writing on pieces of paper. Sometimes he'd scribble over what he'd written. Sometimes it seemed like he was doing more scribbling than writing. But he kept at it anyway.
After awhile he stopped writing. He took me down off my shelf and set me down on the dresser, and pulled the little chair away from the little table, so he's sitting facing me. That's nice.
He makes this funny noise, like 'hurrumppph-hmmph'. Then he picks up the papers and studies them.
"Though the touch of the sun's denied me
I have its properties nonetheless
I see it reflected in your eyes
I feel its warmth in your touch - "
Yellow makes the funny noise again and looks up at me. I like this game, Yellow. Can we play some more?
"Your hair carries glimmers of its light
Your skin bears the glow of its rays
One touch of the sun sears me to ashes
But your radiance lights the dark places - "
Then he stops, crumples up the paper into a ball and throws it into a corner. That looks like fun.
"aa-a-AARRGGHHH!" Yellow! Are you all right?
"I swear, pig - more'n a hundred years an' more experience lovin' than I ever had back then, an' I'm STILL no better a poet than I was when I started!"
He paces around the room, muttering and snarling, then sits back down across from me again.
"Tell me somethin', Mr. Gordo. How'm I s'posed to tell Buffy how much she means to me if that dreck's the best I can do?! Huh?"
Oh. I know this one!
You don't have to tell her at all, Yellow. You just have to *do.* Hugs and cuddles are good, but really you just have to love her. I can't tell my girl anything at all and she knows how much I love her. If you have to tell her something, I bet just 'I love you' would do it.
As long as you do what you say, that is.
Just then my girl comes in the room double-quick, mumbling something about grease and sweat and icky uniforms and stupid bosses. She takes off her hat and pushes a hand through sweaty hair as she stomps around gathering up the stuff she takes into the water room when she goes to get clean.
Then she stops, 'cause she's noticed Yellow's sitting there staring at her. "What?" She looks down at herself and grimaces at the funny clothes.
But Yellow's smiling and his face is all shiny, and he's looking at her like she's the most wonderful thing he's ever seen in his life.
"I love you...more than anything in the world, Buffy," he says softly.
All my girl's annoyance just melts away from her all at once, and she puts her hands on his cheeks and leans down to touch mouths.
They touch mouths like that for a very long time.
Yellow leaves to find something to eat while my girl's in the water room. I can hear him talking to Rusty and Brown Fur through the open door, and he sounds almost happy to be talking with them.
My girl comes back in wrapped in a towel and puts on a robe. Then she starts tidying up like the big one that moves things around used to.
"Gosh, I have *got* to get that man an ashtray if he's going to keep staying here like this...maybe a coatrack for this duster thingie...h'mmm, what's this?"
She's found the piece of paper in the corner. She flattens it out on the little table and smooths it with her hands, reading what Yellow wrote while she does.
Yellow comes back into my world while Girl is reading the paper. He stops in the doorway, looking stricken.
But when she looks up and sees him there, her face lights up just like his did when she came home. So *that's* what he was writing about!
They stand there being all shiny at each other for a long minute. Then Yellow bangs the door shut and comes all the way into the room, and touches his mouth to my girl's hard and for a long long time.
They're still touching mouths and their arms are around each other, and they're both making happy little sounds. I think maybe Yellow is going to stay in our world with us again tonight.
I like it when that happens.