The Lion’s Mail Order Menage

He could tell by the amount of raucous noise, sharp laughter followed by angry protestations, tears and then the whole cycle repeating again, that they were definitely drunk enough to start telling him all of the things that were wrong with his father, with him, and with life in general.  Well, he already knew they weren’t too keen on him, and he had heard enough awful things about his father that it was getting harder and harder to block them out, so he wasn’t a huge fan of that idea. 

Unfortunately, the only way to avoid it was to just take the slippers and go, which didn’t strike him as the best idea, either.  These slippers were his father’s favorite, what he called one of life’s only little pleasures.  If he happened to come home early and find them missing, or if, god forbid, something were to happen to them, Caleb was pretty sure his father would kill him; just throw him off of the roof like he had threatened to do so many times before.  He wanted to say that he simply could not go, but the dark look on Tyler’s face told him that was not an option.

“Tyler, what am I supposed to do?”

“Just put the slippers on and let’s go.  We’re losing light.”

“But-”

“No buts.  I know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it.  You aren’t backing out on this.  You can’t.  It’s important.  This could change the rest of our lives, what I’m about to show you.”

“But what if something happens to them?”

“You want to go inside?  Face the cackling hens to get a better pair of shoes?”

“No.”

“Good.  Neither do I.  So put the slippers on and let’s go.  Besides, nothing is going to happen to them.”

So he put them on and they shimmied down the fire escape and made their way down one street after another, seemingly without end.  Because the slippers were too big for him, Caleb’s feet were constantly slipping and sliding and before long, they began to form some of the most wicked blisters he had ever experienced in his young life. 

Even so, they continued to walk.  The sun left the vast, smog-filled sky entirely, and they continued to walk.  The creatures of the New York night began to come out to play, and they continued to walk.  Caleb was getting nervous now, both about where they might be headed and about the strange people all about them, choking the sidewalks at an alarming rate.  Tyler, who walked in front and led the way, as always, turned to him and grinned.  Caleb didn’t understand how he always knew exactly what he was thinking, but he did, and it was more than a little bit annoying at times like this.

“Stop your worrying, OK, brother?  Ain’t a person out here who could hurt us.  None of ‘em have our little secret, now do they?  None of them get to turn into a lion whenever the hell they want.”

“Tyler!  You can’t talk about things like that!  Not so loud, not out in the open.”

“Bah, who cares?  If anyone actually heard me in all of this noise they would never believe me.  They’d just think I’m a silly kid, or maybe even crazy.”

“I guess.  Still, though.”

“Come on, keep walking.”

“But how much further?”

“When’d you get so whiney?  I don’t remember you ever complaining quite so much as this.”

“I was just wondering,” Caleb said, hoping the hurt wasn’t too apparent in his voice, “just wanted to know how much further we had to walk.”

“Not far.  You see those docks?  The tips of all of those big boats?”

“Yup, I see them.”

“Well, that’s where we’re headed.  That’s where we’re going to meet my friend.”

Great.  Just fantastic.  Tyler knew the docks had always kind of freaked him out.  That must be why he hadn’t told him where they were going until they were almost there.  He wasn’t the kind of boy who took no for an answer or stopped a thing just because he knew his friend wouldn’t like it.

He was the kind of boy to find a way around the obstacle, whether that way was quite fair or not.  It was who he was and Caleb knew it.  He wasn’t even all that mad about it, only very tired and just a little bit nervous about what it was they were getting themselves into.

“Come on, Caleb, it’s not like I’m leading you to your death.  I just want you to meet my friend Cylus.  He’s nineteen, so he’s pretty much an adult.  He’s the one who’s going to help us get a job.  Just don’t screw it up, OK?  Actually, don’t say anything.  Let me do the talking.  I’ll get us where we need to be.”

“OK, I guess.  If you’re sure.”

“I’m always sure, right?  I always take care of us.  Don’t need to worry about one thing.”

That was kind of what Caleb was worried about, but he would never have said that.  It would have made him feel too bad.  And he liked the idea of him staying quiet.  At least that way he didn’t have to worry about messing it all up. 

He would have liked to come up with some way of stalling their forward progress, but it was too late.  Before he could think of a thing to do, they were rounding an alarmingly dark corner into a strange, fishy smelling alcove.  It was so far out of the way, out of any passerby’s line of sight, that if something were to happen to them nobody would be able to see it.  They would be completely, hopelessly at this Cylus guy’s mercy.  Caleb just had to hope that he really knew what he was doing, because he could already see the tall, lanky guy lurking in the shadows.

“Yo. You’re late.”

“I know, I know.  Sorry.  We got held up by a couple of drunks.  You know how that can be.”

Caleb felt his face start to burn.  A couple of drunks?  He must be talking about their moms, and it felt kind of awful to hear.  The thing was, he was right.  That was what they were, at least about half of the time, but they were still their moms and it still felt kind of wrong to be talking about them like that to outsiders.  Caleb was still young enough to have some loyalty left for his mom, even if it was mostly misguided.  But he couldn’t let it show on his face.  That part was imperative.  He didn’t want to let Tyler down.