Almost Human

I didn't sleep very well. If I hadn't known of poor Gary's death, I probably would have slept just fine. I know many would wonder how I can feel sorry for him after what he did to me with Barlow. But as we sat there that day in the conference room, Gary had something Barlow didn't, remorse. Gary had a conscience. He felt guilty and wanted to somehow right his wrong. Barlow was only sorry he got caught. Barlow was seething with anger at Gary for confessing. Maybe Barlow had something to do with Gary's death. I've heard of such things happening in prison. And this was a private prison, I have no idea how safe or dangerous they are.

We eat breakfast with everyone else in the mess tent making it easier to get in those last minute good-byes. Then we're off. It's my first time on a motorcycle and I find it exhilarating. I hope Xanthus will teach me how to drive it.

In the early afternoon we reach the company training and terminal facilities. We have lunch in the cafeteria there before we continue with me following him in my car. We arrive at Xanthus house in time for dinner.

It's an isolated cul-de-sac of seven houses. Perhaps they had planned to do more like this out here, but they just didn't sell. There's a big wind turbine for each house to provide electricity and running water from each house's well. There's no city water or power out here. Plus, each roof is a solar shingle roof.

Xanthus house, my new home, is between the other six houses at the end of the cul-de-sac and appears to be the largest. It has a large two car attached garage attached to a ground level section of the home. The rest of home is split into three levels that I am anxious to see.

I hear a dog barking excitedly. Then a huge barking dog comes bounding out of the neighbor's front door followed by a man and a pregnant woman.

"Hey, Harley," Xanthus greets the huge German Sheppard/St. Bernard mix happily. "Did you miss me boy," he ask Harley as he pets him and hugs him.

"He sure did," says the man who came out of the neighboring house, "He didn't eat for the first couple of days after you left, just kept watching out the front window, then he laid around all mopey for a couple of days."

"Thank you so much for looking after him for me," Xanthus tells the couple appreciatively. "A kennel cost an arm and a leg and he never looks this good when I get him back from a kennel.

Hey, I'ld like you to meet my woman, Eleanor.

Eleanor, these are my neighbors slash tenants, Roger and his wife, ZZ."

I shake their hands, "It's very nice to meet you both." They came out barefooted so I can see Roger is human while ZZ is a chimp.

"How long have you been married," I ask.

"Legally speaking," Roger informs me, "we're not allowed to married. But we had a commitment ceremony two and a half years ago and we've been together for five years. We've been living here for four year. We had to find someplace where we wouldn't get harassed every day for being a couple."

I really don't know how to respond to that. I've heard of couples like Roger and ZZ being harassed, but I have never experienced such a thing myself. I am classified as human and up until reuniting with Xanthus had only dated human men. All I can think of to say to this lovely couple is, "I'm so sorry you've been treated badly."

"That's good," I respond to ZZ. Then I ask, "So is this your first baby?"

ZZ smiles as she pats her Buddha belly, "Yep, this is our first. Now if Xan would get a couple of these other houses rented out, our little one might have someone to play with."

Xan motions toward a couple of the empty houses, "I've just got to put the finishing touches on these two and I can post ads for them."

"It gets a little lonely for ZZ out here sometimes," shares Roger. "I'm gone four days a week at work while she's out here. Harley was good company for her. I've been thinking about getting us our own dog to help keep her company."

"That sounds like a good idea, Roger," comments Xanthus, "Plus, there would be another dog for Harley to play with."

"If he doesn't eat him," Roger jokes.

Xanthus stands back up from petting Harley, "Would it be a problem if I need you to keep him for a few days again?"

"No, he's no problem," answers Roger, "just let us know."

"Well, the pregnant lady needs to sit down," says ZZ pleasantly. "We'll get out of your hair."

"Later," says Roger with a wave as he puts an arm around ZZ and they turn back toward their house. We give them a wave.

Xanthus clicks a button on his phone and the garage door opens. "Okay," Xanthus informs me, "I'm going to back this trailer into the garage. You can park your car on this side because I can still get around it with a cycle if I need to and my truck won't be blocked in if I need it."

I nod my understanding. Then I climb back in my car. I wait for him to finish backing the trailer and motorcycle into the garage. When he calls Harley into the garage out of my way, I move my car. Harley trots up to me when I step out of the car. He sniffs me as I scratch his ears for a moment. He walks alongside me as I join Xanthus in the garage.

"Do you like dogs," ask Xanthus.

"I don't know," I answer, "I've never had one."

"Are you a cat person," Xanthus ask me.

"Don't know. Never had one of those either." I inform him, "I've never had a pet. My mom's not an animal fan."

"We can unpack after we've had dinner," Xanthus pressing his thumb to a small pad unlocking the door that leads into the house from the garage.

"I'm sure you noticed the shower in the corner of the garage and the washer and drier out here in the garage too," says Xanthus pressing the button on his phone to shut the garage door. "Sometimes I get pretty dirty working on one of the other houses. I don't like to track dirt into the house so I'll toss my clothes in the washer and shower out here."

I follow him into a mudroom.

"This mudroom is between a breakfast nook by the kitchen and the front room." He slips off his shoes in the mudroom and I do the same. He unlocks the second door with his thumb again. Harley trots in ahead of us.

"Do you cook," Xanthus ask me.

"If it's a boxed meal with directions on the box, yes," I answer with a silly grin as I follow him into the house.

"I guess I'm cooking," Xanthus smiles at me. "Feel free to wander around and get comfortable"

"There's no furniture in this front room," I state.

"The house is mostly empty," he calls from the kitchen. "I've been here about six years. I started off in the house Roger and ZZ are in. I lived in it as I repaired and remodeled it. Then I started on this one. It was actually in pretty good shape. Then I realized because of its size most people wouldn't be able to afford to rent it. So I moved in here and posted an ad for the other house. I interviewed quite a few people before I chose Roger and ZZ. Don't want just anybody next door to me in one of my houses. Didn't want someone there that would freak out when they learned I was a chimp. And I didn't want any trouble makers. Just giving someone an eviction notice doesn't guarantee they'll leave like you want. They're likely to trash your house on their way out. I've been focused on trying to get the other houses finished so I can rent them out. But I've been gone a couple of months here and a few months there to earn the money I need for supplies, electricians and occasionally a plumber for the stuff I can't handle. And I guess I'll eventually get around to furnishing this place properly. I think that front room is supposed to be a formal living room."

The dining room next to the kitchen is meant for a much larger dining room set than the little three piece dinette that's sitting there beneath an elegant yet modest chandelier. I step down to the lower level. There's an enormous flat screen TV, perfect I'm sure for watching sports. There's a gaming system on a beat up coffee table in front of the TV. And the sofa's in slightly better condition than the coffee table. Xanthus obviously relaxes down here. The room is actually meant to be a large family room. There are French doors leading out the back and letting in a lot of sunlight.

There are three doors toward the front of the house. I open one and find a bedroom with only a full size mattress and box spring on the wood grain porcelain tiles. No other furniture is in the room and there are no clothes in the closet. Xanthus doesn't sleep down here and I will sleep where Xanthus sleeps. The next door is a full bath with a laundry area. There's toilet paper but no toothbrush or toothpaste. Xanthus only pops in here occasionally to relieve himself. Behind the third door is a home office with a nice corner desk, desk top PC and office chair.

I head up to the second level. I open a set of doors expecting to find a linen closet and find another laundry area complete with washer and dryer. The set of doors across from the laundry turns out to be a linen closet. There are four bedroom doors to investigate. I pick one and step inside to find a nice sized child's bedroom; except, no furnishings, just an empty bedroom waiting for an occupant. There's what is obviously a closet, but there's another door. I open it and find a full bath that's shared with the other empty bedroom. I walk across the hall and find the same set up, two bedrooms sharing a full Jack and Jill bath.

I climb up the stairs to the third level. There's a landing area and two doors. I open the one to my right first and find a small empty bedroom. Perhaps it was a nursery at one time. I go to the second door and open it. I have finally found the master bedroom. The king size mattress and box spring are on the floor, but have sheets on them. There's a nightstand of a sort on one side, probably the side Xanthus sleeps on. There's no other furniture in the room. There's an area that would make a nice sitting area and a door. Behind that is the master closet with a laundry of its own. Xanthus doesn't have many clothes and most of what he has is work related. And through the master closet is the master bath.

It's a lot of house for a bachelor with nothing but a huge dog. Of course, he won't be here alone anymore and we haven't been using condoms and I'm not on any type of birth control. Getting pregnant isn't necessarily a priority for us, but I want a baby with Xanthus more than I want my master's degree. My master's thesis just doesn't seem very important at the moment.

"This is a lot of house," I say as I step back into the kitchen.

"Yeah, they usually don't build them quite this big," responds Xanthus. "These were custom homes built to someone's specifications. I like that each one is unique. Cookie cutter neighborhoods aren't fun to drive through, no character."

"I understand what you mean," I tell him as I watch him slice and dice. "My dad's family could easily afford a bigger better building for Richards and Richards Attorneys, but the building is unique and has history for the family. When dad's great grandfather and great-great uncle first purchased the building, they had to move their families into the apartments above the offices. They couldn't afford to lease apartments and homes and pay the mortgage on the building too. Since then someone from the family has always lived in one of the apartments over the offices."

"So were you still living at home with your parents," Xanthus asks me.

"No way," I answer, "my mother and I would get on each other's last nerve. I stay in one of the apartments in the Richards and Richards building above the offices. It's only one bedroom so there's not enough furniture to fill this place up, but it'll help."

"A one bedroom," repeats Xanthus thoughtfully as he continues to cook. "People can pack a lot into small spaces like that. I think we should rent a midsized moving truck. And I know where there's a liqueur store where we can get boxes that are perfect for packing and moving."

He takes plates and glasses out of the cabinet. "We should also rent a car tower so we can take one of the vehicles. It could take a few days to get everything packed and loaded. Having one of the cars will allow us to run around as needed. We have to pay your parents a visit too, remember?"

"I'ld really prefer to forget," I admit. "I usually just get together with my dad for lunch and avoid my mother. I usually make a surprise appearance for family dinner about once a month so she can't try to turn it into a blind date. It's not like she doesn't drop by my apartment whenever she feels like it. Of course, she won't be able to drop by here whenever she feels like it. We're too far away, thank goodness."

"Well, maybe this will bring you closer," says Xanthus as he carries our plates to the table. I'm surprised with how fast he threw together a stir fry for us.

"I won't hold my breath on it," I tell him as I sit down.

He smiles at me as he fills our glasses with water from the refrigerator's dispenser, "At least you have both of your parents. They often took us away from our parents while we were little or just babies. My dad was killed trying to keep them from taking me away from my mother. I'm the first blond chimp anyone has ever seen. My mother was badly injured too and never completely recovered. They put her down a few months after that."

"Put her down," I repeat shocked and saddened, "like she was some wounded animal. That's horrible."

He sits my ice water by me as he joins me at the dinette. "I didn't mean to make you sad. I was very angry about it for a long time, but there's no sense in wasting energy on anger for things you can't change. Of course meeting you helped me a lot somehow."

"Have any other blond chimps been born," I ask curious.

Xanthus shakes his head, "None that I know of, not natural blond anyway, various shades of black and dark browns, but I've never met any other naturally blond chimps. And I was the first and only child my parents got to have."

"I know my parents don't have any other kids. My dad mentioned that my mother can't have children. I wonder if my biological parents had more children. My dad said they're a loving couple." I actually hope they had more children. "I think it would be nice to have a brother or sister."

"Maybe you have both," Xanthus speculates. "You won't know unless you meet them."

I nod my agreement. "It's not a betrayal to my parents to want to meet my biological parents, is it?"

"No, I don't think so," answers Xanthus. "Besides, it's your right to know. You may meet them and decide you don't like them. You won't know until you meet them."

I nod my agreement again. Then I inform him, "This is very good. Where'd you learn to cook like this?"

"When you're a slave, being a child doesn't excuse you from doing some type of work," Xanthus explains, "Children often helped cook until they were big enough and strong enough to learn other forms of labor. I was an excellent reader and rarely needed to be shown something twice. So I helped in the kitchen. I had just started to be trained in masonry when I met you. But gaining our freedom meant I actually got to be a kid for a while."

"Will you show me your other houses," I ask curious.

"Sure," answers Xanthus, "We can do that tomorrow. We've just got to unpack that trailer tonight and wash our clothes."

We put our dirty dishes in the dishwasher, but there's not enough dirty dishes to deem turning it on. Then we start unpacking the trailer.

As I toss our dirty clothes into the washer in the garage, I ask, "Why so many washers and driers?"

"I've thought about that," he tells me, "I put the washer and drier hook ups out here in the garage. The rest were already there. I think it's to keep from having to drag laundry up and down between floors. This washer and drier keeps me from wearing dirty clothes into the house. When I got these houses, they all still had old furniture in them, most of it too old and rotted to be salvaged. But I have a couple of friends that are into salvaging, restoring and repairing old furniture and appliances and selling them. I let them have it all, saved me the trouble of having to haul it all away myself. And they apparently made quite a bit when they resold it, said I deserved a cut. I used my cut to put new appliances in the houses. When people are renting, they usually don't own their own appliances. And since there were washer and drier hook ups on all the split levels here, I put a washer and drier on every level. Maybe they'll get used, maybe they won't," he shrugs nonchalantly.

He shows me his other unoccupied homes the next day with Harley shadowing us. I like Harley. Never having had a dog before, I wasn't sure what to make of him. Maybe he didn't know what to make of me either. But we've decided to take him with us to move me out of my apartment.