"committed" By A.r. Kirby -- Episode 13: "home Sweet Home"

COMMITTED by A.R. Kirby

Episode 13 Home sweet home

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erhaps it was the birds with their pre-dawn chirping from the backyard, or it could have been a clanging garbage can thoughtlessly tossed aside by a member of the Mountain Woods sanitation department as he performed his thankless biweekly chore. But whatever the reason, something caused sleep to reluctantly start loosing its grasp on Tal early on Friday morning. First to go was a small, dark section deep in his midbrain, which began wriggling like a hooked bream on a line. A few other areas of his mind tried to shush it back into sleep, and a brief struggle ensued when his medulla oblongata decided that waking wasn’t in Tal’s best interest. However, once his forebrain awoke slightly and decided that consciousness might not be so bad after all, the rest of Tal’s mind slowly slipped free from a deep, restful sleep. His first thought was to keep his eyes shut, although he wasn’t sure why. It would occur to him much later – and more than once – that life might have been much different had he never opened his eyes that morning. In any case, he kept them shut for the moment, luxuriating under the cool sheets, trying to avoid the moment when he would have to open them and start the business of the day.

Committed by A.R. Kirby “Wow”, Tal said slowly, his voice still husky from sleep, “I had the weirdest dream.” “Really?” Liv’s voice was sweet in his ears. “Oh yeah. We were on the moon, we met an alien, and he gave us super powers.” “Whaddya know.” Tal could feel Liv’s breath on his face as she spoke, and he slowly opened his eyes to see his wife’s face, shadowy in the premorning darkness, directly above his. “Good morning, my love,” he said to her, raising his head slightly to kiss Liv on the nose. He wasn’t surprised to see her face above his; she often woke him this way. His surprise came when he realized that the rest of her body was levitating above his without any support. “OH MY GOD!” girls.”

“Shh!” Liv’s voice was quietly insistent. “You’ll wake the

Tal flopped his head back onto the pillow, a million thoughts racing through his brain. He felt Liv’s weight settle gently on top of his body. Finally, he spoke. “It wasn’t a dream at all, was it?” “No, baby, it wasn’t.” Liv cooed into Tal’s ear, one hand smoothing his beard. “And apparently we have a lot to do.” “But what? What do we have to do? And how?” Even in the dark, Liv could see Tal’s eyes were wide with fear -- or shock, maybe. Perhaps even anticipation. She tried her best to be calming. 2

Episode 13 “I guess we’ll figure it out as we go along,” she said, resting her head on her husband’s chest. She could feel Tal’s heart beating rapidly and heavily. “I don’t know how we’re going to save the world, but I guess we’ll work it out as we go along.” “Yeah, we’ll get a sign that we’ve both completely lost our minds,” he said. “We don’t even know if that Gnorr character even gave us these powers.” “Hellllloooo... you just saw me floating above you. It’s pretty obvious things have changed.” “But I don’t want them to change,” Tal said, putting a hand gently on Liv’s head. “I just want to go to work, teach my classes, and deal with the dean on Monday. I want things to be the way they were.” “Talmadge Hooper, you were just talking last night about how you wanted your life to mean something. Here is that chance. This is about more than just us and our comfortable little lives. I don’t know what our next step will be, but now is the time to start. Lie there for a minute, try to wrap your head around this, and I’ll go make us some coffee.” Liv rose gracefully from the bed as Tal covered his head with the pillow. She blew him a kiss as she went out the bedroom door. She practically floated down the darkened hallway into the kitchen, and for a few steps, she really did float, just for fun, the oversized t-shirt she used as a nightgown billowing softly behind her as she went. As she reached the kitchen and flipped on the overhead light, everything seemed more vivid to Liv. Lights were brighter, colors more intense, deeper. She felt extremely connected to – and aware of – everything in the world around her. She noticed – wow, that’s so pretty – for the first time the way the first feeble rays of the morning sun gleamed off the chrome of the toaster. Looking more closely, she found she could also see the individual hairs of 3

Committed by A.R. Kirby Toby’s fur reflected in the shining chrome as he lolled half-on, half-off the small pedestal table that served as the nook where she and Tal shared coffee each morning. “You know you’re not supposed to be up there,” Liv smiled as she turned back to the sink to fill the kettle. Her voice was flat and kind, without the urgency she normally exhibited when one of her critters did something it shouldn’t. “Maybe not,” the cat replied, “but here I am anyway.” “Shit!” Liv dropped the kettle in the sink with a loud clatter and turned back toward Toby. “I completely forgot all about you.” “That’s not surprising,” Toby said in his Paul Lynde voice. “It’s not like you ever gave me a whole lot of attention anyway. Who cares about the retarded cat?” “Uh... well... it was a busy night,” Liv said, slightly embarrassed. “A lot has happened since you talked to me last.” “Yes, yes it has,” the cat said as he eased fully onto the table, stood, arched his back, and let out a great yawn. “And much, much more will happen before it’s all said and done.” Liv turned back to the sink, put her hands along the edge, and looked out the kitchen window at the world outside. She was silent, but her mind was racing. She had come to terms with the trip to the moon -- or at least she thought she had come to terms with it -- but hearing Toby speak to her made her feel that perhaps she was indeed losing her mind. “I know what you’re thinking,” Toby said, “and you’re not crazy. At least not that crazy.” Liv whirled around to find Toby sitting crosslegged on the table, leaning back and supporting himself by his forepaws. To Liv, he looked like a surfer dangling his legs off a pier. The cat looked at her with an even stare that contained elements of kindness and understanding. He wasn’t looking through Liv, nor at her; he was encompassing all she was 4

Episode 13 in his eyes, seeing her on every plane of existence. “This is all happening. You went to the moon. You were given powers,” Toby said matter-of-factly. “Liv Hooper, like it or not, you are special. Once you get that into your head, we just might have a chance to make things right on this crazy planet. Now sit.” Toby gestured to the chair next to him. “Let’s have a little chat.” Liv moved cautiously to the chair next to the feline. She sat and stared at Toby, waiting for whatever came next. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, but I think we should discuss it once that husband of yours gets in here,” Toby continued. “For now, let’s talk about some more practical matters.” “What kind of practical matters?” “To start off with, there’s this whole cat business. I’m not really a cat, you know. Nor am I retarded. I’m an Empyrean, just like Gnorr. Due to some terribly unfortunate circumstances, I’ve been relegated to the role of housepet, and it’s quite irksome -almost as annoying as the occasional transmissions I receive from Gnorr that tend to make me fall on my backside. But such is my lot in this life. “On the other hand, it’s not like I’m some random fluffball you just found on the street and brought inside,” Toby continued. “I’ve been part of the family for, what, three years now? I’m clean. I’m tidy. And now that – ahem – the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, I think I should be afforded a few more liberties around the house.” “Well…” Liv groped for a second, her mind grasping to make sense of the situation. She found a tenacious hold – Jesus, I’m talking to the cat again, but it’s okay, I think – and words came back. “Just what kind of privileges are we talking about?” “First off, there’s the matter of the reading material around 5

Committed by A.R. Kirby here. Tal’s history journals are some of the most boring things I’ve ever seen. And you, with your Utne Reader and that Mother Jones rag. Feh. Can we at least get the Sunday New York Times delivered in this backwater? And then there’s the issue of food. If I have to eat one more dish of that Friskies crap, I don’t know what I’ll do. And what does it take to get those teenagers of yours to change the damned litter box?” “I’ll see what I can do about the litter box and the food,” Liv said, “but you’ll just have to deal with what we read. I like Mother Jones. You can make do with The Birmingham Herald.” “Fine,” Toby said, then continued under his breath, with a hint of condescension, “Hippie.” He was about to start to say something about his preferences for breakfast and lunch when Tal plodded into the kitchen, scratching himself. He moved to the table, kissed Liv on top of the head, and sat down. asked.

“So, baby, what do you think we ought to do now?” he “Well, to start with, don’t call me ‘baby’,” Toby said.

Tal stared wide-eyed at the cat. “Dear God, does it get any weirder around here?” “Oh, control yourself, half-monkey,” Toby said, looking directly at Tal and rolling his eyes. “If we can dispense with all the ‘I-can’t-believe-this-you-mean-it-was-real-am-I-going-crazy-noyou’re-not’ routine, we can move forward. The woman and I have already been through all this, and personally, it was plenty dull the first time. I have no desire to go through all that again.” Tal sputtered, as if trying to say something, then thought better of it and stopped. He stood, looking slightly bewildered, his mouth hanging slightly open. 6

Episode 13 “You’ve got about three seconds to close your mouth before a fly lands in it,” Toby said. Not thinking, Tal swatted around his mouth, making Toby snicker. “We really do have a lot to cover, and not a whole lot of time in which to do it, so let’s get serious here. Have you had a pee? Scratched all the itches? Gotten all the ‘freaked-out’ out of your system?” Tal and Liv looked at each other, then they both looked back at Toby and nodded. “Good,” the cat said. “Now, let’s get started.” “Wait just a second,” Tal said. “If I have to deal with this -- and I’m still not entirely certain all this is real, but I’ll play along for a minute -- I’m going to need to wake up some more. Is that coffee ready?” “Crap. I forgot about it,” Liv said, standing from the table. “I’ll get it started.” She got up from the sink and filled the kettle, then placed it on the stove. “Oh, not like that, you silly woman,” Toby said with a sudden interest. “Believe it or not, I’m actually here to help you, and now is the perfect time for the two of you to start learning about your powers. Shall we have a small demonstration?” that?”

Liv looked quizzically at Toby. “What do you mean by

“By that I mean you have powers and you need to learn how to use them,” Toby said, leaning forward on the edge of the table. “Some parlor tricks and household help will be the perfect place to start. Let’s forget that stove business and make some magic happen. Set the kettle on the counter.” Liv took the kettle from the stovetop and placed it on the counter. Toby grinned. “At least you can do as you’re told,” the feline sassed. 7

Committed by A.R. Kirby “That will make things much easier.” “Are you always going to be this obnoxious?” Tal asked. “Probably,” Toby replied, “but you never know. It depends on how well you two behave.” He turned his attention back to Liv. “Now if we can get started...” “One of your powers is control over water,” Toby continued. “Not only can you make it move and dance, but you can also control the form it takes. In this instance, you’ll be taking it from water to almost -- but not quite -- steam. What I want you to do is think about the water boiling, and we’ll see what happens.” Liv looked first at Toby, then at at Tal, who shrugged. Finally, she looked back at the kettle resting on the counter, and began thinking about the water inside it. She imagined cool water from the tap filling the kettle, then the first small bubbles appearing from the bottom of the kettle as the water heated, finally imagining the point where the water reached a roiling boil. No sooner than the thought reached her mind the kettle began to sing, steam pouring forth from the spout. Liv turned and grinned at Tal, then picked up the kettle and filled the coffee press to the brim. She poured a cup for herself and one for Tal, then joined her husband and Toby back at the table. “Okay,” she said, sipping the best coffee she’d ever had in her life. “What’s next?”

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