Chapter 658

The Matthews hadn’t been gone long when Lobo pushed the door open, waited for Lila to enter, then pushed it closed. Both went over to get a drink of water as the Morales family glanced at each other before Morales motioned, and they all quickly found seats as if they were just relaxing after a hard day’s work.

Finally, when he couldn’t stall any longer, Lobo turned to face the humans. “When is supper?” he asked, having practiced it a dozen times just before they entered the cave.

No one would mistake it as a human voice, but he was easily understood.

Jasmine couldn’t stand it any longer and dashed across the room to hug first Lobo and then Lila, tears of joy sliding down her face. She preceded the others by only a couple of seconds. When the exclamations and congratulations were over yet again, Christine said, “Now that everyone is gone except us, how does it feel?”

The giant wolf hesitated for a moment while she tested the words in her mind before tentatively saying, “Feels good, but hate conjugate — no — conjugating verbs.”

Her pronunciation wasn’t perfect, but they easily understood, then a second later, the meaning, which brought about laughter.

Before the wolves could react negatively, Jasmine quickly reassured them, “We aren’t laughing at you, and I totally agree. Conjugation, as my husband would say, is a bitch. Particularly when you’re learning a new language — which you two certainly are.”

“English crazy. Sometimes one way, other times ... different. We know words from machine. Not sure how to put words together ... right?” Lila questioned.

Morales chuckled. “Hell, I was raised speaking it and sometimes I still screw up. Well ... maybe more than just sometimes,” he finished as his women chuckled, and the wolves looked at each other.

Morales knelt in front of the wolves, who were now sitting side by side. “Deal. You don’t laugh at my poor grammar, and I won’t laugh at yours. Okay?”

“You are...” Lobo began but stalled out while searching for a word.

“Placating us,” Lila hesitantly inserted, happy that she remembered the word she was looking for.

“We’re rejoicing with you two,” Jasmine said as she wondered about Ship’s school. “Uh, guys, did Ship tell you how long you had been in her classes, or school, whatever she called it?”

“Yes,” Lobo answered. Although the yes sounded more like yets, the response was easily understood.

“Three months,” Lila answered for him just as he opened his mouth to speak, his head turning to stare at her.

Even with all the fur, Lobo’s expression came through. Morales couldn’t help it and said, “Don’t let it bother you. Females are better and frequently quicker at talking than us males are, particularly if she is your mate.” Then, very quickly, “It must be in the genes,” he muttered under his breath, but Lobo heard him and grinned.

Lila went on. “Ship say — said — there was nothing to map English into. We now have a ... vocabulary, but have to ... look for right words. She said should improve soon, but we should decide to go to school.”

“Excellent,” Jasmine said. “Maybe you can do that while we’re on the trip.”

“What trip?” Lobo asked.

“You know,” Lila broke in to say. “Ship say — said — all would go on long trip to find beings that built her brain.”

“Oh?” Lobo said, obviously still in the dark. “She not tell me.”

“Yes, she did. It was right after she gave us the ice cream.”

“Oh,” Lobo returned as he looked helplessly at Morales, who chuckled.

“Might as well get used to it,” he told the wolf.

“Supper?” Lobo reminded as they all chuckled.

Jasmine stood. “Ladies, I think we’ve been given our orders,” she said, but there was a big smile on her face.

Morales also stood. “I’ll get the chickens in and fed. Want to come with me, Lobo?”

At the door with rifle in hand, Morales stopped to check the cameras. “Only a rabbit — or 2214’s version of one — up near the turnoff to the equipment storage area,” he said.

Lobo looked at the screen before sticking his head out the door. “I smell ... Rabbit. Good Snack.”

“Rabbit?” Lila said as she hurried over while sniffing the air.

“One,” Lobo insisted.

“We share,” Lila insisted back.

“But are there any other animals around that aren’t showing on the monitors?” Morales asked while beginning to be a bit frustrated.

“Yes. Chipmunk. Too small,” Lila said, sniffing, as she walked out a little farther to look up the hill in the direction of the rabbit.

Morales went on outside, and the wolves practically vanished as they took off up toward the hapless rabbit.

Lila beat her mate by a half-second.

“They still didn’t tell me if there was anything else around,” Morales grumbled to himself. “Well, if they could even sense 2214’s version of a chipmunk, I suppose that nothing big could have gotten past their senses.”

A moment later, he pulled the gate open in the brush fence. As the chickens marched past with Gertrude in the lead and Junior taking up the rear, Morales noted that the pile of soil was getting low. He would need to bring in a couple of shovels full of loose dirt to add to the dwindling pile. Both in the cave and out here, the chickens used one place to do their business and covered it with the loose dirt that Morales kept next to their “bathroom.” Out here in the open, that wasn’t really necessary, but they industriously covered their leavings anyway. Any of the chickens who forgot would meet an enraged Gertrude determined to kick ass.

Morales hadn’t refilled the crawler’s fuel tank last night, nor had they used much today, but he liked to keep the tank topped off. After filling the tank and checking the oil, he brushed out the crawler’s interior with a small brush he kept under the seat.

As he walked back to the cave, he saw Lobo and Lila coming up the steep hill from the stream, their muzzles wet after washing off the rabbit’s blood. Lila’s eating manners were better than Lobo’s when she first came to live with them, and both had improved even more since then. They used to lick each other’s muzzle clean, but they usually washed in the stream now. I wonder if Lila started that, or did Ship have something to do with it?

“Supper?” Lobo asked.

“You’re still hungry after eating half that big rabbit?” Morales wondered aloud.

“Snack,” Lobo returned as he hurried past Morales to push the door open.

“We warmed the leftovers from lunch,” Jasmine said as she reached to give her husband a quick kiss. “Since you liked it so well, we battered and fried another skillet of okra for you. By the time you have your hands washed, we’ll have it on the table.”

“Thanks. I really like okra cooked like that. I can’t wait for our corn to be ready. Mom used to fry up a big skillet of cream-style corn. Not out of the can, but she bought the corn and cut it off the cob herself. The thinly-sliced kernels wound up at almost the consistency of a thick soup. Fried okra, fried corn, mashed potatoes and a good steak was my favorite meal back then. Maybe we can have it when the corn is ready.”

When the meal was over, and the dishes were washed, Jasmine sat on her husband’s lap. “I don’t know if canned food actually lasts longer in the dark or not, but I’m glad we moved the canning farther back in the cave. It will look even nicer when you build some solid shelves for all those filled jars to sit on,” Jasmine hinted.

“I’ll get it done as soon as the training is behind us. I promise,” he said as he squeezed her.

“Ladies, we’re going to reward our husband very well tonight,” Jasmine said as she leaned over to brush a naked breast against his face.

Of course, his mouth soon found her nipple, and she sighed as he gave it a quick suck.

“Let’s hurry and get ready for bed,” Jasmine gushed out.

“I thought you said you were tired,” Christine teased.

Jasmine giggled. “Not that tired.”

As they undressed, “Without the Matthews, we would still be using our crossbows and compound bows,” Jasmine said as she motioned to them hanging on the wall not far from the door — “if we were even alive,” she finished with a shiver that she hoped her husband hadn’t noticed.

“I still find it hard to believe that Jeff actually thinks there is anything I could do to be of help on the trip,” Morales said as he realized he was falling behind in getting out of his clothes.

“Uh, Lobo could come back,” Christine tentatively said when the others realized that she wasn’t getting ready to take a shower.

“Uh, you’ve undressed in front of him a hundred times. Are you telling me that you’ve suddenly become bashful?” Morales wondered as he, Jasmine and Ashley now stood naked.

“But he’s ... He can talk now,” she insisted as if she had made a significant point.

“So what? He’s a wolf or at least an animal that Lobo most reminded me of.”

“But ... he can talk,” Christine insisted.

“When he comes back, shall I tell him to look the other way?” Morales teased as he tried to hold back laughter. Then the thought hit him, “Shall I turn my back when Lila comes in? She’s female you know, and I wouldn’t want to disrespect her if I’m nude,” Morales teased.

“It’s not funny,” Jasmine scolded him. “And I agree. It is different now that they can talk. They’ve just become... people, I suppose. I’ve seen Lila look at you when you were erect,” Jasmine quietly added.