Chapter 3

Bright and early the next morning, James woke and rose from bed wearing his boxers. He scratched his stomach and yawned. With eyes still bleary from sleep, he stumbled towards the bathroom to perform his normal morning ritual. Living alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, he had fallen into the habit of leaving the bathroom door open.

While perched atop his porcelain throne, he heard a noise at the door. Looking over to find the source, he spotted two of the animals watching him carefully. A little irritated at having his morning dump observed, he made a little shooing gesture. When they didn't move, he said, "Come on. Give a guy a little privacy."

When they didn't leave, he finished his business on the toilet. The flushing sound caused the pair to back away from the door. Looking at the pair, he said, "I hope you enjoyed the show. I'm going to take a shower now. You'll probably want to run because I like to sing while I wash. I've been told that my voice is a lot like chalk on a blackboard."

The pair watched him take his shower fascinated by the fact that he emitted noise while washing himself. They thought it was funny that he stood under water to wash rather than to lick his fur, but he wasn't the only species they knew that cleaned that way. Atac was still confused why the beast would make noises when there was no one around who could understand it. There weren't many species that did that.

James stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel. Drying himself off, he looked over at the pair of Quatyl. He asked, "Do you want to take a shower?"

When they didn't move, he returned to drying off. After hanging up his towel, he knelt down and asked, "Did you like my singing?"

Atar had backed away a little when James had approached. She still didn't trust the beast. His behavior was totally inconsistent with anything she had ever studied. Never had they found a species that was capable of space flight that didn't do what they wanted. This whole situation was just too dangerous.

Noticing the one animal back away, James laughed and said, "I guess you didn't like it. At least you aren't begging me for autographs."

He reached down and picked up his underwear from the bathroom floor. He said, "I'm going to have to start giving you names. I'm going to call you Scout."

Turning to the one that had backed away, he said, "You're Cubby because you act more like a cub scout. Brave enough, but young and inexperienced. I'll have to figure out names for the rest of you later."

He stepped over Scout to leave the bathroom. Atar took off like a shot thinking that he was trying to step on her. James chuckled and said, "Whoa, little Cubby. I didn't mean to scare you."

It was too late. Atar ran to the chair under which she had been sleeping and watched the beast with terrified eyes. She decided that she wasn't going to trust him ever again. He was too big and unpredictable. She watched her mate, Atac, follow the beast unable to understand why he was acting that way. Atac wasn't acting like a Quatyl.

James stepped into the living room and noticed six of the Quatyl lined up at the front door. Deciding that they wanted to leave, he went over to the door intending to give them their freedom. His approach caused the animals to back away. He opened the door and looked through the screen door. He gestured to the outside and said, "I take it you want to go outside."

Scout and Cubby raced over to the door and the eight animals took a small step forward. Nodding his head, he said, "Well, it's been nice having you visit."

With the door open, he pushed against the screen door to allow them to leave. Two of the eight raced out of the house like a shot. The other four were close behind. He was about to close the door when the last two Quatyl headed through the door.

James paused at door feeling sad that they were leaving. He watched the animals through the screen door for a minute. Based on the common positions that each took; he realized that they had rushed out of the house to relieve themselves. Feeling a little embarrassed that he hadn't taken care of getting a litter box, he said, "I'm sorry. I should have taken care of that last night. I'll fix up a litter box for you after breakfast."

He went back to the kitchen and started cooking some bacon. He looked around in the refrigerator wondering if they were going to come back to eat. He moved things around in the refrigerator trying to decide what he could feed the animals if they stayed. There was still some left over apple sauce, a quarter of the watermelon, and some peaches. They were really rather small animals and didn't seem to eat much.

He went back to the stove and checked on the bacon. The one side was cooked already so he turned the individual slices. Once that was done, he looked out his kitchen door to the front door wondering if they were going to return. Eight pairs of eyes were lined up and looking in the house.

"I guess you aren't leaving," he said while going over to the screen door. He opened it. The eight animals ran into the house and stopped about six feet away from him. Once again, all eyes were focused on him.

Shaking his head at their unusual behavior, James asked, "What do you find so interesting about me? You haven't even looked around the house yet."

None of the Quatyl looked away for even a fraction of a second. Remembering that he had bacon cooking in the kitchen, he returned to take care of his breakfast. The eight animals scrambled out of his way before following him into the room. They lined up at the doorway to the kitchen and watched him move around. They were trying to make sense of his actions. Being herbivores, the idea of cooking food was very foreign to them. Most of the omnivore species didn't cook their food, so this was a very bizarre behavior.

James pulled out a couple of bowls and filled them with apple sauce. He cut up a slice of watermelon and a small peach into small chunks. Those he put on a plate. They watched him until he put the food on the floor. The Quatyl went to a bowl as couples and ate some of the apple sauce, saving the much desired watermelon for later.

In an attempt to protect his crew, Atac felt it was his duty to try any new foods. He went over to the plate and tried one of the peach chunks. It was juicy and sweet, but it was too tough for him to chew. It was a shame because he liked the flavor. The others noticed his reaction and left the peach chunks alone.

When James noticed that the watermelon had been untouched he went over to pick up the plate. Atac summoned his courage and moved to intervene. When Atac stepped between him and the plate, the beast stopped and looked at the little animal. Grinning, James said, "I guess that you want to save it for later. Okay by me."

Returning to the stove, he flipped his eggs so that they would be cooked over easy. Getting down a plate, he loaded it with his bacon and eggs. The toaster popped up a slice of toast. Grabbing it, he tossed it onto the plate. Carrying his breakfast to the table, he sat down and started to eat. He glanced over at the animals and saw that they were still working on the applesauce.

Breakfast passed without incident. He picked up the empty bowls and washed the dishes. The animals watched his every move. In a way, their constant attention was starting to spook him.

Once the kitchen was clean, he decided that it was time to take care of fixing a litter box. He spent the next twenty minutes looking around the cabin for something that would be appropriate, but found nothing. He wondered if there would be anything in the shed outside that he could use. He was renting the cabin as a place in which to work on his book undisturbed and hadn't made an effort to become familiar with the contents.

Stepping outside, he was surprised when all eight of the animals followed him through the door. Looking down at them, he said, "I guess I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to be stuck in the house all day, either."

In the shack, he found a box half filled with old bottles. After removing the bottles, he decided that the box was big enough for his purposes. Grabbing one of the shovels out of the shed, he filled the box a quarter full with dirt. He carried it to the screened in back porch and set it in a corner that was out of the way. The eight animals followed him and watched everything that he did.

They were very surprised when he left. Rather than following him, they went to examine the box wondering what purpose he had in mind for it. Only a few minutes passed before he returned with the spade. Balanced carefully on the blade was a little piece of their waste.

When James dumped the waste into the box, all eight of the Quatyl realized what he had done in filling the box with dirt. Atac looked at it feeling embarrassed. Squatting over dirt was an act of desperation. The Quatyl had invented their own version of the toilet, but without anyone to make one for them they were reduced to leaving their waste like animals. It was humiliating.

Leaving the Quatyl by the litter box, James went into the living room to work on his book. Sitting down at his computer he reviewed what he had written the previous day. He chuckled when he got to the great disastrous love scene. Grinning, he said, "The publisher is going to want me to change that."

Finished with his review, he went to the outline and read the description of the next chapter aloud. "Villain steals heroine and holds her hostage to get the hero to sign over the business."

He glanced over at the floor and found all eight Quatyl staring up at him. He said, "People will actually pay to read this garbage. Amazing, isn't it?"

Turning back to the computer, he said, "Let's see. I could have the villain tie the woman to a railroad tracks. No, I can't do that. Villains stopped tying women to railroad tracks back in the 1930s. How about having her cut in half in a saw mill? That's too old fashioned. How about tying her to a table and letting a laser cut her in half? I can't do that. Everyone would accuse me of stealing from James Bond."