44
He alternated mornings in the two offices and when he arrived one of his staff, the lucky winner apparently, got to braid his hair and tie it with a ribbon. He sighed with frustration. It now reached the middle of his back. He didn’t feel like going back upstairs to get the band. He’d never make it past Diana.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
He stood up and threw his hair back and glanced back at the building. He saw the three Altarian ladies from the security desk pressed up against the window watching him with rapt attention. He nodded to them and watched them scurry back to their station.
Altarians were… beautiful! Jack was always dazzled by their grace and gentle natures. They resembled the Satyrs of ancient Greek mythology. Petite with cloven hooved feet and hands with two strong fingers and opposable thumbs on both sides. Their bodies were covered with a felt like fur which ranged in color from blond to chocolate brown. The traditional garb was gossamer flowing gowns. Their heads were humanoid but their eyes were twice as large as a human’s, had diagonal pupils, and the lids had long lashes. Their ears were long, pointed, expressively mobile, and typically projected horizontally. They had slim noses and wide, black lipped mouths. As a race of herbivores they had beautiful white teeth with a definite lack of fangs.
Males were rare with the birth ratio being ten females to every male. Generations ago the ratio had moved from eight to one and the subsequent upheaval in their society led to the males taking less of an active role in… well, just about everything. They were now creatures of leisure and Jack had little time for the ‘self-absorbed loafs’ as he considered them.
While they may have appeared shy and docile when it came to sex Altarian females were anything but passive. They had no bias towards Altarian males. Jack had discovered on his first meeting that they were very sexually liberated and energetic partners. He smiled thinking of Leffera and Karrel and his ‘interview’.
Since his horns had grown in he was embarrassed to realize he’d become something of a celebrity for the female population who instinctively found them very attractive. Altarian males no longer had horns, the gene having become dormant.
He started jogging down the path to the right and took it slow at first. The little aches and pains surfaced and faded after a short time when his muscles smoothed out so he increased his pace.
This early in the morning the paths were mostly empty and it felt like he had the world to himself. After the nightmare he had this morning that thought wasn’t as exhilarating as it should have been. He was actually kind of relieved when he saw three Altarian females crossing his path up ahead in a small cart.
One of the women noticed him running and frantically gestured to the other two. The cart wobbled as they altered their course to find a way back onto the path he was following.
Jack continued running. One of his favorite music tracks had begun playing and he felt his stride opening up to his ground eating pace. His heart beat strongly and his lungs worked like a bellows to keep his muscles fed. He was really getting into the zone.
Suddenly the cart was right next to him and he jumped to the side to give himself a little space.
He looked at the female sitting next to the driver and recognized her from the morning show Diana watched every day. She was the host. What was she doing out on the path at this hour? He glanced back and saw the passenger in the back of the cart, the one who had spotted him, was now pointing a camera at him. Actually she was panning the camera down his body which he found a little unnerving.
The host was trying to get his attention so he turned off his music.
“-m Kihani from Morning Light! Could I take a moment of your time to ask you a few questions for my show?” she was saying.
“Sorry… did you say… your name was… Kihani?” he gasped as he slowed his running back down to his slower pace. He wasn’t giving up his morning run.
The woman smiled widely and nodded. “Yes, Kihani. My viewers are your biggest fans and this morning you look especially…” the female seemed to be at a loss for words then she glanced at the camera and he realized she was just playing for her viewer’s sake. “… delicious!” she finished with a grin. She turned back to him. “Is this going to be your new running outfit? Small pants, shoes, and hair flowing in the wind?” She bit her lower lip as her eyes ate him up.
“No. I tore my… shirt on my… horns.”
The woman with the camera panned it up and the driver accelerated a little to let her get a better shot of the front of his face to see the horns in all their glory.
“Yes, your beautiful horns! This is my first time seeing them in person and they are much more… impressive than I expected!” Kihani sighed, practically drooling.
Jack was beginning to feel really uncomfortable about the direction the ‘interview’ was taking. “Thanks… I should get… back to my run…. Busy day ahead,” he said.
Kihani saw she was losing her star so she began talking before he could turn on his music. “Karrel introduced us to Alexander, your beautiful first child. Queen Elissa has Maximilian your second son and Gendolee-”
“Gwendolyn,” he corrected.
“Yes, Gwen-do-lyn your daughter, but word is she’s not your first female child.”
“Word is?” he repeated with raised eyebrows.
“Yes, we received information that you had a daughter with another female. A close friend and secret lover!” Kihani smiled at the camera as if the viewers were in on the secret.
Jack suddenly realized the true nature of Morning Light. It was a gossip show! He’d thought it was a local news show! How disappointing.
“You are slipping… outside the realm… of public knowledge… reporting on… speculation and… rumor… personal information.” Jack gave her a disapproving frown.
“Jack, you’re a celebrity-” Kihani began.
“No, I’m a… public servant… Not the same… Right now I’m… just Jack Danner… private citizen.” Jack was struggling to talk while jogging and he really wanted to get back to his run. As the conversation was slipping away from anything he was willing to discuss it was time to end it. He gave a wave and accelerated off down a path to the right before the driver could react and follow.
“What about the son you had with Judge Aaros!” Kihani yelled before they were out of range.
Jack scowled back at the morning show host but kept running. Judge Aaros was a very private woman. She’d been born with the monochromatism genetic disorder that for him resulted in his horns. For her its ‘gift’ was fur of purest white. Shunned by Altarian males for her rare coloration, she was a vision to behold, in Jack’s opinion. Equally beautiful was her gentle and caring soul. The child they been blessed with didn’t need to be exposed to the likes of Kihani.
As their son Douglas was born to such unique parents with the altered genes his coloration was unique as well. His fur was darkest black with bold zigzagging streaks of brilliant white. One of a kind and absolutely gorgeous in his parent’s opinion. During his last visit Aaros showed him with delight that Douglas was growing horns as well. Just tiny buds for now but that’s how they grew.
Kihani was right about Gwendolyn not being his first daughter. Leffera, his first Altarian lover, had given birth to his first daughter, Lillian, who was named after his mother. Leffera shed tears of joy when he shared his mother’s story with her. He didn’t often talk about his parents but he wanted Leffera to know how special his mother had been and the sacrifices she’d made to give him a safe and happy home when he was just a young boy. He was honored to be able to pass along her name to his daughter and he wanted to ensure the child would understand the significance. He’d also given Queen Elissa the story of Gwendolyn, his maternal grandmother. He had only a few direct memories of her but heard tales from his mother of the woman’s strength and character. Elissa was delighted.
Jack turned his music on again and glanced at the time. He still had half an hour thanks to getting up so early. He picked up the pace and swung back onto a main path which would take him in a sweeping loop back to his apartment building. He spotted Kihani and her crew some distance away, frantically scanning the paths looking for him. He groaned when Kihani suddenly pointed in his direction and slapped at her driver to get them back on his tail. He did his best to ignore her but recalling how reckless the driver was he kept their position in the corner of his eye.
They were closing in. With a grin Jack saw his escape route. There was a series of small bridges crossing a narrow canal. If he could get to the bridges before they got to him he could put the water between them. He picked up his pace but seeing their progress he realized they really had no chance.
That’s when he caught sight of the mother out for a morning walk with a baby carrier mounted on her stroller.
Kihani was still slapping her driver to get her to go faster so they didn’t see the woman pushing her child into their path. The woman pushing the stroller wasn’t expecting someone to be driving so recklessly fast.
Screaming and waving to get the driver’s attention back on where they were going Jack changed his course and ran as hard as he could towards them but he knew he wasn’t going to get there in time.
The camera operator was filming Jack and wondered what he was waving about. She looked away from the camera for a second and screamed as she saw the woman in their path. She leapt over the seat between the fighting women to wrench the steering wheel to the side. The cart was moving too fast to take such a vector change and it began to tip over. The cart’s roof struck the mother across her shoulders slamming her forward against the stroller and she went down hard on the path and tumbled off into the grass. The stroller shot forward and careened down the path.
There was a horrible crash noise as the cart flipped onto its side and went into an uncontrolled slide. Its bumper caught the stroller and sent it airborne over the rail into the canal just before the cart slammed to a halt against the low retaining wall.