With the house slowly disappearing into boxes, the town pulled together to make the transition a smooth one.
Temmit rocked up to the house in his old ute with a shackled dog. Letting it free, he offered his services to Missy to help fix up her house to make the last few days the best they could be.
Stew chased the younger brown and white collie around out in the fields. Still teaming with fuzzy fur, it snagged in the flowers they weaved around to try and nip at each other.
I made myself useful by bringing Temmit his tool bag when he decided that the leaning fence would be his task for today.
Missy and Temmit worked as a team to hold up the posts to be straightened. I worked on the other side to make sure it didn't lean too far and was level for the determined man to hammer in place. He held the nails between his lips as he did, aiming and knocking the panels up in a way that would only be due to years of hard labour.
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Inching along the fence-line through the blazing day, Bartie appeared in his own little dark blue car. The front left edge was crumpled along the bumper from an old accident. Rust had struck the roof and was edging the wheel arches, but the aged car otherwise looked loved. It still had it's original cream leather steering wheel that matched the stitched leather seats in the back. Nothing destroyed the beauty of the car.
Mearve was in the passenger seat. He was meek and modest when he got out, bending down to scruff up the fur on the excitable puppy's head as Stew retreated to the safety of Missy's long orange skirt.
With Bartie not proficient in woodworking like Temmit, he set his sights to the garden out the back. With all the vegetables exhausted and the blueberries barely holding onto their withered stems, Missy wanted to rip them all out and level the ground for whoever stepped into the home next.
Mearve was more than happy to follow Bartie obediently and be away from my hard glare. Stew peeked around Missy as he left, gaining her confidence back to slink forwards through the house to watch them at the safety of the back door.
I kept my distance by the front so I could check on Stew and be out of the way of all the bustle. Staying out of the way seemed the best thing to do with so many sharp objects being swung around in the front and our wary visitor lurking down in the back.
Stew seemed quite content in her perk of courage to sit by the back door she peeked around. I saw her ears flip up and swivel down to try and catch any noise that might warn her of danger in such an exposed state.
My eyes didn't leave her back. She had nothing to worry about while I was here.
However, it only took a few minutes for her demeanour to change.
Her ears flattened and she peered at me as she backed up nervously from the door.
Flaring, I was to her side as she whimpered up at me.
"It's coming off" Stew whispered when I pushed around her to block the gap "his face."
Scowling out, I saw what the cause of concern was.
Mearve had his head down as he yanked at the roots and vines with his bare hands. With each yank and grunt, he sweated under the sun. Each bead twisted down his dark face to lick away the colour and streak it white.
"We can't let them see" Stew squeezed her head under mine to watch Mearve still struggling and sweating "he'd warn us if we were out there."
"Would he?" I breathed back in disbelief, but understood the weight of the situation perfectly.
If Bartie turned around or even glanced to Mearve, he'd notice the unusual appearance instantly.
It wouldn't take long to connect the dots between us and figure out he was the same.
Obviously, Mearve didn't want that. I most certainly didn't want another link back to either of us so close to Missy's smooth start somewhere far from all of this.
Mearve tore up the pumpkin vine he had been heaving at. Swiping his hand across his forehead smeared off a majority of his makeup.
"Mearve!" Stew cried out with a sharp bark "your face!"
Mearve looked up with a little smile at the noise. With his hand already wiping the sweat onto his pants, he noticed the pale stain that smeared across the fabric and his own gleaming skin.
Smacking his hands over his forehead, Mearve glanced to Bartie who noticed the instant distress and frowned at it.
"Toilet!" Mearve choked out as he dropped his head and barged for the back door we pushed away from.
Bartie was confused by the sudden upset and leant over to watch Mearve lock himself away in the bathroom with a slam of the door. Choking on his words, Bartie eventually abandoned the vegetables to heave himself up the back stairs.
I could hear the panic inside the bathroom when Bartie knocked on the door. Things were falling into the sink and causing Mearve to whine.
"Are you OK, my boy?" Bartie leant close to the door.
"I'm not feeling well!" Mearve's shaking voice replied "I... I think I cut myself!"
Bartie tried the doorknob to only make it rattle. The attempt to get inside only made the flustering worse.
"Well, let me help you, boy" Bartie's voice softened "open the door. Let's have a look at you. You probably just need a good dose of liver oil."
I heard the hesitant footsteps approaching. He couldn’t hide in there forever and had no other escape. Slowly, the door was unlocked and Mearve swung it open to stand there shamefully with his head hung low and eyes spilling tears. He had tried to smear what makeup he had on to cover the paleness underneath. Now his face was a muddy mess that ran into his hands that caught it. Even his glasses sat dangerously close, doing nothing to hide it.
"Oh, child" Bartie whispered "what has you so upset that you won't look at me?"
Mearve sniffled, his shoulders shaking when he glanced up.
"P-people don't l-like the way I-I l-look where I-I'm from" he choked out, ashamed.
"Lift your head" Bartie replied firmly but gently.
Mearve did so, shuddering and closing his eyes when Bartie's softened on him.
Stew looked between them, unsure if it was pity or something else that Bartie was feeling.
"Is that why you are trying to cover yourself with muck?"
Mearve shuddered and nodded, lifting his glasses off his face to smear his eyes when he wiped them.
His attention was quickly drawn to the front door that Missy was rushing through cheerfully, calling out that she'd return with cold water.
She stopped when she saw all of us surrounding Mearve who turned his head away instantly.
"What's wrong?" Missy gasped out and approached "oh, did you hurt yourself?"
Bartie planted his dirty hands on Mearve's face and started to rub his fingers across it while making it look like he was swiping the mess away.
"He's gone and fallen into the dirt, the silly boy! Bartie tutted with the shake of his head while grabbing Mearve's round glasses to slide back onto his face "pulled on one of those vines that shot right out of the dirt!"
Bartie clapped Mearve's shoulder. Missy gasped and looked into his watering eyes that threatened to cut through the new dirt layer.
"I'll have to take the lad home" Bartie grumbled "he's a sensitive soul, this one."
"Oh, I think it's perfectly fine" Missy gave a smile to Mearve who returned it, shying away when she reached up to fix his crooked glasses "I'm sorry my garden was so hard on you."
"I...." Mearve hesitated and found his words again "...I should have been more careful."
"Make sure to bring a hat next time" Stew whispered to him to make him smile to himself.
"Thank you for having me" Mearve sidestepped around Missy "sorry for leaving so early!"
Stew followed Mearve and Missy to the door where she sat. Bartie came up behind them to dust himself off and give his own farewells to her.
I remained beside Stew as the pair quickly headed for the gate, calling to Temmit on the way out.
"Imagine being so afraid of what you look like..." Stew pondered with a tilt of her head as the car growled to life.
"I think it's more of what others will say" I answered "like us."
Stew peered up before fixing her eyes back on the rolling car that swayed out of sight down the dip.
"Like us" she simply stated with interest.
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After Temmit and his dog left, night quickly set in.
Stew sat out on the verandah to stare at the stars while basking in the glow of the light from the open door.
I sat down beside her, my tail curling around her.
"What's up? You've been distracted today."
"I'm thinking" she spoke to the stars instead of me "maybe we should be friends with Mearve instead of enemies."
"We weren't exactly anything, to be honest" I mumbled back "he's a stranger."
"But he doesn't have to be" Stew finally lowered her head from the sky "we should help each other out, like today."
I wrinkled my nose and Stew saw how indecisive I was on the issue.
"He's got his own way he wants to live" I told her when she returned to the stars "he's not going to change who he wants to be just because we are the same."
"We could be like that" she finally turned to me, tilting her head to gesture inside "we could live with Ma the way that he does."
"Stew...." I groaned out.
"Soup" she bit back with determination flaring in her "it's not scary to be human. I don't know why you keep avoiding it. She's right there! You just keep torturing yourself with the idea of going in there and being just like her because you are scared she might reject you."
I frowned at Stew whose hardened eyes fixed on mine.
"I do the same thing" she softened in shame "I want to sit with Ma as her daughter; her human daughter."
She dropped her head and remained quiet.
"I want to have what he has."
"So that's where this is coming from" I realised and smiled at her "he probably wants what we have too."
"Doubt it" Stew huffed under her breath.
I looked to the stars myself and felt the weight in my gut harden.
Would reaching out to this other kid I knew nothing about be a bad idea? I had no idea how he'd react to a change of heart, especially after such an embarrassing situation. He might take it purely as pity and nothing more.
But, any step was better than none at all. I could just be over-thinking it all. We'd be gone in a few days anyway; a harmless bond wouldn't hurt anybody on the way out.
"Tomorrow then" I shrugged at the sky "we've got to make sure that he's fine, for Missy's sake."
Stew's small smile spread when her eyes lifted before she rubbed up against me happily.
"I can't wait" she breathed, her tail beating once more.
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