Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
That idea makes me feel special. “Why do you call me Little and Baby?” It’s partly my size, I guess. After all, he’s more than twice as big as me. I can easily curl up in his lap and snuggle into him forever. But when he says little, I know he means something deeper. “Is it my age? How old are you?” I figure he’s about thirty.
He smiles. “One hundred twenty-eight.”
I sit up taller. “Nuh uh. Don’t be silly.”
He laughs. “It’s the truth, Little one. We age much slower on Eleadia. You will too. We’ll live hundreds of years together.”
My eyes pop wider. “That’s crazy. Seriously?”
“Yes. We have a much healthier environment and lifestyle. We don’t have the kinds of stress and anxiety humans have. Our air and water are clean. Our food isn’t covered with pesticides. We don’t eat things that are unhealthy.”
“So you don’t have candy and cake and ice cream?”
“No. We don’t even know what those things would taste like.”
“But I do. Don’t the other mates want treats sometimes?”
“They might want them for a few years, but we still don’t have them. After a while, you’ll forget what they even taste like. Your palate won’t crave things you can’t have.”
I slump a bit. “Poop. Tacos?”
Papi lifts me up so I’m on my knees on his lap. He wraps his arms around me and holds me closer, kissing me softly before saying, “No tacos. But I also won’t feed you poop,” he teases.
I roll my eyes and wrap my arms around his neck. “You promise you’ll be the first thing I see when I wake up?”
He rubs my back. “Yes, Baby girl. I wouldn’t be any other place.”
I chew on my bottom lip. I’m so nervous about being alone on another planet. “What if you change your mind and you don’t want me anymore? What would I do? I won’t even know anyone.”
“That’s not a thing, Janelle. Our bond is permanent. We mate for life. Nothing breaks us apart. It’s not like Earth. Humans don’t have the ability to feel as deeply as Eleadians feel for their mates. They get married and divorced like it’s no big deal. That never happens on Eleadia.”
“Never ever?”
“Never. You don’t need to worry, Little one.”
I am worried, though. Very worried.
Chapter Ten
Six months later…
Tekfan
“How is she doing?” Chadka asks as he enters the exam room. He looks down at Janelle’s chart. “She’s been here almost two weeks now. Adjusting well?”
Janelle is wrapped tightly around me. She shows amazing strength for someone who’s been on Eleadia twelve days. She made faster progress than the average female.
I keep both hands on her, rubbing her back. “Physically, she’s in excellent shape. She’s met every marker earlier than most. I’m worried about her anxiety, though.”
Chadka understands a lot about Little girls. After all, he and Thabo see them all day long at their clinic. He pulls up a chair and sits, putting himself at eye level with the two of us.
Janelle has her face buried in my neck, not looking at him, but she will have to lift her head in a moment—one way or another.
“I understand you suffered from anxiety on Earth, too, Little one. Is that right?” Chadka asks.
She nods against me.
I kiss her temple. “Look at the doctor, Baby girl. You need to be polite and answer his questions. Nodding and shaking your head isn’t acceptable.” I try to be firm with her, but it tears my heart out when she cries. She started crying about a week ago, and she does so often now. It makes me feel helpless.
“I worry a lot,” she whispers. It’s progress. Better than nothing. It makes me feel sad for her life on Earth, though. Not because I wish for her to have had anxiety. I certainly don’t. But she’s told me a lot about her life. She was homeless and alone for two years after nineteen years of a life that never treated her very well.
I look at Chadka. “I suspect she’s never really had anyone she could count on. Even when her mother was alive, she wasn’t reliable. Janelle didn’t know if there would be food or even heat when she came home from school. She couldn’t be sure her mother would be home, and at times she didn’t come home for days.”
“I bet that was scary, wasn’t it, Little one?” Chadka asks gently.
Janelle shrugs. “I didn’t know any different. I didn’t…care.” A sob escapes her lips before she sucks it back and continues, “I stopped trusting her when I was about ten. I had no expectations.”
Chadka’s brows are furrowed. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. You know you can count on Tekfan, right?”
She nods slowly. In theory, she believes me every time I tell her I will never leave her, but in reality, it’s very hard for her to fully trust me. Her tiny arms tighten around my neck.