CONSPICUOUS
They were back. They didn't sit together. The boys sat in one booth. The girls sat at another on the opposite side of the room. I didn't watch them too closely as I dropped frozen fries into vats of oil and slapped stale burgers into paper bags. I didn't have to. I'd been watching them for a while.
They laughed together. They chased the boy who frequently stole the leftovers of others. They leaned close to whisper gossips. They smiled and nudged each other with jokes on their lips. But that was only on the surface.
While they joked, the boys' eyes met the girls' from across the room with knowing glances. Watchful gazes scoured the room for something that never seemed to appear. They ordered food that they pretended to eat. Their laughter hid strain in their voices and tightness around their eyes and muscles tensing at the wrong moments; trying too hard. Their nudges were full of intent and not as casual as they would have it seem.
There was something different about those kids in comparison to the others that filed in day after day for a salt-filled after school snack.
I couldn't place what it was, but it didn't matter. My job wasn't to watch for the oddities of human teenagers. My job was to serve the artificial nourishment that this weak species enjoyed and to open the hidden door of for my fellow Yeerks, those that ordered a happy meal with extra happy.
LIFE IN 3D
Jake's ninja leapt a distance that no non-digital human would ever manage and sent Marco's ninja down with a well placed kick.
Marco grunted mildly. Jake stayed silent. Both faces remained expressionless. Their fingers flashed across their video game controllers, their eyes stared at the television where the images danced, but they showed no enthusiasm.
Several minutes later, a hundred shouted 'Ki-ya!' from tiny digital ninjas, too much time annoyed by electronic tunes and beeps, Marco tossed his controller to the floor.
"Didn't this used to be fun?"
Jake sighed and tossed his down as well. Both ninjas came to a standstill. "Yeah. In the old days."
"You mean...last year?" Sarcasm dripped from Marco's words. As usual.
Jake just shrugged.
"Yeah," Marco agreed.
A year ago their own whoops and groans and laughs and mutual insults would have joined the Ki-ya of of every mighty ninja leap.
Not anymore, though.
Video games, it seemed, had joined the list of BY and AY – Before Yeerk and After Yeerk.
How could jumping and leaping and death defying stunts be exciting on the other end of a cable when they did it for real every week?
How could they enjoy the latest horror flick when the fake blood and guts and missing limbs reminded them all too clearly of the real gore they saw far too often?
Don't even bring up alien invasion movies.
Roller coasters? Forget it. He'd fallen to his near-death on more than one occasion.
The zoo? Yeah right.
Camping? And do what...worry the entire time what nefarious plot was being born without him there to lead the Animorphs into battle against it?
Forget finding something exciting to do.
The only thing Jake wanted in his life was boredom.
DUAL END
His body but not his body lunged forward over and over to pump venom into his cousin. Rachel, always larger than life, her spirit bigger than the body of bear she currently used.
It was the end. Tom knew. The Yeerk in his head knew, too. Just before Rachel reach down to crunch his writing body with her killer teeth, Tom freed himself for half a moment in the Yeerk's panic and met the pain-filled, raged and determined eyes of his cousin before he lost control for the last time.
I will kill you! His Yeerk screamed at her.
Kill me, Tom begged of her.
He thinks Rachel knew that moment was him, that the eyes that met hers were the eyes of her cousin. That she was listening to his voice.
Save me, Jake! the Yeerk begged of Tom's brother.
Don't, Tom demanded silently.
They both granted him his last wish.
They heard me, Tom gloated gleefully to the Yeerk as the life drained from them far more quickly than Tom knew could happen. They finally heard me.
MAN OF WAR
Jake watched the ceremony impassively. He listened as his cousin recited in Hebrew, but Jake didn't know the words. His parents had never been observant, but obligation brought them to his cousin's Bar Mitvahs.
His cousin, thirteen years old, was becoming a man.
A few years ago Jake would have scoffed at the idea that one day, one happening, could transform a child into an adult.
A few years ago, Jake knew nothing.
Now. Now he knew that things could be seen and done and thought that could turn a child into an adult. It could take months or it could take mere moments, but there was always that one pivotal moment when perception shifted. Nothing changed outwardly, but inside...that was where it happened.
Jake knew this all too well.
Jake wasn't sure if he knew, yet, what it was to be a man.
But he wondered if there was a ceremony somewhere that celebrated a child becoming a general.
MOTHER'S DAY
Naomi ate the breakfast her daughters made for her, and she smiled.
The card they gave her was beautiful, and she smiled.
She went to the spa day Sara and Jordon had arranged for her, and she smiled.
She watched her little grandson in the park, and Naomi laughed.
They talked about holidays past, and they laughed.
As always, at the end of the day, Naomi visited Rachel. Her fingers trailed the memorial headstone, cold marble, beginning to show signs of age, with meaningless inscriptions of bravery and sacrifice. And Naomi cried.
She tried. She really did. She returned her son's hugs and thanked him for his gift. She accepted, with cotton in her throat, his offer of a lunch date.
She nodded and smiled and laughed as they talked, but she could see it. She could see that Jake knew. She felt it in his tense shoulders when they hugged. She saw it in the way he never met her eyes. She saw it in the way his smile faltered when he thought she wasn't looking.
They both felt it. She loved Jake with all of her heart, but his guilt was not undeserved.
It was not easy to celebrate Mother's Day with the one who had taken one of her sons away.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Cassie still loved animals but she looked at them differently now.
She'd grown up knowing them. She'd learned to respect them but also how to handle them confidently. Cassie had been taught the reality of the animal world.
Cassie hadn't wanted a ribboned pony like all the other little girls. Instead, Cassie read about their herd habits and what was best to feed them and how to bind an inflamed hoof without being kicked in the head.
She didn't want a pretty Collie to run the fields with. Instead, she put on sensible overalls and dirty boots and trekked into the woods to help her father collect the wounded wolves and coyotes.
Cassie had never wanted a colorful parrot to cage in her bedroom and call a pet. Instead, she donned protective gloves and a soothing voice and released the hawks and falcons and cranes back into the skies from which they'd fallen.
That was Cassie's love for animals.
But now she knew them better in a way that no studying or training could every truly provide.
Cassie knew that the wolf was elated when when it crunched bones between it's teeth, and how natural it felt to do so. She knew the playful priority of the dolphin and the blood lust of every predator. She knew the lack of self that the termite lived it's entire life and she knew the overwhelming hunger of the mosquito and the flea. She fought to forget the emotionless, prehistoric mind for killing that belonged to the shark. She had nightmares of the ant colony and wonderful dreams of flying high.
There was respect to be gained from all living creatures if only people could listen. Cassie hadn't had a choice, so maybe she was no better than those she judged, but now she knew.
She would have changed some things, if asked...like being forced to fight a war as a young girl. But given the opportunity, she would have not passed up the chance to do most of it all over again.
Knowledge is power, and you can't change the world without either.