The Simple Life: Cabs and Questions
The streets of New York City were sleek with rain.
The people milled about busily, heedless of the thunder rumbling overhead or the sheets of water being driven into their faces and beneath wet tires. Taxis lined the avenues like giant bumblebees and the faces of preoccupied civilians were replaced with umbrellas as far as the eye could see. Of course in New York, this wasn't saying much.
Wanida and Ben sat inside a cozy coffee shop, enjoying a day off from work. The atmosphere was a pleasing contrast from the wet, hectic atmosphere outside. It felt good to be sitting around not doing much of anything while the rest of the world toiled about their own business.
Ben sipped his coffee. Wanida was content with water, although Ben had tried to persuade her to try something new.
"I've tried both tea and coffee before," she said. "It was awful."
He chuckled. "I gotta admit, the more human food you reject, the more determined I am to find something you like."
"And I have to admit," she countered with a cheeky smile, "that if you ever did, I'd be impressed!"
They shared a laugh and soon lapsed into a content silence. But it wasn't long into their visit at the coffee shop that Wanida noticed Ben's distant gaze. He was staring out the rain-streaked window in an almost melancholy sort of way.
"You ok?" She asked.
He looked at her and gave a small, apologetic smile. "I was thinking," he sat up straighter, "something's been on my mind that I'd like to discuss with you. But not here." He frowned thoughtfully, seeming almost hesitant to bring it up - whatever "it" was.
"Oh?" She blinked.
He sighed. "To be honest, I've been thinking about it for some time, but...anyway, how about we head to the wharf after this? It's still dry under the pagoda."
She glanced out the window. "Sounds good to me…" Turning back to him, she continued, "But at least tell me, is it bad news?"
"No," he grinned, resting his folded arms on the table. "It's just an...idea I've been thinking about, and I wanna know what you think."
"Why don't we go now, then? I probably won't be able to think of anything else until you tell me what's on your mind. Or do I have to press my hand upon yours to find that out?" She giggled, anticipating one of his usual, hearty laughs in response. But instead his shoulders rose and sank in another sigh and he fixed her with an imploring gaze.
"What's wrong? I was only joking…" She tentatively placed her hand on his, worried that the jest had misfired.
But he lovingly returned the gesture and shook his head. "It's not that." He nodded toward the window. "Let's head to the wharf. We can talk there without being overheard."
Confused and not a little bothered, she let him lead her by the hand out of the coffee shop where they took a bus to the dockside. It was a lengthier ride than usual, and she hung uncertainly onto his arm as the bus stopped and bounced all the way to their destination. The Alcidian stared vacantly out the small windows at the many people milling about the city, oblivious to the rainstorm and occasional crash of thunder overhead.
When the bus finally stopped, she and Ben stepped off the wet platform and into a sloshy street. He withdrew his umbrella and lifted it above their heads. It was only two blocks to the wharf, and Wanida hoped that no other couples had claimed the pagoda.
She and Ben were silent the whole way, and she kept wondering what on earth it was that he wished to discuss. He said it wasn't bad news, but he was acting awfully stoic...maybe he was going to ask her to meet his parents.
The notion had occurred to her before, of course, but naturally it wouldn't be as easy as it had been introducing him to her parents. For one thing, her parents were the aliens - his weren't. She couldn't imagine how she could ever be invited for dinner at his parents' place, Alcidian cuisine being what it was. And would they accept the excuse that she had specific dietary needs? Perhaps. Many Earthlings did. But there were other things that could make a meeting difficult.
'No matter,' she thought, regaining her resolve. 'He was brave enough to meet my parents. If he wants me to meet his, then I'll gladly do it.'
She'd nearly convinced herself that this was exactly what he wanted to talk about, when the dreary wharf and rolling grey water came into view. She inwardly sighed in relief as she spotted the empty pagoda; she and Ben would have all the privacy they needed.
They made the short walk to the wooden frame and took a seat on one of the still-dry benches.
She didn't wait a single minute before asking, "So what is it you wanna talk about?"
He leaned forward with his arms on his knees. Anticipating another bout of silence, she was almost taken aback when he responded, "I've been thinking about the Alcidian bonding experience."
She fell back against the table. She hadn't seen that coming. "...The bonding experience," she repeated, as if she couldn't quite believe he'd brought it up.
They hadn't spoken much about the Alcidian bonding experience, for obvious reasons. Wanida, for her part, didn't so much mind that she couldn't bond with Ben the way she could with others of her kind, but she didn't like being reminded of what her friends and family thought of it. That wasn't to say it wasn't also painful for her as well, to be separated from Ben in such a way. But she considered him worth it.
As for Ben, he had the wherewithal not to bring up Alcidian handshakes for the simple reason that he knew the topic saddened her. She'd told him all about them of course, how they worked and what they meant. But outside of her initial explanation, it was a topic they simply didn't discuss. Barring today, that is.
She looked at him and patiently waited for him to explain what he meant by bringing it up.
"I'll be straight with you, Wanida," he turned to face her. "I've gone over everything you told me about the bonding experience your people engage in. But...I wonder if we could at least try establishing an emotion link between us, the way your people do."
"Ben, I…" she shook her head, not at all sure of where to start, "you have to know it's crazy to even think about trying…"
He expected this reaction out of her and so wasn't daunted. "It's been tried once, you said, between that crazy Alcidian and the MIB agent. What if we approached it differently?"
"How do you mean?"
He gave an uneasy shrug. "It might be a rough start, but what if you sorta trained me to establish an emotional link with you?" His blue eyes stared out at her from beneath his cap, imploring. "I think it might work...if we gave it a chance and didn't give up."
She wasn't convinced. "Why would you take such a risk? You know that I'm ok with the fact that we can't bond!"
He gave a calm smile. "Of course I know. But Wanida, what if it could be done?"
She sat in silence for a while, thinking over the possibility. It was intriguing, to be sure, but not intriguing enough to warrant the danger it would pose for him. At last, she shook her head. "It's just too dangerous. If I bonded with you...if you became lost within me altogether -"
"I won't lose myself," he said with, to her thinking, an unwarranted air of confidence.
"How do you know? What if something happened and I lost you for good?" She stared hard at him.
He stared back at her, arms folded, as calm as she was distressed. "That agent you told me about ended up alright after the incident, didn't he?"
"He had access to an MIB medical facility, they're equipped to deal with things like that. What would we do if you were...you were lost and no one was here to help? Besides that, there are a million other reasons not to try this. What if you started taking on my personality at work, or out in public? It's insane, there's no way we could conceal it from anyone!" She took a breath. "And again, if something went wrong, it would be up to me to help you, and you know darn well my only option would be to seek help from MIB headquarters, in which case they'd eventually have to neuralize you because -"
"Wanida," he said, interrupting her. He stood up and matched her stride, taking her hand. Willing her to look into his eyes, he said, "I'm only asking that you think about it. If you really don't wanna try this, then…" he shrugged, "we won't! But we don't know for sure that it isn't possible. Frankly, your people wouldn't even be here on Earth if things hadn't been tried..."
She stared at him for a long time. At long last, she heaved a sigh. "...Alright...I will at least think about it, but nothing more."
He stroked her hand. "That's all I'm asking."
Hand in hand, they strolled over to the edge of the pagoda and watched the dark water in silence.
The thunder had died down, and a cold breeze blew in from the distant coast. It came to them like a gentle slap in the face, and Wanida was suddenly struck with an idea.
"It just occurred to me," she said, turning to him, "that what I should do is go to MIB's public alien library and do some research."
"'Public alien library,'" he repeated with a little laugh. "Why does that sound funny?"
She poked him in the arm. "Laugh if you will, but MIB headquarters happens to have a huge library for us aliens."
He gave her a look, as if he couldn't quite believe it. "No kidding?"
"Yeah of course, think about it: aliens have to learn how to act like humans beings while they're here, don't they? I mean there are classes and programs to help integrate them into human society, but having some reading material on hand is a must. It's especially useful for aliens who weren't born on Earth."
He nodded. "Yeah, in which case I guess they wouldn't technically be aliens anymore, right?"
She was silent a moment. "I never really thought of it that way...but I guess you're right." She smiled. "Anyway, I'm gonna get myself over there as soon as I can. I wanna find out about human-Alcidian bonding."
Ben leaned back against the wooden frame. "I'm no expert on aliens, but my guess is you won't find much on that topic. According to you, human-Alcidian bonding only happened once."
"To my knowledge," she corrected. "But who knows what I might stumble across at the library?"
"You know, I wish I could come with you!" His eyes lit up. "It'd be fun to see what kinda books you alien folk read!"
"I wish you could, too." She gave a sad smile. "It's too bad about MIB's policies...I fear what they would do if they knew what you knew."
He came and stood beside her, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. The rain began to subside. "Kinda makes me wonder...while you're at that library, why not do a little research on human-alien marriages?"
She gaped at him.
"Don't look so stunned," he chuckled. "You and I can't be the only interspecies couple on the planet!"
"It's not that, it's just...Well, nothing." She quickly nodded to try and brush off the topic. "I'll research that too while I'm there."
She'd made sure to focus on another topic before Ben could ask further questions. Her mind did anything but stray from the topic, though.
Marriage.
Was he serious about her researching it? And if he was…
She shook her head. Though she loved him, and knew that he loved her, marriage between them would have been impossible. Why, then, did he bring it up? Surely he wasn't thinking of actually proposing?
Her mind flooded with questions as she stood on the sidewalk and hailed a cab. The rain had long subsided, but the streets remained wet and the sky dour. The entire city seemed to be wrapped in a cloak of depression.
It was some time before a cab finally stopped in front of her. She recognized the company logo on the vehicle and quickly slid into the backseat.
"Wanida," she greeted, slamming the door. "Alcidian."
The taxi driver's green eyes gave away his Alcidian heritage, of course, but all Alcidians were familiar with the cab companies that belonged to their kind and which didn't. It was common knowledge among their species living on Earth.
"Ermul," he greeted, and promptly pressed his palm against hers. "Where to?"
She mumbled out the name of her apartment complex and lapsed into an uncharacteristic silence as Ermul maneuvered through the clogged New York streets.
She let her mind wander to her and Ben's parting. She vowed to head over to MIB's alien-only library as soon as she was able. Before they parted ways, he drew her in for a fond embrace and simply held her. A light shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the memory. It was amazing to her, how being held by him could feel so incredible and yet so forbidden at the same time. The shadow of doubt that lingered in the back of her mind was never truly gone.
"'Ey, uh, ma'am? Don't mean to pry, but is there anythin' you'd like to get off your chest?"
She briefly glanced in the mirror at the pale green eyes of the cabbie, whose attention was already back on the streets. Having exchanged essences with one another, he was experiencing the tumultuous feelings swirling around inside her. He, on the other hand, was all calm and contentment - something she nearly resented.
Sniffing, she let out a sigh and said, "It's a long story."
"With traffic the way it is, we got time," he offered.
This might have seemed untoward by human standards, but Alcidians rarely kept secrets from one another, stranger or not. They were, after all, considered one of the most sociable species in the galaxy for a reason.
"It's this man I'm seeing," she blurted out, letting the rest hang in midair.
Ermul was silent, waiting for her to continue.
"He's uh...he's a...human."
"No kidding?" She saw the brows of his human suit raise in interest, but he seemed otherwise unaffected.
His apparent indifference comforted her a little, and she continued steadily, but more readily, "I guess there's not much more to say, right? I mean that says it all…"
He cleared his throat. "Y'know, ma'am, inter-species relationships ain't so uncommon as all that." He shrugged a shoulder. "Sure they pose problems, MIB not bein' the least of 'em, but most of 'em work out one way or another."
"How can you be so sure?"
With a chuckle, Ermul brought to the surface of his thoughts the image of a smiling woman. It came in a brief flash, but in those few seconds, Wanida felt the sensation of being in the cabbie's shoes. She felt an overwhelming and all-too-familiar rush of joy flood into her essence, and her eyes suddenly grew wide in understanding. Breathing, she said, "You don't mean…"
"'At's right." His cap bobbed with a nod. "Yer talkin' to someone in yer boat."
"...Human?" She marveled.
"Born an' raised. Great girl," he said in a deceptively casual tone. But what Wanida had experienced from Ermul was anything but casual, and she suddenly wished to tell him everything.
The pace of traffic was slow and steady as she related the story of how she and Ben had met in the first place. Having exchanged one another's essence, Ermul understood exactly what she was going through as she related her story. He was a great listener.
She finally ended with their last conversation regarding emotional bonding.
"So that's where we're at," she finished. "I'll do the research, but be darned if I'm gonna let him endanger himself…"
"Becky 'ad the same idea. She didn't think it'd hurt to start off small-like, but ah…" He shook his head. "Couldn't get past the thought of harming 'er."
"She knows you're an Alcidian, then?"
"Sure does."
She shook her head. After a moment's silence, she said, "The humans that know about aliens on Earth...they seem to take it so well. It's almost a shame that MIB doesn't come right out with the truth."
"Guess the problem is that there are too many humans who wouldn't take it well. Can't separate the good ones from the bad, y'know?"
She leaned back into the cushion. "It's good to know I'm not the only one out there going through this...relationship thing."
"Sounds to me like it's doin' you more harm than good."
"Well...no, it isn't...not really." She looked into the rear-view mirror. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.
"I know what yer thinkin'." He chuckled. "Becky and I have 'ad our problems, but at the end of the day, well...it'd be 'ard to imagine life without her."
She leaned forward. "So how do you cope?"
"Simple. By appreciating the good things and not dwellin' too much on the bad. 'Sides," he made a turn down the last street before hitting her address, "Becky and I are laid back. Easy to please. My life may not'a turned out like I pictured, but so far as I'm concerned, it turned out better."
He stopped in front of her apartment. She withdrew the cab fare. "Here, and keep the change, Ermul. Thanks for the talk," she said before leaving the car. "I feel a lot more hopeful now than I did an hour ago."
He waved a hand. "Anytime, kiddo."
She shut the door and the cab soon disappeared around the next street.
She stood in the chill wind and fading light, mulling over all that Ermul had told her. There were so many questions she'd wanted to ask him. She wondered if MIB was aware of his relationship with Becky, if they were even living together or chose to live apart...so many questions, but there just hadn't been time.
Wanida knew that there were some exceptions to the memory rule when it came to MIB policy. There were instances in which humans had found out about the existence of aliens on Earth and not been neuralized. She suddenly wondered very much about human-alien relationships outside of her own, and vowed to research it as much as possible.
That being settled within her own thinking, she wished Ermul and Becky the very best. He was right about what he said. To expect things to get to a point where they'd suddenly be easy was a faulty way to live. Things would never be completely easy, but neither would they always be difficult.
The young Alcidian woman retrieved her keys from her purse and made her way up the two flights of stairs to her apartment. She felt oddly refreshed and renewed as she opened the door and greeted all the familiar sights. Turning on the light, she set down her bag and made to get more comfortable.
It wasn't chance that brought Ermul's cab to her. Speaking with him had done a world of good, and she now looked upon her relationship with Ben in a new light.
Perhaps her friends looked on her with gentle pity, and maybe her parents didn't thoroughly approve of her choice in a boyfriend. It may be that she'd never be able to establish an emotional link with Ben, the man she loved with all her heart, the way she could even with a taxi driver who was a complete stranger. But such were the choices she made...and perhaps that wasn't a bad thing.
She thought about Ben a lot that evening, as she made herself some dinner, as she bemusedly stared at her television screen, or folded laundry.
By the end of the day, she came to several rather comforting decisions. First, she would undertake the research at MIB's exclusive library like she said she would.
Second, she would appreciate her relationship with Ben more and worry about the cons less. No relationship was easy, after all. Even if she and Ben were of the same species, it wouldn't mean they'd have no problems. The problems they did face were normal, understandable and, at the end of the day, nothing to be feared.
He was worth it. He made her happy. Every facet of his personality contrasted so harmoniously with hers. Thinking on that, it made the gap between them seem very small in comparison to all that they offered each other. The best thing about it is that Ben didn't put her up on a pedestal, and neither did she do such to him. They were imperfect in countless ways, but they were at peace with it.
She snuggled under her covers that night and fell asleep with more contentment than she remembered feeling in a long time.
A/N: This story was originally going to be about Wanida and Ben attempting an emotional link, but it took on a very different turn. It's what I love about writing, characters really do take on personalities of their own. Anyway if I continue these one-shots, I'd like the next part to be about an actual attempt to bond. Needless to say, it won't be as rosy as this bit, but what's a story without some drama and difficulty? ;)