by Gerry Carr (Island Breezes)
((((º.·´¯`·.Story #13 ·.¸.· ((((*¸.·´`·. ·.¸.· Rated G
"The Affair at the Valenti
Ranch"
On their sixth day on Antar, the "Antarians Too," a group of "earthlings" who had been found to have Antarian DNA left from their ancient past, had been invited to spend the day visiting with Jim and Kathleen at their ranch estate in the countryside. Everyone was enjoying the streams, the nearby river, the woods, and yorith riding in the Antarian open countryside near the ranch. Yoriths are horses for all intents and purposes, though they are not exactly like earth horses. Most noticeably, they have bright green eyes. Some are solid colored, others have faint zebra-like stripes. They are beautiful animals, but in basic appearance and behavior, they are essentially horses.
Danyy was playing with the pawgor. Jim, Kathleen, and Danyy had taken the pawgor back to the Nan-torel after the new granilith returned from earth, but every now and then the pawgor would pop up at the ranch and sit there waiting for Danyy to come out and play. It was almost full-grown now, but it was still young and still enjoyed playing. Danyy and the pawgor were running around the yard. The pawgor would pounce on Danyy, pinning him down with its huge paws. At first, this had made Kathleen very uneasy, but she had become used to it, and Danyy seemed to enjoy this unusual game of "tag" that they played. Danyy, in turn, would then chase the pawgor and pounce on it, rolling over with it in the grass. It seemed like the pawgor would surely crush Danyy or hurt him, but it never did. It always knew just how much Danyy could take, maybe because it was communicating with him.
Krys was talking with Tracie, April, Denise, Trude, and a couple of others in the front yard. Kathleen had served everyone drinks, and they were watching Danyy and the pawgor play when the pawgor suddenly decided to run straight through the middle of the group as Danny ran around them. Several drinks were dropped as everyone rushed to get out of the way. Krys did not see it coming in time. The next thing she knew, she and her drink were flying in the air then she was lying on the pawgor's back with her hands around its neck. Danyy stopped the huge cat and apologized…
"Sorry… He thinks that was funny. He's laughing."
Krys moved her head to the side carefully and looked the pawgor in the face, all the time holding on with her arms around its neck to keep from falling off… It did almost appear to be grinning. She shook her head and laid it back down on the pawgor's back momentarily. Then she slid off onto the ground.
"Next time he does that, I'm putting a saddle on him," she said to Danyy grinning!"
"I'm sorry," Danyy repeated… "He says he won't do it again."
Krys ran her hand over Danyy's head… "Oh, that's alright, Danyy… What was I thinking trying to block a pawgor!" She smiled and winked at him then took another drink from Kathleen, who also apologized…
"Welcome to our crazy world!" Kathleen said. Jim was standing in the shade on the porch, leaning against a pillar, with a big smile on his face.
Kyle and Jeliya were out at the side preparing the barbecue grill. Jim joined them, and pretty soon, the air was filled with the smell of steaks, burgers and hotdogs on the grill, as well as a variety of Antarian vegetables… well, at least, it looked kind of like steaks, hamburgers, and hotdogs… The steaks were Yegg steaks. The "hamburger" was actually the inside meaty part of grelliats, which are a vegetable. Kyle liked them for that reason. Jim called them veggie-burgers, but they tasted like real meat. The hotdogs were something Kathleen and Jeliya had invented together from a combination of grelliat cores, yegg meat, Antarian blue hen eggs, pashita bread pulp, and detoxified guma fungi with just a touch of Tabasco, all blended into a purée and stuffed back into the green grelliat shells then roasted. The surprising thing is, they actually tasted like premium hotdogs… if you could get past their green color.
"Come and get it!" Jim called as he and Kyle and Jeliya began to place platters of food onto a long picnic table. Everyone sat down and Jim passed the food around. Nina and Lisa watched as Jeliya made herself a "grelliat hotdog" and soaked it with lots of Tabasco sauce…
"Must be an Antarian thing!" Lisa said to Nina… I thought it was only Michael and Max!"
Nina shrugged. "That's gonna be one HOT hotdog. That's all I can say," she replied with a grin.
Jeliya took a bite and smiled, noticing she was being watched. "Mmmm! This is good! Can I pass anyone the Tabasco?"
Lisa and Nina shook their heads. Jeliya looked around. The others shook their heads, too. Jeliya shrugged. "You guys don't know what you're missing," she said, smiling.
"How about ketchup or mustard?" asked Lisa.
Kathleen passed a couple of bowls over to Lisa. One had a yellowish purée in it, the other a purplish purée… "We're working on it," Jim said with a wide grin. "We'll get the color right eventually. Tastes pretty good, though!"
"Too mild," Jeliya commented. "I'll stick with the Tabasco. Tabasco's great!" She proceeded to take something that looked like an ear of corn and pour Tabasco sauce all over it.
"Okay," Denise whispered to Lisa, "Now I know what happened to their taste buds!" Both of them smiled. "I just hope she doesn't put it on ice cream."
"Believe it or not…" said Kathleen, "I've seen Michael do that! He mixes it in Cherry Coke, too."
This was a little more than anyone wanted to know. Lisa and Nina both involuntarily said, "Ewwww" at the same time. Jeliya smiled.
"You don't do that, do you, Jeliya?" asked Roselle.
"Do what?"
"…put Tabasco sauce in Cherry Coke."
Jeliya shook her head.
"That's good to know," said Roselle.
"I never had Cherry Coke before," said Jeliya, as she poured some Tabasco sauce into an empty glass and took a drink.
Jim had not forgotten the pawgor. He had taken several yegg steaks and part of a yegg carcass that he had picked up from a rancher and placed them in the back yard for the pawgor out of sight of the guests. Yegg was a favorite of the pawgor, though the pawgor was not a very finicky eater. Jim had never seen it turn its nose up at anything except Ghor meat.
As the night arrived, Jim and Kyle built a bonfire, and everyone sat around the fire and talked about their adventures, sang songs, and enjoyed some jubish, iced tea, and Snapples along with Antarian cookies and an Antarian dessert called japo-mevanish, which is a sort of flaming flan. Krys and Tracie were using the pawgor as a backrest to lean against, as the pawgor lay stretched out enjoying the warmth of the fire and the companionship of its unusual friends.
"Krys is going to teach me how to ride a pawgor," April laughed.
"What I want her to teach me is that cool mount she did," Denise snickered.
Jim started laughing. "I've been riding horses for a long time, and that was the first time I ever saw that mount! I must say, it's pretty spectacular!"
"Yeah, well, you guys laugh if you want," said Krys. "You're just jealous 'cause he let me ride him, and we're pals now." She patted her grinning "pillow" and laid her head back against its side again.
After the fire was out, the guests all retired to the guest house Jim had built. It wasn't the palace, but it was cozy. They were able to leave the windows open for the pleasant cool air that was coming in. The bedrooms were all upstairs on the second floor, and there was a wonderful view of Antar's moons, which were all full this night, as well as of the nearby river and the Antarian countryside.
The next day, Kathleen took everyone shopping at Antar's largest and oldest department store, Kyyk's. They took Jayyd along to do color alterations, which absolutely delighted Jayyd, who loved nothing more than using her power and being praised for it. She also usually picked up some spare spending change from other customers who would ask her to change the color of a blouse or some pants or a hat for them and would offer her some change for her help…
Tracie noticed the signs on all the walls.
"What does that sign say, Kathleen? I've seen the same sign several times."
Kathleen laughed. "Yeah, they pointed that out to us the last time I was here and they saw Jayyd change the color of something. It says,
"Molecular alterations and color changing of clothes not allowed unless the items are returned to exactly as they were before. Remember that your abilities and ours may not be the same and we may not be able to undo what you have done satisfactorily. So if you change it and don't change it back, you buy it. We hope this will not inconvenience you too much. Thank you for shopping at Kyyk's."
Tracie laughed.
"At least they're polite about it," Nina said, laughing, too. Lisa and April nodded.
Everyone was enjoying the time spent on Antar so much that they hardly realized that it would soon be time to go back to earth. But they would all be going back with lots of new clothes and souvenirs, and the memories made during this trip would last forever. Unfortunately, there were probably few people they would ever be able to share them with… at least, who would actually believe them!
[center]-The End-[/center]
This story was adapted and revised from the chapter titled
--------------------------------Chapter 54
"The Affair at the Valenti Ranch"
which can be found in the novel-length Roswell fic, "Life in the Stars" by Gerry Carr (Island Breezes).