"Teeg!"

I sat there feeling the lump in my throat start to form. It had been over a year since I had
heard anyone call me by that name. There was only one person who called me 'Teeg'….
And that was Chance. I turned around slowly and I felt the tears roll down my cheeks. I
reached out to him and he took my hand in his, gently kissing it. He pulled me into his
arms and held me tight, caressing my face and kissing my forehead. My white gown was
blowing in the wind while the two of us stood atop what seemed to be clouds.

"Teeg…. I missed you."

"I missed you too."

His face tilted towards mine and I could feel the soft gentle brush of his lips against my
own. It was gentle and warm and soon it became wet and sticky and….

"GOBBLE!"

I sat up, pushing the gigantic hound off of me. "Get off of me ya stupid mutt!"

"Baby girl, you dun go talkin' to my Gobble like that. He was only tryin' ta tell you good
mornin'."

I wiped the drool off of my face and sighed. "It was only a dream"
I got out of my bed and went to the bathroom, washing my face and looking at my
reflection in the mirror. I started to think about the dream again, wondering if Chance
would come back. I picked up my brush and ran it through my hair. I looked back up at
the mirror and saw Remy standing behind me. I gasped and turned around, dropping my
brush on the floor. No one was there.

I let out a sigh of relief, picking up my brush and setting it on the counter. I stepped into
the kitchen to find Mama in an apron splattered with blood.

"Why'd you go to bed early last night?"

"I was tired. I had a long day at school, Mama."

"But you dun got no school at night, child."

"I – I was out feedin' the gators."

Mama just shook her head, "Yoh seein' somebody, ain't ya?"

"No!"

Mama smiled, "I wanna meet 'im."
I shook my head, "I ain't seein' no one Mama!"

"You bring him ta supper tanight or else Mama is gun come and find 'im."

I closed my eyes, I knew better than to defy Mama on that one. "Fine. I'll bring him to
supper."

"Tha's my girl."

* * *

I walked around the swamp, not having the slightest clue where I would find him. I
grumbled to myself knowing that Mama would have a heart attack when she saw his eyes.
I smiled to myself, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and starting to giggle. My
thoughts had traveled to last night when Remy had kissed me. I could feel the butterflies
fluttering around in my stomach and I suddenly felt nervous about talking to him again. I
was just going to turn back around and go home when I felt an arm wrap itself around my
waist.

"'Ey dere, petite!"

I started to laugh as he spun me around and turned me towards him, giving me a quick
kiss on the lips. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck and gazed into his
beautiful eyes. "Come to supper tonight. Mama wants to meet you."

Remy looked at me and his grip loosened up a bit, "She won't like Remy."

I touched his cheek, "Mama don't like anybody."

He smiled and rubbed my hip, "Is dat so?"

"Yeah", I kissed his chin, "So will you?"

"Hmmm…I s'pose so."

I smiled and played with his auburn colored hair, "Can I ask you somethin'?"

"Anythin'."

"Why are your eyes red?"

He looked at me for a moment and gently pulled away from me. "It's hard to 'splain,
petite."

I took a step towards him, "What do you mean? How is it hard to explain?"

He looked at me, and sighed, "It's hard to 'splain cause it just 'appened. Some sorta
mutation."

"You're a mutant…aren't you?"

"Yeah. You gun run off now?"

"No. I'm not."

He looked at me and pulled out a deck of cards, "Remy be dangerous…" and with that
said he pulled a card out of the deck. It suddenly became illuminated as he threw it
towards a nearby tree. The flaming card hit the tree and exploded, blowing a hole as big as
my head in the trunk. I looked at the hole and then at him. He punched the tree and I
walked over to him, placing my hand on his arm, "You are who you are."

He turned around, his eyes glowing. I could tell they stared through me as I met his gaze.
We looked at each other for what seemed to be forever, but in reality it was only a
moment in time.

"You ain't scared o' Remy?"

I shook my head, "No."

Remy turned around, his face contorted into what looked like hatred, he threw another
card, blowing another hole into the same tree. "WHY?!"

I looked at him, beginning to find myself become frightened to his sudden anger towards
me. I started to back up slowly, "Why, what?"

"Why ain't you scared?"

"I'm scared."

He stopped his tantrum and looked at me, quirking a brow, "You scared?"

"Yeah...."

"Of what?"

"You. The way your acting."

Remy stopped and pocketed his deck of cards, "Remy be sorry, chere. Remy jus' dun
know. Seems like ev'rybody else is bein' scared and den you come along and say dat you ain't."

"I'm sorry."

"Dun be."

The tone in his voice made my heart sink in my chest. "Please....forgive me. I won't ever
ask anything like that again."

Remy walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist while another smoothed
my hair. His lips gently brushed my forehead and I closed my eyes. "Immy, lissen....Remy
don't belong in da real world wit' normal people, like you. Dat's why Remy be livin' out
here."

He kissed my forehead again this time, hugging my body close to his.

"You don't have to come tonight if you don't want to."

Remy shook his head, "No....Remy wants to meet yo' Mama."

"Then I'll meet you by the dock about sunset."

"It's a date."

He kissed me softly on the lips and we both parted to go our own ways.

(To be continued....)