The first thing he did was walk into the living room rubbing his aching head from where it hit the tiled kitchen floor. Then, he glanced at his two daughters and the giant purple lizard curled into himself like a cat between them on the couch. The lights were out while the TV shed light on them, and it must have been seven in the afternoon. He smoothed his hair then walked back to his room on clumsy confused feet, closing the door behind him loudly.

The girls flinched when they heard it, turning towards the hall enterance. They stared for several long drawn out seconds, but finding their father did not step into the room (as they has not noticed him before) they turned to look at one another instead. "Maybe he went to the bathroom?" Mercy said.

Anne shrugged with worry. "Imma go see." She left, quickly returning with a shake of the head. "No. I think he's still in his room."

She was correct; their father did not come out the rest of the evening. Eventually the girls fixed sandwiches for dinner then went to sleep. Randall slept in Anne's room that night, sprawled at the end of her bed.

The next day they would not see their father again until he was home from work. So the air was tense as the hour quickly ticked into minutes, then seconds. He would be off work and headed home. The girls and Randall had gone out into the woods of the swamp and tossed rocks into the water a distance away in the early hours. But now it was noon and they waited inside the house. Anne seemed especially worked up.

"He didn't talk ta us last night." She said, concern in her voice as she waited for Mercy to finish slicing an apple up at the counter. She sat kicking her legs at the table.

The teenager sighed. "There's no way of knowin' what he'll do now."

Randall was standing beside Mercy, head laid bored on the counter top. He was watching her cut the apple with lazy eyes and little interest. "Probably thinks it was all'a dream." He mummbled.

"What if he never talks ta us again?" Anne gasped, hands on her cheeks.

That almost got a laugh out of her older sister. "He will. He's our Daddy!" She put the slices on a small plate and casually walked over to the younger, placing the plate before her on the table. "Here. Eat and shoosh." Then she washed the sticky off, placed the knife in the sink, and sat at the other end of the table. Randall seemed to follow her like a lost puppy. He felt compeled to lay at her feet, but resisted as he didn't want to dirty his scales. He forced himself to sit at the table with them.

Anne began to eat the slices, biting little pieces off like a rabbit. Mercy leaned over and held her head in her hand, elbow resting on the table.

Engines rolled into the drive. The three were nervous. Then, they heard the begnings of the door being unlocked. Anne almost stopped eating, and Mercy watched as the door clicked open and their father stepped into the house, closing the door behind him.

"Good day at work, Daddy?" Mercy asked casually, as if a monster wasn't sitting beside her at the table.

The man stood at the door and fiddled with his keys, looking at his daughters at the table. He glanced awkwardly at Randall but quickly averted his eyes back to Mercy. "Mmm." He hummed with a curt nod.

"You want I should make ya some tea?" The girl asked.

He shifted back and forth slightly. "Nah." Then, he smiled and went to his room.

Anne looked at Mercy, eyebrows arched with pain. Mercy shook her head and shrugged, watching as Randall snuck a hand across the tabletop and stole one of Anne's apple slices.

It was six in the afternoon. Mercy was scribbling in her room and Anne was watching cartoons in the living room. They weren't sure where Randall was at, but neither of the girls wanted to constrain his freedom like he was an animal. He would come home before it got too late like he always did.

There was a swift knock at Mercy's door, which then opened abruptly after. "Hey. Come to th'living room." The voice of her father said as he was peeking through the door, before he closed it quietly.

The older sister put away her notebook and did as he requested. She met him and her little sister in the living room. A lamp illuminated the space with an orange glow; like a fire. Mercy sat on the other side of her dad, as Anne already occupied the opposite side.

"Alright," Their father began as soon as Mercy took a seat. The man turned off the TV and held his hands together in his lap. "we need to talk." When the girls didn't say anything in response he continued. "I know I done said no pets. 'Specially without askin' me first. But uh-" He seemed to be struggling with saying it out loud. "I was thinkin'. Animals don't talk." Then his eyes seemed to go wild. "I'm not crazy! You heard it too right?"

Mercy nodded. "Yeah, he talks, Daddy. He's clever."

"Maybe it's like'a parrot- maybe-"

"Nuh-uh," Anne interrupted. "He's smart like us!"

The adult was silent for what felt like hours, contemplating this. "Well." He said. "I still think ya should be punished fer havin' him without askin'. But you done took care of it fer a month'n I didn't even know." He smiled a little, looking between them. "That's responsibility. I guess we can keep'em, 'bout time I let ya'll have a pet anyways." He laid a loving hand on Anne's knee. "'N so you can have someone around when Mercy finally heads off."

Mercy played with her hair."Daddy, you know, he's not exactly a pet. Cause he ain't no animal, not really. He's just different. More like'a roommate." She shrugged.

"Tomato-tamato. Y'can keep'em so be happy." He gave a nod, looking a little worn out. He didn't think he wanted to discuss the talking much anymore. It was just too strange and unnatural for him.

Anne bounced where she sat then lunged forward and squeezed her father in a tight hug. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She squeaked.

The man chuckled and rubbed his little girl's back. "You'll be grounded for a'month; cause that's how long ya kept'em a secret."

Mercy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything back. Anne, however, let go of her father and whined loudly.

"Shush." He said, giving her a look. She quieted down but continued to pout. "Where is that dinosaur, anyways?"

The girls shrugged.

"You need ta be keepin' an eye on that thing-"

"Him." Mercy corrected coldly.

"- an eye on him, if you're gonna be havin' him as a pet. 'Roommate.' Thing."

"We will." Anne nodded.

There was an awkward silence as the man smiled between his little girls. He squeezed Mercy's shoulder to show her everything was fine and stood up. "Remember, you're grounded. No TV no phone no truck."

The girls looked up at him with irritated eyes.

"Got it?" He asked sternly.

"Got it." They droned.

Then he gave a last reassuring smile and went to make dinner for the night.

Even though their father had approved of Randall in the end, that didn't mean he had to like Randall. It was as if he avoided him, if possible. He especially refrained from talking directly to him. It was hard to cope with the thought of an intelligence that mirrored that of his own species. This gave Randall great pleasure within the days following his acceptance into the entire family, as it amused him to make the human uncomfortable.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Asked the big purple reptile, hanging from a tree by four limbs and his tail in the back yard. He stared down smugly at the man.

With a jump, his eyes snapped to Randall with a look of shock. "How long have you been there?" he asked awkwardly. He was planting some flowers he had bought from the store; on his knees with a small gardening shovel in his right hand.

Randall climbed around the branch and lay over it, almost reminding one of a jaguar. He shrugged. "Few minutes."

A few seconds went by as the man watched Randall hesitantly. As if he half expected the monster to leap down and rip open his flesh if he turned his back.

"Say, I don't even know your name, do I? Mercy and Anne only call you 'Daddy.'" He suddenly asked, throwing away his earlier question.

He mused over this, and answered. "Timothy. Just call me Tim." He turned back to his work at long last, feeling the squinty eyes upon him.

"Those girls sure do love'ya a lot, huh?" Asked Randall softly.

Tim had dug a nice damp hole, reaching for a pre-grown flower in a temporary pot. "I'm all they have. Ain't talked ta my relatives much since Mercy was about six."

Randall watched him as he filled the hole around the pretty pink plant, patting it gently with his bare hands. He moved to the side, blue jeans covered with dirt, and began to repeat this process. Randall's tail twitched. "I can smell the fear on you, you know." He said. "You're scared of me."

"Th'only animals that talk are parrots." He replied with an edge.

Randall let himself cackle loudly. "I'm no animal!" He said. "I'm a monster. Didn't Mercy explain this too you, Timothy?"

"No." He said curtly.

There was a sigh from the tree. "I'm no more animal than you." When there was no reply, he added. "Monsters come from the closets and scare kids or- er, I don't know what they do anymore. But I got tossed out, n'if it wasn't for your girls, I wouldn't be here now."

"I see." Tim said. He stood up, looking down at the row of neatly arranged pink flowers he had planted. He gave a little grin, happy to brighten up his back yard. He dusted off his knees and pants, placed his hands on his hips, and turned to look up at Randall. His eyes narrowed. "I don't care what th'hell y'are. But if you ever- ever- try n'hurt my kids, then you best believe yer gonna end up snake skin." His face softened. "But I suppose if I didn't think ya were a little okay, I wouldn't let you stay here."

Randall grinned, climbing down the tree to face the man. He was the same height (fronds not included)- though if Randall were to lay flat it would be obvious he was the largest, length wise. "I'd never dream of it." He said, showing sharpened teeth. "See, look how civilized this monster can be." He held out one of his hands.

Timothy looked down at it, back to Randall's face, then let himself shake the hand firmly. "Don't test me."

Randall gave a nod. He was glad the girls had a father who loved them so dearly. Who loved them enough he would even make threats to a twelve foot long, eight armed reptile right in his face.

Nearly there, folks.

Did I mention I turned 17 on the 6th? Having a party tomorrow.