Chapter Eighteen: Puppet Show

Once Moreau tended to the oil lanterns and Joy emptied and refreshed the buckets within the off-grid cabinet, they went about their time engaging in multiple games of Old Maid and did switch the rules with winning. Moreau found it strange to kiss the last card in his hand whenever he won a round, so Joy suggested giving the maid a butterfly kiss. Amenably, Moreau did. Although, his bare eyelid pecks were nothing compared to the ones granted by his precious person. The fish-man did hide some light jealousy whenever his friend won. Not because he lost that particular game, but because he envied the card that received contact with those wondrous soft lashes. He even envisioned the lady on the card blushing.

Later on, the pair boiled some grain rice and heated canned succotash and gravy. As with the previous repasts, the satisfying dinner was delightful for Joy added just the right amount of celery salt and pepper which made it quite appealing. At his chair, Moreau's mien brightened more when Joy offered to fill his plate and serve him.

Being catered to by a willing friend was still so surreal.

Soon, the amber light of the descending sun seeped through the windows of the cabin. Behind the bath basin's hung ceiling curtains, Joy dipped her feet in fresh socks and buttoned the navy sweater that she had worn the night before. Hence, her own sweater and blue jeans wouldn't become so wrinkly from nights of resting.

After draping her clothes over the baseboard, the young woman bent down and rummaged through her backpack for her hairbrush and realized that it still contained a tube of toothpaste and her toothbrush. With a little more digging in the bright blue knapsack, she found an extra toothbrush and asked Moreau if he wanted to use it. He decided to give it a try. Though the fish-man wasn't sure if he could even recall the last attempt at cleaning his poor excuse for molars.

Joy discerned her friend's confusion as he tried to express the paste from the little tube, causing a minty stream to shoot out and plop in the metal kitchen sink. With an encouraging smile, she asked him to mimic her motions and avoid eating the paste. And with her calm and patient help, the fish-man was able to have a squeaky clean mouth for countless years.

"Does Joy want to read a bedtime story?" inquired Moreau, his hand outstretching for the bookshelf by the twin bed.

"Ummm..." The woman returned her little dental items and grabbed the bamboo handle of her paddle brush. "Not yet, Mo. Okay?"

As Joy tended to her hair, Moreau's hand fell alongside his mouth-line.

"Oh... O... Okay..."

Hearing the throaty tone becoming deeper with disappointment, Joy stroked her small brow free of the deep red bangs, moved a few paces toward her drooping friend, and began brushing his hair. Right away, his saddened demeanor was replaced with a pure state of ataraxy from the bamboo bristles caressing his exposed scalp. Moreau closed his eyes and craned his head while his friend gently parted his stringy strands.

Again, being catered to was so, so surreal!

"I'm sorry, Mo. I shouda asked if we could read a wittle later," mentioned Joy, stroking the longer part of the fish-man's hair. "'Cause I got another fun way ta have story-time."

"Hmm-hmmm..," Moreau crooned as he tilted his broad head to his right.

After a few more moments of grooming, the woman lowered the hair brush and Moreau raised a serene smile.

"Thank you, Joy."

Joy made a short bow of the head. "Mo is most welcome!"

She put the brush into her backpack and once it was zippered, she fronted her friend with folded hands.

"Would'ja like ta play shadow puppets?"

"Huh?" Moreau scratched his jawline. "How do you play with shadows if you can't touch them?"

"Tee-hee! Ya don't touch dem but make dem!"

The befuddled fish-man continued to idly itch his bulbous chin and the young woman beamed with more positivity.

"Don't worry, it's not very hard and it's super-duper fun. Mom and me would play shadow puppets all da time when I was wittle but we still like it." Joy's sights threw a sideward glance at the windowpanes. "It helps keep my mind off'a da thunder and lightning from da spooky storms."

Moreau shuddered lightly along with his friend. The bright streaking lights and daunting bangs would never stop being... spooky!

"So do'ya wanna try it, Mo?"

For the life of him, Moreau couldn't fathom how unattainable shaded shapes could become animated dolls. Nevertheless, if his precious person was certain it could be done, then they would be successful at this pastime.

Moreau bobbed his head twice. "Yes, yes! Can Joy show Mo how to play shadow puppets?"

"Yes, Joy can!" The woman clapped with a hop. "Yay! Teacher-time again!"

Joy scanned around herself while slowly tapping a puckered lower lip. Then, her mouth opened with a gasp.

"Ah-ha! Just gimme a few seconds, please..."

"All right, Joy-! Huh?"

The fish-man blinked quizzically as Joy walked and carefully picked up the handle of the oil lantern from the coffee table.

"Oh..." Following his friend, Moreau held up an index claw. "Please be careful, Joy. Don't, don't get burned."

"I won't, Mo," she replied, slowly turning around and cautiously sauntering up to him. "See... I'm okay. With all our cooking, I feel better with being super-duper careful with being close ta hot things..." She held up the small lamp. "Could'ju please hold dis for a minute, Mo?"

"Uhhh... yes, I can."

Moreau took its handle and the woman's lips curved higher.

"Thank you... and thank you."

"Joy is most welcome and..." Moreau tilted his head. "Joy is most welcome?"

"Tee-hee! Why'dja say dat twice?"

"Because Joy thanked me twice... What was the second 'thank you' for?"

The young woman humbly looked at her fiddling small hands and refocused on her friend.

"It was for trusting me for... being me."

Moreau's beam synchronized with Joy's. For the first time for his usually cloudy mind, her gratefulness was understood ever so clearly. He'd always wished for his family to have faith in him, too.

However, Moreau became baffled once more when he observed Joy grunting and pulling the solid pine table until it was in front of the small sofa.

"Joy is so strong!" he decreed in admiration.

"Phew! Thanks, Mo! I swim a lot and ya need strong arms for dat."

The petite woman attempted to show off a small but mighty bicep, but the oversized sweater remained clung to her knuckles; instigating giggles and chuckles from the grinning friends.

"He-hee-hee... hee! Uhh, why did Joy move the short table?"

"Tee-hee-hee! Ahem, you'll see! Could'ja please put da'wittle lamp on da middle'a da table, Mo?"

"Hmm-hmm, yes I can, Joy!" Moreau performed the simple request. "What's next?"

"Now we sit on our comfy couch."

Making happy haste, the fish-man wobbled around the coffee table to reach the sofa with excited hands. If shadow puppets meant more close comfort with his precious person, then he would enjoy it just as much as story-time!

Giggling at his eagerness, Joy followed suit and sat on her respective, left cushion. Moreau was elated because he was having more comfy couch sitting with his super-duper smart teacher and he was very invested in learning this mysterious new game.

"So, so how do shadow puppets work?!"

Joy smiled at her friend's wriggling fingers. "Tee-hee, just look up and wait." She indicated the lower end of the slanted wooden ceiling.

The confused fish-man did the directive and after a short time of the woman maneuvering her crossing hands, his pupils were akin to saucers as the flickering flame within the lantern's glass reflected in them.

Moreau was floored at how the shadowy creation just sprouted to life. For ten seconds, he alternated from gawping at the interior roof and then at his friend's motioning hands to make sure that they hadn't changed shape! It was like a nightly illusion. Just holding fingers a certain way and waving the hands spawned a puppet that wasn't even there!

In the back of his cobwebbed consciousness, Moreau mulled if his spooky little sister would have been amazed at shadow puppets as well. In fact, the fish-man was sure that she would've enjoyed his precious person's company because they both liked to animate things and appreciated the same color. That is, if his silent sibling gave a sliver of her time away from that mean, pushy dolly or those spooky yellow flowers that made him have bad dreams while he was awake.

"Do ya see what dis is?" peeped Joy hopefully.

Blinking back to the present, Moreau peered at her held fist with her index finger curled over a thumb as her crisscrossed right hand with most of her fingers continued making a flapping motion.

Moreau gave the animated shape a toothy grin. "It's a bird!"

Joy beamed upon hearing the happy decree.

"Uh-huh! You're right! I'm glad dat I'm doing it... right! Tee-hee!"

She then made the figment feathered animal pause its flight to preen its wing by lifting her left, three remaining fingers.

"Da birdie's my favorite but it's da hardest ta do. It takes a lotta... ummm... planning..."

The fish-man glanced at the young woman's peeping tongue while she shifted a right hand underneath the bird with two of her first digits wiggling, making the silhouette turn its head and attend to its tail plumage. He chuckled with a nod; an emerging tongue meant that his precious person was certainly in full focus!

After a brief moment of recollecting, Joy separated her hands. "Okay! Here's another one dat I think ya'll really like."

Silently, Moreau marveled at his friend's left hand with a pulled-in index finger and lifted thumb as the pinkie finger parted over and over.

"Oh!" He gasped, waving his hands and wiggling his knees. "A PUPPY!"

"Ya got it! A wittle puppy!"

Joy made the shadow canine whine, pant, and happily bark. Hearing her entertained friend laugh initiated a feeling of jauntiness.

Mo sure does like puppies!

She turned her view to him. "Would Mo like ta try one?"

Moreau's parted grin opened broadly. "Yes, yes! He-hee-hee! Mo would! Mo would!"

"Alright! Please place your hand up." She lifted hers. "And listen and watch what I do..."

"Hmm-hmm! All right, Joy!" chortled Moreau, his right hand ready to be part of the show.

"Okay... first, ya make a loose fist like dis... ...den ya stick out your first... and middle finger... ...Take your time, Mo."

With a pale poking tongue to the side, Moreau muttered the steps in heavy concentration. Joy aided him by pointing out the correct digit but shortly, he was able to perform the directions in the correct order.

"And dare ya go!" The woman flicked her eyes and head upwards. "Lookie at what we made..."

The fish-man blinked at the two long-eared shadows on the inner roof and hopped bluntly on his cushion.

"Bunnies!" he proclaimed merrily. "We made bunnies!"

"Uh-huh! But your bunny better watch out..." Quickly, Joy wriggled her hand to the previous long-muzzled shape. "...'cause puppies like ta play chase!"

Giggling resounded in the lodge as the generated puppy barked and hounded Moreau's rabbit. And after a minute of the animated shadows dashing and bouncing, the amused titters settled down.

"I'm really glad dat I met ya, Mo."

Moreau's rabbit froze. "...What?"

"Gotcha!"

The dog licked the shadowy rabbit's pretended cheek, causing the fish-man's own cheeks to tinge red.

Moreau put his hand down and veered partway to Joy.

"Really?"

"Yes." Joy made an assertive bow of the head. "Really, really."

Relaxing her lips and her hand, she peered down at the floor.

"Mo? Ummm? Do ya have other friends?"

The fish-man pouted in sullen contemplation. His big crassly brother had often asked that very same question. However, it was always a rhetorical one.

"No... But..." His grin reappeared widely and proudly. "...but that doesn't matter because I have Joy!"

Fluttering her sights, the young woman's mien lightened once more.

"And Joy's glad ta have Mo as a friend, too."

Following several seconds of thankful smiles, Joy looked at her hand, curling her little fingers.

"Besides my mom and family, no one else really likes da things dat I like. But Mom works a lot and my family doesn't live with us."

"And you don't want to do those things alone?"

That query was enunciated like a statement. The two beings looked at one another in quiet understanding.

Joy sighed heavily. "Mom works so hard at da hospital so I don't want ta bother her if she's super tired. ...I had met a few people... y'know... like me, with Down's-"

"No, no, no..," Moreau watchfully broke in. "Upper."

"Okay," agreed Joy with a small beam.

Moreau nodded with approval and knitted his hands atop his abdomen as she continued.

"So I'd met some Uppers... dey were very nice but dey always lived too far away. ...And when I went ta school, my classmates weren't uppers. They were younger than I was, but dey still didn't like me... like how I liked dem."

Moreau could not help but gawk incredulously. How could anyone not want to know and be with Joy?!

"Those childrens were stupid for not being friends with Joy! They, they should've been honoreded to have met your-! Uh, ack... acki... uhhh... acquit... acquenat..."

"Umm..." The softly interjecting woman tapped her bottom lip. "Acquaintance?"

"Yes! Honored to have met Joy's... acquaintance! ...Tricky word!"

"Thank you!"

The proud beams faded somewhat while Joy averted her eyes to her knees, momentarily rubbing them.

"Tho, we shouldn't call anybody stupid, but... maybe dey coulda tried one or two things dat I liked, just ta be nice. I sure woulda done it for dem."

The fish-man regarded his friend in both awe and bafflement. Truly, she didn't hold any grudges against anyone cruel or ignorant to her. And she was willing to allow others to still like her.

Why didn't his family ever give him that chance?

Moreau's frown-line weakened by seeing Joy fully fronting him.

"Mo..." She cupped his hand. "You like me as a friend? Like... like-like?"

Moreau blinked widely at the small hand resting on his and he nodded zestfully.

"Yes, yes, YES! I, I like-like Joy!"

The woman gasped in glee. "Really?!"

"Yes! Really, really!

"Great! 'Cause I like-like Mo, too! ...It's so nice ta have somebody dat likes all da things dat I like."

Joy observed the lantern between them and her open smile was as bright as the center ember. She refaced her friend.

"I'm so lucky we're besties, Mo."

Moreau felt taken back, yet, he didn't know why.

"...Besties?"

The young woman lifted her free hand and rubbed the nape of her neck.

"Y'know... Bestie... Da nickname for best friend."

The black sclera of the fish-man's glistening eyes grew prominent. Did she actually say that?

"B-B-Best fr-friend, J-Joy?"

Joy pressed her hands to her chest. "Someone who's super-duper close ta ya and enjoys being with ya for being yourself."

With heaving breaths, Moreau swallowed to falter the overwhelming sensation of shock.

"Joy and M-Mo are-are besties?" he breathed out sharply. ...We're besties? ...R-Really?"

"Yes," was the affirmed response. "Really, really."

With tapering eyelids, Moreau eased forward, supporting his face. Muffled whimpers emitted through the clamped bony hands.

The inner ends of Joy's red eyebrows sloped up. "Mo? Ya alright?"

She quickly scooted over, leaning into his side while patting above his shoulder. The palpable solace triggered the muffled whines into subdued sobs.

"Mo, what's wrong?! Is your tummy feeling icky wicky again?"

"N-Nothing's wrong..."

Snuffling a few times, he laid his hands on his thin thighs, straightening a concave torso as much as he could. Then, the fish-man smiled at his bestie; blinking milky white sights free of the salty moisture that flowed down his elevated cheeks.

"...Joy's b-bestie... is-is just... happy!"

Relieved, the woman blinked her eyes clear while lifting her embracing arm to take her friend's left hand into her right one, and gave it a supporting squeeze.

"And Mo's bestie is very happy ta hear dat."

The beaming pair looked down at their fastened hands. Joy's lips parted open as her eyes glinted happily.

"Dis gives me an idea."

Moreau slanted his view. "Hmmm?"

"I'll show ya..."

Joy brought their joined hands safely above the oil lantern and then released her gentle hold, opening her right one but keeping four of her fingers closely together. Joy looked at Moreau and nodded. Licking his lips and furrowing, Moreau followed her lead with his webbed hand.

Next, she leaned the back of her thumb into his, gently prodding. With a growing grin, Moreau didn't need a signal from his friend and locked his thumb with hers.

In unison, the young woman and the fish-man slowly waved their held-out knitted digits and swayed their limbs; the big shadow butterfly looked like it was soaring through the clouds. Just seeing the wondrous impression before them caused Moreau himself to feel as if his very essence had reached well beyond the heavens.

The tranquil best friends beheld their magnificent manifestation as it oscillated with ease and grace. And until this very evening, never before had Moreau concluded that two completely, contrasting beings, one so beautiful and one so grotesque, could ever align something that was so flawlessly exquisite.