Chapter 14:
Bottling emotions for the first time
Daniel:
After the dinner, Constantine takes me to his room, and prepares the emotion extraction set. I have so many questions. From what is the solvent made? On what does the headset run? Why is the headset in the shape of headphones? Shouldn’t I have stickers on my forehead? Yet, I don’t ask any of these questions.
Constantine is smiling softly, and I have the urge to demand that he puts on the headset, so I can take a sip from one of his love potions. I am forty, and have been in and out of love before. So, when I took the first sip from the orange potion, with its red bubbles, I knew the feeling. It felt like a first crush. Giddy one, and desperate. Something that will keep you up at night, and live in your fantasies.
“I’ll leave you now,” Constantine says. I reach out, and take a hold of his arm.
“No, stay. Let us talk. I want you to see what I really think about, when I am in your company,” I say because my pride is tickled that a supernatural being, for there is no way that I will think of Tine as ordinary, has a crush on me.
Considering that I haven’t been in a relationship in the past fifteen years, it is safe to say, that I will fan the flames of that crush, until Tine burns up with love.
Even then, he probably won’t be able to name his feeling.
I giggle at my own thoughts, and the potion begins to color orange.
“Orange was for happiness, right?” I ask, to start a conversation.
“Yes, it is. Have you ever heard about the joke of the three Pegasuses, and the broken-down shuttle?” He asks, and I shake my head.
“No. Up to a couple of hours ago, I thought that Pegasuses lived only in myths,” I tell him, and he gets a mischievous look on his face.
“Ok, here goes. Three Pegasuses made fun of a fourth. So, the lame Pegasus went, and fixed up a shuttle. Then, just as the three Pegasuses were about to race in the morning, as was their habit, the fourth Pegasus came and outraced them with the shuttle. Do you know what the three Pegasuses said?” Constantine asks me. I tilt my head to the side.
“Why did you turn us this crispy?” I suggest, and he chuckles.
“You know, this one makes more sense than the original joke,” he says, and then turns on his laptop. In a couple of minutes, he has some techno music playing in the background.
“So, this is what you do all day? You have fun, and bottle your fun?” I ask, and he nods energetically.
“Not everyone can relax to the point where the headset is effective enough to get a reading on their mood. Some people just can’t do it. All children can, though. There is this kid, to whom I promised that I will bring a set so that he can send his emotions to his father,” there is a wistful look in Constantine’s face at that.
“You like children a lot, don’t you?” I ask, and he nods.
“They are so tiny. But they are very complex too, you know? Beth, for instance, has this thing called Picture tax, that she makes me pay. She has her pride, and I can respect that. Doesn’t stop me from taking as many pictures, as I have chocolate coins for,” he says, and I chuckle.
“You should take me to see the little acorn again. And this boy to whom you made the promise to,” I am feeling hopeful, and see, from the corner of my eye, that the potion is coloring a slight beige. He sees that too, and nods. I am certain that he knows what it means, and I can guess myself.
“They will love a second babysitter. Perhaps we can do a performance for them. You know, with gloves?” He asks, and I look at him, not really getting it. “You humans paint faces on socks, but we don’t wear socks, so, we use gloves instead.”
I imagine a sock puppet, that is a glove instead, and I have to giggle. If there was anything that would pass off as an alien, then a puppet with five eyes would be it.
“We put the face on the palm,” he tells me, probably guessing what I thought about. “I think I have a puppet here, somewhere.”
He slithers around the room, and then opens the wardrobe. His clothes are hanging inside of it, but there are drawers in the bottom. He holds up a pair of gloves up after a while, and then puts everything he has taken out back inside the drawers.
“This is it,” he says, and comes to me. He hands me the gloves, and I notice that they indeed have the face right where the palm is. Two buttons for eyes, red stitching, for the lips, with two sticks as fangs, coming out of the two ends of the mouth.
“You have fangs,” I ask, and he opens his mouth.
“They are not as big as it is depicted on the puppet, but they are here,” he tells me. I can see that his canines are bigger than my own. So, I blurt out the next thing that comes to my mind.
“So, do you have poison sacks,” I ask. He closes his mouth with a snap.
“What?” He asks me, outraged. I am quick to clarify.
“Snakes on Earth have fangs, to make better use of their poison sacks. I just thought, that, seeing as you are half-snake,” I say, and he bursts out laughing.
“Just messing with you. Oh, don’t be like that. Your potion is turning blue. That means you are sad,” Constantine says, and I look at my potion with a panic. Instead of blue, it is now shining white.
“What does white mean?” I ask, and Constantine chuckles again.
“Embarrassment,” he tells me, and then the timer beeps. My potion is orange, with yellow bubbles, and a white glow. Hm, now I only need to get Constantine to drink it. Serves him right, for teasing me.
Chapter 14:
Bottling emotions for the first time
Daniel:
After the dinner, Constantine takes me to his room, and prepares the emotion extraction set. I have so many questions. From what is the solvent made? On what does the headset run? Why is the headset in the shape of headphones? Shouldn’t I have stickers on my forehead? Yet, I don’t ask any of these questions.
Constantine is smiling softly, and I have the urge to demand that he puts on the headset, so I can take a sip from one of his love potions. I am forty, and have been in and out of love before. So, when I took the first sip from the orange potion, with its red bubbles, I knew the feeling. It felt like a first crush. Giddy one, and desperate. Something that will keep you up at night, and live in your fantasies.
“I’ll leave you now,” Constantine says. I reach out, and take a hold of his arm.
“No, stay. Let us talk. I want you to see what I really think about, when I am in your company,” I say because my pride is tickled that a supernatural being, for there is no way that I will think of Tine as ordinary, has a crush on me.
Considering that I haven’t been in a relationship in the past fifteen years, it is safe to say, that I will fan the flames of that crush, until Tine burns up with love.
Even then, he probably won’t be able to name his feeling.
I giggle at my own thoughts, and the potion begins to color orange.
“Orange was for happiness, right?” I ask, to start a conversation.
“Yes, it is. Have you ever heard about the joke of the three Pegasuses, and the broken-down shuttle?” He asks, and I shake my head.
“No. Up to a couple of hours ago, I thought that Pegasuses lived only in myths,” I tell him, and he gets a mischievous look on his face.
“Ok, here goes. Three Pegasuses made fun of a fourth. So, the lame Pegasus went, and fixed up a shuttle. Then, just as the three Pegasuses were about to race in the morning, as was their habit, the fourth Pegasus came and outraced them with the shuttle. Do you know what the three Pegasuses said?” Constantine asks me. I tilt my head to the side.
“Why did you turn us this crispy?” I suggest, and he chuckles.
“You know, this one makes more sense than the original joke,” he says, and then turns on his laptop. In a couple of minutes, he has some techno music playing in the background.
“So, this is what you do all day? You have fun, and bottle your fun?” I ask, and he nods energetically.
“Not everyone can relax to the point where the headset is effective enough to get a reading on their mood. Some people just can’t do it. All children can, though. There is this kid, to whom I promised that I will bring a set so that he can send his emotions to his father,” there is a wistful look in Constantine’s face at that.
“You like children a lot, don’t you?” I ask, and he nods.
“They are so tiny. But they are very complex too, you know? Beth, for instance, has this thing called Picture tax, that she makes me pay. She has her pride, and I can respect that. Doesn’t stop me from taking as many pictures, as I have chocolate coins for,” he says, and I chuckle.
“You should take me to see the little acorn again. And this boy to whom you made the promise to,” I am feeling hopeful, and see, from the corner of my eye, that the potion is coloring a slight beige. He sees that too, and nods. I am certain that he knows what it means, and I can guess myself.
“They will love a second babysitter. Perhaps we can do a performance for them. You know, with gloves?” He asks, and I look at him, not really getting it. “You humans paint faces on socks, but we don’t wear socks, so, we use gloves instead.”
I imagine a sock puppet, that is a glove instead, and I have to giggle. If there was anything that would pass off as an alien, then a puppet with five eyes would be it.
“We put the face on the palm,” he tells me, probably guessing what I thought about. “I think I have a puppet here, somewhere.”
He slithers around the room, and then opens the wardrobe. His clothes are hanging inside of it, but there are drawers in the bottom. He holds up a pair of gloves up after a while, and then puts everything he has taken out back inside the drawers.
“This is it,” he says, and comes to me. He hands me the gloves, and I notice that they indeed have the face right where the palm is. Two buttons for eyes, red stitching, for the lips, with two sticks as fangs, coming out of the two ends of the mouth.
“You have fangs,” I ask, and he opens his mouth.
“They are not as big as it is depicted on the puppet, but they are here,” he tells me. I can see that his canines are bigger than my own. So, I blurt out the next thing that comes to my mind.
“So, do you have poison sacks,” I ask. He closes his mouth with a snap.
“What?” He asks me, outraged. I am quick to clarify.
“Snakes on Earth have fangs, to make better use of their poison sacks. I just thought, that, seeing as you are half-snake,” I say, and he bursts out laughing.
“Just messing with you. Oh, don’t be like that. Your potion is turning blue. That means you are sad,” Constantine says, and I look at my potion with a panic. Instead of blue, it is now shining white.
“What does white mean?” I ask, and Constantine chuckles again.
“Embarrassment,” he tells me, and then the timer beeps. My potion is orange, with yellow bubbles, and a white glow. Hm, now I only need to get Constantine to drink it. Serves him right, for teasing me.
