Handsome & Egret

Chapter 3

Handsome tried his best not to flinch. This wasn't how his ability worked. What he tasted was connected to himself, revealing how his own day would go, but he couldn't taste the day for Boss or for anyone else. The people closest to him did affect what his taste buds picked up on, sure. But Handsome wasn't close to Boss and never would be. He'd never taste how the day would go for that man, though he did imagine his demise would make for quite the broccoli day.

"Today's a stale cereal day."

Boss squinted. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means it's okay. Not good or bad, just... normal."

He paused, then said, "All right." He handed Egret a sack to put her scavenged medical waste in. Handsome hated that she would be in there all by herself. There could be dangerous people guarding it, or rabid dogs perhaps.

"I don't want to go without Handsome!" Egret could no longer contain her frustration at the situation.

"Can you pull him up over that fence with you?"

She lowered her head, shook it. No.

"Well then, your brother stays with me. The faster you do your job, the sooner you'll see him again." He flipped his hand at her. "There you go. Up and over."

Handsome tried to encourage her with a smile and nod. Boss had a heat behind his speech. Even the calmest of words could contain a threat; they didn't dare argue with him. After a short pause, Egret did as she was told, face scrunching up before taking flight, her tattered yellow sun dress flittering about as she rose above the fence line. Soon she had disappeared behind it.

Handsome tapped on the outside. "Egret, are you okay?"

A tiny voice. "Yes?"

"Remember not to stay longer than you can float for or you won't be able to get back over the fence."

"She'll be fine." Boss grabbed his arm. "Lev will stay here and bring her back when she's finished. Let's go."

Before long, Handsome found himself back at Boss' house, where he was shut into an upstairs room. He sat on a bed and tried not to think of why the room would taste of burnt rubber. A few hours later, an old woman wearing a white apron streaked with grease stains came in and deposited a tray of food at the foot of the bed. She refused to speak to him, her wrinkled face set hard, like she was used to delivering provisions to the children Boss locked up. Did it most every day, so what's it to her?

Handsome tried to ignore the food, but the smell was almost as heavenly as the taste on his tongue. Vegetable soup—a whole bowl, warm bread dripping with butter. An entire glass of milk. Not sour days milk. Whole, fresh milk. He dipped a piece of bread in the soup and took a bite, eyes rolling into the back of his head. This would have been a broccoli day had he not been keenly aware that his sister was being forced to pick through hypodermic needles and the soiled garb of diseased hospital patients.

He ate like the starved boy that he was, but stopped himself when half of everything had been consumed. Egret would need to eat too. The rest was for her.

When she returned in late afternoon, she was followed into the burnt rubber room by the muscly man and the grease-stained woman, who carried a second tray of food. Egret rushed to Handsome's side while the woman eyed Handsome's half-eaten lunch. "Wasn't good enough for you, then?"

Taken aback, Handsome could barely form the words that were in his head. "It was the best food I've ever tasted. That's why I wanted to share it with my sister."