Free Accidental Creatures by Anne Harris

and started holding her cards in them.
    It felt like something that was wrapped very tightly around her heart was starting to unwind. She couldn’t help it, she kept staring at Chango’s eyes, one blue, one green. They were the visible proof. She wasn’t alone.
    She liked Hector, she’d been grateful to him, but she’d never felt this comfortable with him. There’d always been some unbreachable distance between them. Each knew the other was different, and somehow she’d always felt he was watching her from the other side of a polyglass window. Chango discarded the eight of clubs. Helix picked it up with her upper right hand, and lay down the rest of the set with her upper left. She looked to see Chango looking, and their eyes met, and they smiled at each other.
    “You’ve got five hands,” said Chango. Helix looked down at the cards she held and laughed, which made her wince.
    Chango stepped out into the cool night air, her ancient jean jacket clammy against the gooseflesh on her arms. Helix had gone to sleep, and she was restless. She left the Chevy where it was, parked by the curb in front of the house, and walked to Josa’s.
    Hyper and Magoo and Pele were hanging around outside the bar. “Hey, what’s going on?” she said, joining them.
    “Not much,” said Hyper, “same old, same old.”
    “Hey, I heard you’ve got a houseguest over at Mavi’s,” said Pele.
    “Yeah,” Chango glared at Hyper, who shot Pele a look.
    “She’s got four arms,” continued Pele, oblivious or more likely, unconcerned. “Is she cute?”
    “Yeah,” Chango admitted, “she’s fucking gorgeous.”
    “Oh, so it wasn’t pure altruism, eh?” said Magoo.
    “I saw her, she needed help, I helped. Why is everyone trying to twist this around into some sort of bizarre pickup scenario?” she protested.
    “Well, you did follow her,” said Hyper.
    “Oh, oh thanks a lot, buddy.”
    “You followed her?” said Magoo. “I didn’t know that. It doesn’t look good for you, Chango.”
    “Screw you, pink boy.”
    “Not lately,” he said loftily.
    “Oh, girl,” Pele told him.
    “Anyway, you guys have to meet her. You know, she’s never met any other sports before.”
    “Really?” said Pele.
    “Well, think about it, she was in this orphanage, where she was the only sport there, and then she got adopted,” she looked at Hyper, “by this guy that works for GeneSys. She hasn’t been out of the Fisher Building for ten years.”
    “Ouch, maybe getting knifed in an alley was a good thing for her,” said Magoo.
    “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but at least now she’ll get to know some of her own people.”
    It was only ten, but Josa’s was already crowded with divers off shift for their weekend. The four of them snaked their way through the crowd to the bar. It was still Josa back there, pouring and polishing as she had for the past twenty years.
    Chango leaned over the bar with a mylar bill rolled up in her hand. “Josa, a round for me and my friends here, draft.”
    Josa cast one jaundiced eye in her direction, took the bill and grunted when she unrolled it. “Four drafts,”
    she said briskly, and went off to pour them.
    “Oh look,” said Pele, “There’s Monkey with Oli, I heard he took Jan’s mother’s china with him when he left.”
    “Yeah but that was after Jan threw his couch out of the window of their third floor apartment.”
    Hyper laughed, “Coral told me she saw it go down. Jan had been screaming all morning about throwing that couch out of the window, so by the time it finally happened, there was a little crowd outside, waiting. Can you imagine? That lime green velour atrocity tumbling through the air and then splat, like a huge upholstered bug.”
    “That’s entertainment,” said Magoo.
    Chango spotted a lean figure with short dark hair and sideburns come in the door. “Hey, Benny!” she shouted, waving him over.
    “Hey, what’s going on?” said Benny slapping her on the shoulder, “I