Free When Aliens Weep by J. K. Accinni Page B

she’d gone too far.
    The unyielding shoulders moved. Bonnie turned her body back to face Kenya and sat up. Her face was blotchy and sallow, her hair hanging in clumps. She reached over to the nightstand and calmly raised a glass of water to her chalky lips. She set the glass down after a long drink and folded her arms back under the yellow and red striped bedcovers; more of Dezi’s misguided efforts to cheer her up.
    “I know what you’re trying to do, Kenya, and it won’t work. You can say what you want but I’m just not going.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I know Peter is trying to find his way back to me. I need to be here when he arrives. He might not understand that we’re even here . I think you can all do without me at the memorial service. I’ve made my peace with the loss of my mother. I was damned lucky to have her as long as I did. She was where she wanted to be. With Clyde. Now, please . . . don’t even think about making me sit through a lot of sanctimonious garbage about my dead husband when he’s not dead.”
    Kenya ran her hands through her chaotic curly auburn mop and kept her expression neutral as she rose. Striking back now would serve no one and destroy any headway she may have made.
    “Well . . . if you change your mind . . .” she said stiffly and turned to leave.
    “I won’t,” Bonnie called from her bed. “As a matter of fact, I’ll be waiting at the portal. You were right about one thing. It’s time I got out of bed and tried to get someone interested in helping me find Peter. If we’re lucky, maybe Ginger Mae will turn up too.”
    Kenya stood at the door, trying to suppress her shock.
    “You better wait until Netty gets back from the service. You can’t just go wandering off by yourself. It’s too dangerous.”
    Bonnie slipped from bed to yank on clothes that were already three days old and about as fresh as a tuna left in the noonday sun for twenty four hours. Her eyes glittered, feverish and mad.
    “I’ll be fine. I just need to find Tobi.”
    “Tobi? What in the world do you need Tobi for? You leave her alone. She has enough problems without you distracting her. We must have a least a dozen calves ready to be born.” She put her hands to her hips in anger, all thought of Bonnie’s tender sensibilities gone as her fear for Tobi’s safety, so deeply ingrained over the decades, left her bristling.
    Bonnie brushed past her looking like a demented slip of a ghost. Not a word was said as she focused on her destination and left Kenya behind.
    The stunning new mom yanked on her hair in consternation. I need Kane. Better yet . . . Baby or Echo . She turned quickly on her heels and out of the survivors’ quarters, her shapely caramel-cream legs flashing as she beat a hasty retreat to find Kane in the nursery.
    ***
    Bonnie sat in the grass with Tobi, both pensive and yet each feeling better for the support of her best friend. They had been through so much together over the decades. They sat in front of the opening of a sphere that Bonnie had identified as the one from where she’d emerged before the Earth exploded. On her lap lay the Bible she’d swiped from Dezi’s room before leaving the survivors’ quarters. She’d been surprised to see it there, wondering why it hadn’t been taken for the use during the service.
    What difference does the damned book make, anyway? It’s just full of lies told to cover the truth. But in her heart, she knew the words could still give comfort and that’s exactly what she needed now.
    It hadn’t been easy. First she’d had to find Tobi. Emerging from the Oolahan fortress, she had scanned the grassy horizon, seeing not a soul. The brightness of the alien sun beat down unmercifully, causing her to close her eyes in a tight squint, a headache writhing like a dervish in her heavy head. She swiped at the filthy hair that hung in her eyes. Maybe I should have eaten something. A dizzy spell caught her off balance.
    In the distance, she