Free Monstrous Races by K. Jewell

They didn’t get their clothes back either. Appearances can be deceptive,’ he whispered.
    The room was larger than it had seemed from the outside, with tall mirrors standing all around it. A huge window flooded the room with light at the back of the shop, and a gorgades wearing a flowered purple dress sat hunched o ver some material, peering and cutting it with large scissors. H er white tightly-curled hair was flecked with streaks of lilac and purple in places , and her face relaxed into an open grin as she saw him .
    ‘Rufus! Maud, it’s Rufus, Max’s boy. What a wonderful surprise. Let me look at you.’ She sprinted around the table and ran up to him, her arms open. ‘Such a handsome dog-head, just like his Father. Come here!’ She grabbed him with both arms and kissed him on the muzzle, standing on tip -toes to reach. ‘Maud!’ she hollered.
    Maud appeared behind a curtain, a pin placed precariously in her mouth. She was a great-dane doghead , and her tall thin body was covered in a green woollen suit . ‘Rufus!’ she cried, spitting out the pin. ‘Oh blast! My dear girl, do you mind...?’
    ‘Of course,’ said Elli, searching for the dropped pin.
    ‘I’ll just finish with this gentleman and I’ll be right with you,’ she said, pointing to the curtain. ‘How lovely to see you Rufus!’
    ‘Would you both care for some refreshments my dears, while we wait? Then you can tell me all about your adventures Rufus. And you Miss, I take it you’re a friend of his?’
    ‘Oh yes, he’s actually my guardian,’ said Elli. Effi’s smile froze and she looked up at Rufus. At the same time Elli heard a number of pins fall to the ground from the direction of the curtain and a muffled apology from Maud. With a slight shake of her head Effi walked towards the back of the shop and disappeared upstairs, returning a little later with scones and jam all juddering on a tray.
    ‘I’ve left the spiced tea upstairs Rufus,’ she said. ‘Be a dear and collect it would you?’ He ran up and she placed the tray on a trolley by the window, handing Elli a scone smeared with crimson jam. ‘Now my girl,’ she said , peering at her through tight white curls . ‘What’s he been up to this time?’
    ‘Oh , he’s not in trouble,’ she answered. ‘I mean it’s not his...fault. He was a model citizen,’ she added hopefully.
    ‘I knew he would be,’ said Effi, raising her scone to her mouth. ‘Didn’t I say it would be the making of him Maud?’ A muffled affirmative noise from behind the curtain was her response. Elli listened as Rufus walked slowly down the stairs carrying a pot of spiced tea. ‘We worried for a while didn’t we Maud, oh yes. Sit down, Rufus, have some cake.' He carefully carried the tray towards them, smiling broadly and licking his lips. There was a murmuring from behind the curtain. ‘Yes, I’ve saved some for you,' said Effi.
    The curtain was quickly pulled aside and a young man walked out, his suit perfectly cut to fit him and accentuate his broad physique. He was tall with twinkling blue eyes and he smiled across at Elli. She smiled back, her mouth full of scone.
     
    Later that afternoon Elli and Rufus walked along Cheese Alley, both swinging large sacks filled with clothes. Rufus wore his new hard-wearing trousers, and stopped now and again to pull at them.
    ‘Well you did insist that you hadn’t put on any weight Rufus,’ she said. ‘They’re bound to be a bit...er, tight.’
    ‘That’s the fashion,’ he insisted, stopping to admire himself in the reflection of a window.  ‘I’ve just got to wear them in, that’s all. How about the hat though, hey? And the collar? This tag is gold-plated you know.’
    ‘These shoes are a bit uncomfortable,’ she muttered. ‘I’ve never had any from new before.’
    ‘And you still haven’t,’ he replied, pulling his hat down at a jaunty angle over his eyes. ‘Everything in there is reconditioned. All belonged to somebody else once. They