17 comments

American Urban Fantasy Fiction

I look at the fluffy monster, crouched in the corner of the room.

            “Why? Billie?” I ask my wife. “Why do we need another cat?” Its tail flicks as it watches me, as if it knows I’m threatening to send it back to the streets.

            “In case Genzo gets lonely when we’re out.” She knows I’m annoyed so she’s doing the puss in boots eyes and hiding behind our adorable baby daughter.

            “Where is the ginger tom formerly known as Toby?” I ask Billie, formerly Billie Watanabe. She frowns, long bored of me moaning that she changed our cat’s name.

            “He’s in the bedroom, I’m going to give them a few days to get to know each other’s scent before they meet.”

            My mental cogs turn slowly. “So he’s confined to an even smaller bit of the apartment for the next few days?” Another cog clicks into place. “Does that mean he’s got a litter tray in there? It’s going to stink.” My voice has risen enough that baby Tina is looking around with wide eyes. “Sorry, cutie pie. Daddy didn’t mean to scare you.”

            “We have three children now, Xander. You’ll have to get used to it.” Billie is past acting cute. She’s playing boss. The performance is convincing. I wear the trousers, but she bought them.

            “I was only gone for nine hours,” I say to Tina. She smiles, dribbling from the right side of her mouth. “She drools a lot now, didn’t used to.”

            “I think she’s started teething.” Billie rubs Tina’s cheek, provoking a smile that could melt a heart frozen to zero degrees Kelvin.

            “Ah. So we can kiss the good nights of sleep we’ve had so far goodbye.”

            “I’m up at four in the morning every night while you snore, Xander. It wont change that much for me.”

            “You sleep like a baby though.” I look at Tina, who headbutts me. “You fall asleep faster than this baby.”

            “My superpower.” Billie smiles, thoughts of our adorable baby are lost. My eyes soak up her beautiful brown eyes, full lips and bright white teeth. They sink down her neck and-

            “Hey, Xander. My eyes are up here.” She points to them with two fingers. Her dimple forms as she smiles. The smile becomes concern. “Did you manage to do anything about Kenny?” She means the manager at my work who forced himself on one of my colleagues.

            “I did, surprisingly simple when I worked it out. I pretended I’m the same sort of pond scum he is. Basically said I knew what he did to Carol, and he admitted it. He started bragging about it. I recorded the whole conversation. I edited out my bits during my lunch break. I met him again at the end of the day and borrowed his work phone for a minute. I sent the recording to anyone with the power to fire him and then wiped his memory of both conversations. Kenny should be fired by now, hopefully.”

            “Devious,” says Billie with raised eyebrows.

            “Thank you,” I reply. Tina starts fussing. “Sorry. Not getting enough attention?” I stroke the impossibly soft skin of her cheek. She grabs my finger in her mouth. Technically she doesn’t have teeth but the ridges in her gums where they’re going to come through start crushing my finger.

            “She’s teething.”

            “No. That’s for real.” I withdraw my aching digit from Tina. Wailing is her instant response. “How about your binkie?” I look around the room desperately for her pacifier.

            “What’s for dinner tonight?” Billie asks. It’s my night to cook. She summons a binkie from nowhere and pops it into Tina’s mouth with a silly face that makes our baby smile.

            “Takeout.”

            “My favourite. Not that you’re a bad chef.” She winks.

            “Just that every takeout you’ve ever been to makes better food.”

            “Not all of them, I’ve had food poisoning worse than the stuff you gave me with those fajitas.”

            “I apologised for that.”

            “It is forgiven. It can never be forgotten.” She raises the eyebrows to show me she’s serious.

            “What’s the master of the takeout menu whisking up tonight then?” Billie takes back our bundle of joy and starts ushering me towards the door.

            “Burritos, nothing but the best for you, my love.” I wink.

            Tina smiles, eyes glittering as her mother kisses her nose. “Daddy might tell you one day that I married him because he’s smooth. If he does, he’s lying.” She turns to me. “If he really wants to win my affection. He can scratch my back before he goes.” Billy turns around. Once her long glossy hair hung down to the base of her shoulders, but she had it cut short before the birth. I miss her long hair.

            I scratch her lower back where she usually asks. “There?”

            “Higher,” she says. My fingernails work their way up to the middle of her back. “Higher.” I ignore the area hidden by her bra strap and scratch below her shoulders. “Lower.” Nudging the strap up with my fingers I scratch. Billie starts making noises other people would think are sexual, but when she does, you almost need your fingers in your ears.

            “So much better. Thank you. Now go and get yummy food. I’ll feed our princess.”

            “Bye Tina,” I say.

            Billie tries to wave Tina’s tiny hand, but our baby isn’t having that. Unlike the new cat, nobody puts her in the corner.


            I return less than an hour later to find them both asleep together on the sofa. Billie’s porridge sucking snoring is coupled by the synchronised whistle of Tina inhaling and exhaling. They’re too cute to wake. I eat my burrito and then waft the scent of the other towards my adorable pair.

            Billie’s eyes flicker open. Tina starts to suck the air as if she’s feeding. “Dinner time?” asks the mother, yawning.

            I nod and take the baby from her. She opens her light brown eyes for a moment then flops down into my chest unconscious. “My turn,” I say.

            We swap. I lie down on the sofa with my baby on top of me. Billie scoffs down her food as I run a finger through the soft hair on the back of Tina’s head. My eyes are heavy. She’s warm and I can feel the needy love between us both. I secure her in place with a blanket tucked under my legs.

            I sleep.

            We sleep.

October 26, 2022 10:36

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17 comments

KarLynn Erickson
14:56 Nov 03, 2022

Interesting story. I gather from the other comments there are more stories. I will have to go find them. Nice dialog between the characters.

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Graham Kinross
21:02 Nov 03, 2022

Thank you.

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Annalisa D.
19:05 Oct 27, 2022

I'm glad to hear what happened to Kenny and see the resolution to the other part. I was wondering what he might do. This story is really nice. Lots of very sweet moments and great details.

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Graham Kinross
20:43 Oct 27, 2022

I needed a way for Xander to barely use his powers because he’s trying to avoid police attention, knowing that they’re investigating him. I probably need to make that obvious in another story later. Thank you for reading.

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Annalisa D.
18:09 Oct 28, 2022

Oh that is interesting. You did mention something in the first one about him being careful not to use his powers anymore but I don't think it explained why or anything

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Graham Kinross
19:27 Oct 28, 2022

The police are still meant to be investigating him. The officer who protected him was fired but the case is still active so he needs to keep his head down. I want to talk about that in another story. Just had an idea for it.

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Mary Lehnert
19:41 Oct 26, 2022

Adorable mental pics of a besotted Dad. So Kenny gets his comuppance. YES! Love that you write of intimacy so naturally. Another winner

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Graham Kinross
21:09 Oct 26, 2022

Thank you.

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AnneMarie Miles
15:22 Oct 26, 2022

Romantic. Ordinary moments with the people we love make the best stories. By isolating this moment, you've emphasized its intimacy, and those last two sentences really make it feel a bit like poetry. Warm, cozy feelings after this one, especially after reading a lot of spooky approaches to this week's prompts.

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Graham Kinross
18:50 Oct 26, 2022

Thank you, mostly writing from life with this story. My own little girl is a big source of inspiration.

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AnneMarie Miles
19:29 Oct 26, 2022

I thought so, it seemed very authentic. It was an easy, feel-good read.

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Graham Kinross
21:10 Oct 26, 2022

Thank you.

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Mike Panasitti
01:40 Dec 01, 2022

Nice change of pace for Xander. Domestic comforts as opposed to the stressors of vigilantism. I agree that your depictions of familial bliss are accurate and heartfelt.

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Graham Kinross
01:53 Dec 01, 2022

It’s all too easy to write that lighter side of it and forget what should be in the background of his life, the stress and the responsibility he has because of his ability.

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Mike Panasitti
04:43 Dec 01, 2022

You balance both sides rather well.

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Graham Kinross
05:03 Dec 01, 2022

He had nothing but the vigilante life to begin with so the character needed more substance. Having Billie and Tina has helped me use my own life experience to fill him out.

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Graham Kinross
04:49 Oct 30, 2022

The next story in this series is uploaded now. Thanks for reading this. If you want to keep going, you can use the link below. https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story/z1v671/

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