Microsoft Word - Talkers_Redemption_Lane.docx

Christmas party, although Lyndie’s idea, had seemed
    perfect. It meant they would be with family, and now Talker was
    starting to see why that mattered.
    He would have been lost without his family in the last few
    weeks, and if he had been lost, Brian wouldn’t have had anybody to
    come home to.
    He shook off the deep thoughts and reached his hand into the
    cage gingerly. “She’s been sort of tense,” he explained to Brian.
    “She actually bit me the first time I picked her up, but we’ve been
    spending some time and she’s sort of relaxing.” Granted, it had
    been a distracted time, but the night before, after Jed had dropped
    him off from work, Tate had simply sat and watched television with
    the rat on his lap, until the poor thing had curled up and gone to
    sleep in the front pocket of his sweatshirt.
    “But there she is!” He picked up the animal, and made little “ft-
    ft-ft” sounds while touching noses with it, and then he gave it to
    Brian, who lifted her from the middle and started examining her like
    a doctor.
    “Uhm, Talker?”
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    “Yeah?” Tate kicked off his shoes and went to sit on the bed
    next to Brian’s good arm, so he didn’t bump the bad one. Brian was
    busy looking at the rat with something like fierce concentration.
    “This isn’t Sunshine.”
    Tate was so surprised he almost missed the edge of the bed.
    “What do you mean it’s not Sunshine! That’s our rat!”
    Brian laughed a little, and looked down on the little creature
    sadly and shook his head. “This may be our rat now, but this rat is
    not Sunshine!” And with that he turned the critter’s back end toward
    Tate and Tate almost fell off the bed again.
    “Bwaaaa! Holy God, are those balls? They’re a third its body
    weight!” Tate took the rat from Brian and turned the animal around.
    The markings on the little head were very very similar to the rat he’d
    thought had been in the brand new little rat-castle that Craig had
    made for it. “How did I miss that?”
    Brian took the rat and put it on his chest, and then wrapped his
    arm around Tate’s shoulders and drew him in for a snuggle. “I think
    you were distracted at the time. What do you think happened to
    Sunshine?”
    Talker thought about it, and winced, feeling sad and guilty and
    awful all at once. “The night you got hurt,” he said, thinking. “It was
    really cold, and power was going out all over the city, and I told
    Craig to go check on her and to get me some clothes. He… it
    seemed to take him forever. I didn’t get to change until….” Hell, he’d
    been sedated for nearly twelve hours. He hadn’t even been sure
    what day it was. “Until after you woke up from surgery,” he finished.
    Brian knew—Brian had known when they’d woken up in adjoining
    beds. But who wanted to remind a lover that you were weak and
    sad, and dissolved like a wet breath mint when things got bad?
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    “Aw…,” Brian murmured, coming to the same conclusion. “The
    power must have gone out—she must have….”
    The new rat bumped his chin and he petted it. Talker added a
    finger to the little cone-shaped muzzle and together they got to
    know this new development.
    “Awww…,” they said together, petting New Rat sadly.
    “But why didn’t they tell us?” Talker asked, bemused. “I mean…
    you know, shit was going down and all, but, damn! Did they think
    we wouldn’t notice?”
    He looked up to find Brian’s eyes intent on his face. “I think
    they figured we’d see the truth when we were ready to,” he said
    softly, and Talker swallowed hard.
    “I think that’s pretty wise of them,” he answered, but it didn’t
    seem to be enough, and the hand petting New Rat, the disfigured,
    scarred one, was suddenly shaking hard enough to blur. Brian’s
    good hand, the one not in the sling, cupped over it. They wove their
    fingers together, and Talker spoke to their clasped hands.
    “Brian, I was raped,” he said. His voice was soft, but it was his
    voice.
    “Baby, I know.”
    “I went on a date, and I ended it, and Trevor Gaines raped me,
    and... and I’m so sorry. Jesus, Brian… if I’d… you know, sacced up,
    done something, pressed charges, gone public… anything but…
    just crumbling and making you take Trevor out when I didn’t even
    notice….”
    Brian’s hand tightened on his. “It’s not your fault, baby,” he said
    roughly. “I took that fucker