“You came back,” Rosemary said.Her fingertip traced a curve from Corinthia’s lips to Corinthia’s jawline.“You brought the book,” she added, with wonder, punctuating the statement with a soft tap on Corinthia’s chin.
Corinthia, who had broken through the fence of known experiences and was now wandering, mentally, on the other side, nodded.Another shiver passed through her body.“We should—we should get you out of here.Get you some dry things.You must be freezing.”
Corinthia was freezing, too, but hadn’t actually noticed until that moment.Then all the sensations of cold rushed in at once: goosebumps, the heavy wet clothes, the weight in her shoes.
“Come,” Rosemary said, slipping an arm around Corinthia’s waist as if Corinthia was the one who truly needed help.
Belatedly, Corinthia remembered who was supposed to be the rescuer, and put her arm around the smaller woman’s shoulders, and together they walked out of the Ephemeral Pond.
“We should get you home,” Corinthia said, logic beginning to reassert itself.
“I am home,” Rosemary said, giving Corinthia’s waist a little squeeze.Did she mean the Refuge?Of course not—it made no sense.
Corinthia didn’t know what to do, until Rosemary trembled.“Let’s get you inside,” Corinthia said.She collected her bag and the book, and tucked them under one arm, which was not quite as wet as her lower half.Then she wrapped her other arm around Rosemary, for warmth, and so joined they retraced Corinthia’s path toward the library building.
“What were you doing out here so late?”Corinthia asked.
“What wereyoudoing out here so late?”Rosemary countered.
“I wanted to see what it was like,” Corinthia admitted.“After dark.”
Rosemary chuckled.“So you brought a book to read?”
“Alien Space Lesbians, you mean?What else would someone bring to read in the woods by moonlight?”
“Were you bringing it to me?”
This was almost definitely flirtatious, and Corinthia paused to think before pressing ahead with full and pure-hearted honesty.“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Corinthia said.“I just… had a feeling I should go.And I should bring the book.And then there you were, and I accidentally made you fall into a pond.”
“I won’t let you blame yourself, Corinthia.Where’s the fun in that?No, we’ll say that I heard you coming, and I fell in on purpose so you could rescue me.”
Corinthia laughed and shook her head.“No one would fall into the wetland on purpose.”
“I would,” Rosemary said, emphatically.
They walked around to the front of the building, where the closest door was the door to the environmental center.Corinthia was not technically supposed to be in the building after closing, either, but she had the key, the code to the security system, and a drenched woman in a silk pajama set.
Another rule, bent like a cracked book spine.
Corinthia paused before the entrance and took off her soaked shoes, setting them neatly aside.
They entered the museum.The lights were off, but the turtle’s watery habitat was always lit, as were the aquariums for the fish; and the reptiles had lamps with warm yellow lights at all times.The water pumps burbled away in the background as if someone were putting a pot on to boil.
Corinthia hurried to the little gift shop section and hastily pulled down a souvenir t-shirt—I Survived Jay Watch 2024—that looked to be about Rosemary’s size.She turned to look back at Rosemary, who was dripping on the rug just inside the entrance, and realized that a t-shirt only solved half the problem of Rosemary’s wet clothing.
Corinthia went to the desk where Stevie normally sat and pulled open one of the deeper drawers.Stevie always kept a change of clothes in the drawer—a set of stretchy athletic pants and a pair of no-show socks—for when she wanted to take a run in the Refuge after work.“Thank you, Stevie,” Corinthia said briskly, vowing to somehow make up for swiping the stash.“Here,” she said to Rosemary.“You can change into these so you won’t soak your car on the way home.”
Rosemary took the clothes.“You’re very kind.”
“Yes.Well.”Corinthia cleared her throat.“It’s the least I can do.You can go and change down the hall, in the bathroom.”
“All right, Corinthia,” Rosemary said, as if all of it—falling in the pond, the library, the change of clothes—was some sort of delightful game Corinthia had set up for Rosemary’s enjoyment.She moved off, no longer dripping quite as much, but still leaving wet footprints on the vinyl floor.
She had almost made it out of the environmental center and into the hallway when she came upon the taxidermied hawk on its wooden perch.Rosemary stopped, shrieked, and flung the clothing into the air.One of the socks landed on the hawk.“What—why would you—why would anyone—ugh!”Rosemary turned away from it and shuddered deeply.
Corinthia, baffled by her vehemence but more worried about exposure or shock, quickly gathered the flown clothing, carefully plucking the sock from where it rested like a blindfold over the hawk’s glass eyes.“It’s just a display.”
“It’sdead,” Rosemary countered.
