Page 11 of Thalen

“So, you’re gay? And have a kid?”

“Yes, gay people can have children too.”

“Didn’t your teacher ever read you the story about Tango?” Jason asked, looking scandalized. “Even penguins can be gay, and they hatch eggs and raise the baby penguins! Lots of other animals too.”

“Sorry,” the man mumbled, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to offend. You’re the first gay guy I’ve ever met with a kid. I’m actually new to this, and already I’m meeting a whole lot of different people who are teaching me more about life.”

“That’s okay,” I replied, forgiving him as I realized his question had been born out of a genuine curiosity and not anything sinister. I also gave him a big, fat tip when he dropped us off minutes later.

“Dad, we’re here,” Jason said, knocking me out of my half dozing reverie where I’d relived part of yesterday evening.

“Oh!” I cleared my throat, then got out of the car and paid our driver.

“Hi, I’m Evan Morales and this is my son Jason,” I said to the receptionist inside the ASPCA shelter. “We’d like to see about adopting a cat and a dog.”

“Do you own your own home or have landlord or HOA approval to have a pet?” she asked.

“We’re moving to a colony!” Jason proudly informed her. “We’re gonna have a farm!”

Her face brightened. “Really?”

“Show her the thing on your phone, Dad.”

I showed her the appointment confirmation, which read, “Dragonii colony application approved.”

I frowned down at that, suddenly knowing why my brain had kicked up that memory. It was as I’d told the driver - you had to undergo a thorough vetting before getting approval to apply, but somehow, I’d been allowed to skip that step. Then it hit me - I’d passed the rigorous checks required by the state to foster to adopt, so they already knew I was of good character and dependable.

“Well, if you’re having a farm, would you be interested in some cats that would make great barn cats? We have some semi-feral cats and a few ferals who have already been neutered and spayed and given all their shots, which we are trying to find homes for on farms and in warehouses and such. They’re great at catching vermin but would not make a great housepet.”

I didn’t know which colony world I’d get assigned a parcel on, and out of the three, two of them were natural worlds which did indeed have critters awfully similar to mice on them, unlike New Haven, which apparently some ancient species had terraformed and left unpopulated except for plants eons ago.

“Can we, Dad?” Jason asked, looking at me pleadingly. “We can be their new home.”

“Um, sure, let’s take a look at them,” I agreed.

There were five of them and we ended up agreeing to take them all. I simply couldn’t break the group up, as they were all lounging together on an enormous cat tree, with one of them sitting on the base.

“And you wanted a house cat as well, so those are through here. We have some whose adoption fees are waived due to age.”

“You get elderly cats?” The thought of some poor senior cat spending its time in a shelter hoping for a new home gutted me.

The worker knew a sucker when she saw one, so quickly pointed out a bonded pair of cats that were eight years old. “Tim and Tam,” she said, as Tam poked her paw out to reach for Jason.

Which, of course, was all I thought I needed to see until a gorgeous tortoiseshell reached both her paws out at me and said, “Brrp!”

“Why are these ones in cages?” Jason asked. “The others had a room.”

“Their room is being cleaned,” she explained. “The volunteer who does that was a little late this morning, so it isn’t ready yet.”

“Do Tim and Tam get along with other cats?”

She smiled knowingly, taking the tortie out of her cage and placing her in my arms.

“They sure do, and Eloise here does too.”

Eloise was much larger than I’d thought.

“How old is she?”