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"Hey, baby..."

"Handyman" -- Del Shannon

Even Krinan girls want to have fun, and I had fun with some of them. I guess I was just exotic enough to appeal to the ladies. As always, I made sure they knew it was just for fun... no possibility of a relationship. I got looks from a few guys too, but I had no idea how homosexuality was regarded on Krina, and I didn’t feel like finding out in person.

Star and Vai and I had indulged in a couple of three-ways since I’d arrived on Krina, which was nice - though not as nice as that one time alone with Star. Still, it showed that Vai and I had made peace, which was good for my relationship with Star and the kids.

As far as I could tell, there wasn’t much to do on Krina. No one surfed, even though they had plenty of beaches - the waves were either minute toe-ticklers or far too murderous, depending on the positions of the moons. Krinans seemed to be on the whole a peaceful race. They had no destructive hobbies like stock-car racing or football and sat around a lot in their free time drinking strange tasting wine and discussing textiles and container gardening.

The exceptions were the rebels who had fought against the off-world invasion that Star and his Legion Guards had helped quash. Vaira knew many of them - had fought alongside them, I guessed. When her former mates visited the house where we were staying, they all had one thing in common - the usual Krinan pastimes seemed to bore them as much as they did me. There was a restlessness in these characters that made me think the only thing that would make them happy would be to find another war and jump into it feet first with guns blazing.

The most frequent visitor from that group of rebels was a man named Keelyan Krees. He was rather tall, not heavy but still broad through the shoulders, with over-large hands. His hair was a fiery red, including the masses of curls that poked out of his shirt at the collar and the fuzz that covered every exposed inch of his arms. He had one prominent scar that ran down his cheek from eye corner to neck - a souvenir, he said. He seemed rather proud of it and bragged that he had others. Vaira always laughed when he said that, sometimes looking over at me and commenting that she doubted I’d ever get to see them.

At first I smiled at the innuendo, but after the third or fourth mention, I just rolled my eyes. I would have hated to burst her bubble, but Keelyan didn’t appeal to me. He had an air of arrogance and always seemed to be looking down his crooked nose at me.

Star, he toadied to - offering to show him around the city or do anything else Star might want. It was phony, and I imagine Star knew it, but he was the ultimate diplomat, always pleasant, and I’m sure Keelyan thought he had Star buffaloed.

I was surprised to find that I actually liked Vai’s father. Ogan Mecosan looked to be in his sixties, but still hale and hearty with a full head of graying blond hair and a thick, solid frame. He visited often and obviously enjoyed the kids. I know he tried not to play favorites, but I could tell that Roca was special to him. The old man’s face just lit up when the chunky toddler sat on his knee and gave his grandpa a hug. Vaira was Ogan’s only child, and I think he had worried the family was going to die out.

I know that Ogan would have liked for Vai and the kids to stay on Krina, but they’d been there a while now, and Star was ready to leave. Personally, I was glad to get Krina’s sand out of my shoes and the sour smell of Krinan cooking out of my nose. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that Vai had invited good old Keelyan to come back to Earth with us, announcing that, because of his red hair, his Earth name would be Kelly McLeish. Damned if the asshole didn’t immediately adopt an Irish brogue.

I hoped maybe Star would drop Vai’s buddy off somewhere along the way, like maybe on the dark side of the moon, but we all arrived safely back on Earth. I planned to leave Vai’s house at once, because I knew Keelyan was going to be a guest there until he got his Earth legs - but I wasn’t quite fast enough.

"Evan," Vai called to me after checking on the kids at their naps, "I’d appreciate it if you showed Keelyan - Kelly around a little. He’s never been to Colorado." This request was accompanied by one of her high-calorie smiles. Shit.

I had bought a car when we moved to the Denver area. I was comfortable jumping myself around, but driving was kind of fun, now I’d gotten back into it. Star didn’t have many neighbors, but me having a car occasionally thwarted questions of, "How’d he get here?" from the few that shared the access road. I was glad to have one now, because I had no desire to jump Mr. Krees anywhere. That would have involved touching him.

It was springtime in Colorado, and everything was new and fresh and green again - a wonderful change from Krina. Kelly threw himself into the passenger seat of my Mustang convertible without opening the door. The leather creaked a protest, and I gave him the evil eye. "Where’d you learn that trick?" I said. I hadn’t seen any convertibles on Krina.

He smiled. "We have television, you know, and I’ve always enjoyed Earth movies." He tilted his head up to the sun and donned a pair of expensive shades he’d had in his shirt pocket.

I shook my head. Great. "Look," I said. "Why don’t I drop you off downtown, at the library maybe, and you can read up on Earth. I’m sure Star can find some way to get you back to his place tonight. You know how to use a phone, right?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Vaira said you were going to take me around. I want to see the sorts of things you do every day. What’s fun in this town?"

Fuck. I grimaced.

He laughed. "Vai tells me you used to act like a homo, but that’s not what the girls back home said. That’s what I want - show me where to find some Earth girls." He turned in the seat and leered like a horny hyena. My apologies to the hyena.

"Girls," I said, starting the Mustang and maneuvering onto the road. "Sure, I know just the place." I headed for the Affair.

I didn’t get a speeding ticket, though I probably deserved one, and made it into Denver in under an hour. There were plenty of girls at the Affair, as well as food and drink and anything else an out-of-town visitor might desire. Kelly was soon very popular - so popular he didn’t notice when I left. At my last sight of him, he had a girl on each arm. Pity he didn’t know they were vampires.

* * *

I kept to myself for the next few days. I stayed away from the Affair and didn’t hear anything from the family until Star asked me to have lunch with him. Vai and the children were coming into town so Suria could have a look at the kids. That set my teeth to grinding; I knew she’d do more than look. But I met them at Suria’s office building anyway. Everyone was gathered in a large glassed-in atrium that protected us from the April showers outside. The area was furnished with all sorts of tropical looking greenery.

To my surprise, Suria greeted me by name, so I decided to be polite. "Nice garden," I said generously.

"What?" she said, looking around as though she’d never seen the place before. "Oh, you mean Ravin’s plants."

I hadn’t seen her husband since we moved. It crossed my mind to wonder if he was Jekyll or Hyde these days. "Ravin’s?"

"Yes," she said, holding out a red lollipop to Roca, who squirmed away from the treat... and her. Suria looked annoyed. "Ravin insists on growing these silly exotics, but as long as he cares for them, I suppose I don’t mind."

I nodded. I had been thinking they were rather pretty.

Just then, a door opened on the other side of the space and a small boy’s face peered out. He might have been around Roca and Racho’s age, and he looked healthy and well-grown, but there was something odd about his hair - it wasn’t gray, exactly, but a mixture of black and white strands that gave that impression as they glistened in the light. Another boy joined him, this one with black hair, and both goggled at us as though they’d never seen people before. Then Ravin appeared, pushed the boys behind him, and the door was firmly shut.

I glanced over at Star, wondering if he’d seen what I had, ready to question Suria, but his face was serene, as usual. Perhaps he knew all about the children. I thought the dark-haired boy might be Suria’s son. The other one.... I’d ask Star about them later.

* * *

But I didn’t. I was too disturbed by seeing little Mari and her sister return from Suria’s clutches crying. Kareinon had carried each child into her sanctum - I had a feeling that even as babies they were too much for Suria to control by force. The only thing that made me happy was to see a handful of Suria’s hair clutched in Lana’s little fist and that Suria seemed to have a good start on a black eye. I wondered if she’d gotten what she needed for her "tests" before she was mauled by the girls. I hoped not.

I also hoped that Star didn’t invite me along for Suria’s next testing spree.

* * *

It was now 1980, and I’d missed some concerts I would have liked to attend, the invention of the cell phone and the Cray supercomputer, and the premier of Saturday Night Fever, all of which were undoubtedly more fun than Krina. The times they were a’ changin’ though. I’d been on Earth since the early 1900s, and their technology was growing by leaps and bounds - not that American civilization had reached anywhere near the level of my ex home planet. Even in a big city like Denver, it was only a short drive to the wilderness. I loved to cruise along Clear Creek, stopping as the spirit moved me to admire an outcropping of rock, a leaping mountain goat, or a bed of wildflowers. As I’ve said, on Lecurela, there were no wild animals, and all the plants were in zoos. On Earth, I especially cherished tiny wild incursions in the cities, like a clump of grass that dared to flourish in a crack of concrete. I continued to love Earth, in spite of its imperfections -- or perhaps because of them.

It was as I had feared - Kelly McLeish was now a fixture at Star’s house. Vaira treated him like a buddy, and she never simpered around him, but I still wondered if there was more between them than met my eyes. Just how friendly had they been before Star came along? I knew Vai’s appetites, and she wasn’t getting her jollies with me any more.

But - I decided I probably just had a nasty turn of mind where two people I wasn’t crazy about were concerned. It was none of my business, anyway. Star seemed to think that any friend of Vai’s was a friend of his, so all was well. Still, I had choices about the company I kept, and my dislikes kept me away from Vai’s house more than before. I still made it a point to visit the kids several times a week. Sometimes the only one at home was Kareinon, which was fine with me. He and I had an understanding - we both liked the kids.

* * *

Xintaie was spending time in Denver too, these days. I knew she had some land south of the town, but she had bought a little place in the suburbs as well.

I’d never figured out what her relationship with CD was, exactly. Back when the vampire and my alter-ego were having their fling, it hadn’t seemed to bother her at all, yet I knew she slept with him too and had for years. I brought it up one day, when she and I were having lunch at a little restaurant downtown.

"It’s no mystery, Evan," she said, smiling at me. "I love Phillip, certainly, but we’re not exclusive."

I nodded. "Still, I’ve never seen you with any other men."

She laughed. "Is that a proposal?"

I grinned back. I was surprised to realize it had never occurred to me - making a pass at Xintaie, I mean. I’d talked with her enough to know that her people had very relaxed ideas about sex, so I wasn’t afraid of offending her. And she’d just told me she wasn’t the exclusive property of the Count, so....

I took another, deeper look at her. The day was warm, and she was wearing high-heeled sandals with one of those sundresses she liked - sky blue this time - over her petite but generous curves. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face with some kind of clip, and if she was wearing makeup, I couldn’t tell. Still, her skin was glowing with health and her brown eyes sparkled. I thought I might see a challenge there, and all at once I was up for it.

"It is," I said, giving her a wink.

"I thought you’d never ask," she replied.

We both reached for the check, but I was a fraction faster. In a couple of minutes, I had paid and was installed in the passenger seat of her powder-blue ’69 Ford T-bird.

"A lesser man might be intimidated," I bantered.

"Why? Because I know what I want?"

I chuckled. "I’m flattered."

"I’ve seen you with quite a few women," she said, "and heard stories about others. None of them seemed to have any complaints."

"Guess not," I said modestly.

She giggled.

* * *

I could give details, but if you just imagine great sex, free from any emotional entanglements except friendship, you’ll have the picture. It took us several hours to have enough of each other, and I must say it was time well spent. Besides being knowledgeable and enthusiastic, Xintaie had empathy and a genuine caring for her partner. I know there was a smile on my face when we finally fell back against the pillows of her big bed.

"Well?" she asked, unnecessarily.

"Amazing," I said. "Where did you learn all that?"

She laughed. "My people teach lovemaking."

I turned to look at her. "Like a course in school?"

"Something like that. We think the physical expression of love is very important."

I closed my eyes and leaned back, absolutely relaxed. "Bet you were a good student."

She smiled and rose up to lean over me. "I’m still learning," she said.

I decided I wasn’t quite as sated as I thought.

An hour or so later, we were again relaxing.

"You know that song?" she said dreamily. "By Del Shannon? I think it’s called Handy Man."

I knew the song. I blushed. "Yeah," I said, turning away from her.

She didn’t seem to notice - or maybe she did. "I think the lyrics fit you," she said, a thoughtful note in her voice.

I reviewed the lyrics and then rolled back toward her. "Do you have a broken heart?" I asked quietly.

"Of course not," she countered, giving me a push with both small palms on my side. "But if I did," she added softly, "I bet you could fix it."

I reached out for her, gathered her in with only a token protest on her part. "There’s only one thing about you that needs fixing, beautiful," I said into her hair.

She struggled indignantly for a second, then relaxed. "And what’s that?" she said, a challenge now brightening her voice.

"Your name," I said, letting my fingers find one of the ticklish spots I’d discovered.

She squirmed. "My name!"

"Yep. Xintaie is much too cumbersome a name for a lissome creature such as yourself. I hereby rename you, ‘Zee’."

She continued to struggle against me for another second, then went very still. "I like it," she said finally.

"Good." I gave her a little squeeze. "I will inform our friends."

We laughed together.

* * *

I was very happy to have found a friend such as Zee. But one tiny cloud did cross my mind as I lay there with her. We had so much in common. It would be so perfect if we fell in love. Somehow I knew that would never happen. Zee was right; I did have a lot of women as lovers, and men too.

But - would I ever have someone of my own?