The Library Ghost and Happy "REGARDS": Life Within Parole (Chameleon Moon Short Stories)

By RoAnna Sylver

These two Chameleon Moon short stories will give readers an especially good foundation to enjoy Book 2: The Lifeline Signal. Both come from the collection Life Within Parole.

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• 1. Happy REGARDS - It's Evelyn's birthday, and Danae and Rose are determined to make it absolutely perfect. But like the old rule goes, the harder you aim for perfection, if something can possibly go wrong, it will. And in Parole, 'going wrong' will involve robotic cats and dogs, disaster-prone cakes, hungry carnivorous plants, mysterious "coincidences," and strangely morbid birthday cards with elaborate wax seals. Parole never stops being Parole, even for one day. Fortunately, the people who live there wouldn't have it any other way.

• 2. The Library Ghost - Where the Emerald Bar is Parole's resistance headquarters, if you need a warm bed and a safe haven, you head to the library. There's one problem: people say it's haunted. But like most things in Parole, the truth is both stranger and sweeter than fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RoAnna Sylver
• Release date: Mar 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386004004

RoAnna Sylver

RoAnna Sylver is passionate about stories that give hope, healing and even fun for queer, disabled and other marginalized people, and thinks we need a lot more. Aside from writing oddly optimistic dystopia and vampire books, RoAnna is a blogger, singer, and artist. RoAnna lives with family near Portland OR, and probably spends too much time playing videogames. The next adventure they would like is a nap in a pile of bunnies.

Book preview

1. Happy REGARDS

ONE MONTH BEFORE CHAMELEON MOON...

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It was Evelyn Calliope’s birthday, and for one day everything was almost perfect. It almost seemed like Parole stopped being Parole. Her small house was full even on ordinary days. Full of plants, machines, people, and laughter. And today it was filled with balloons, brightly wrapped presents, and the smell of delicious treats slowly baked to perfection.

The first surprise came a day early, and it wasn’t for Evelyn. Not exactly.

That’s a pretty drawing, honey, Rose said as she sat down beside Jack and his collection of papers and crayons, all in varying shades of red and green. Is that a cake?

Mm-hmm. he nodded, adding another slightly more magenta, pointed shape to the top, completing the circle. He had a faraway look in his eyes that Rose knew well; she’d seen it often enough when Danae started work on an especially intricate project, or Evelyn was writing a new song. She supposed if she looked in the mirror when she was deep in thought, she’d see it in her own eyes. But this might have been the first time she’d seen it in her son. Maybe he’d discovered his calling, she thought with a little thrill. They hadn’t had a visual artist in the family yet that she knew about. Or maybe he just got really excited about baked goods. Tomorrow.

That’s right! Rose resisted her delighted urge to pick him up and hug him; that might break him out of his newly-discovered creative groove. It is Mama Ev’s birthday tomorrow!

Mm-hmm. he nodded again, still not looking up. He added a rectangular shape around the cake, like a frame, or as if it were floating in a doorway, held by unseen hands, or suspended by invisible strings. Strawberries.

Her favorite. She grinned. The warm love and pride that swelled in her chest was one of her favorites feelings, and Rose tried to savor like she did every time. The memory would make the next hard Parole day go a little easier. What a wonderful idea. We’ll bake her a strawberry cake—a bunch just came in the other day too! Perfect timing!

Now he looked up, shaking his head a little bit as if just now coming out of a daydream. Is it a good present?

The cake? It’s the best. She’ll be so glad you remembered!

No, this! It’s not done yet. He held up the drawing, eyes entirely clear and focused on Rose now. When he smiled, it was filled with pride in his work, though he still watched carefully as his mother took in the art, then the artist. Now it was her turn to look dreamy for just a moment, imagining all the art and birthdays to come. Will she be happy?

I can’t think of anything she’d love more. It’ll be a perfect day. Even in Parole, they still happened from time to time.

So when the next day came, Jack stood on a chair to reach the kitchen table, working with two of his mothers to create that elusive perfect day for the third. The house was decorated, bright, and cheerful, but the cake wasn’t quite done, and Evelyn was taking the night off to come home early. She’d be home soon, and every minute counted. In front of him was the masterpiece he’d designed—or soon, it would be. The kitchen was warm and filled with the mouthwatering smell of oven-fresh cake, and the fact that so much frosting had gone onto its hubcap-sized surface and not into their mouths was a testament to their dedication. Nobody was beyond temptation, but at least the cake was getting done.

And the top did read ‘Happy Birthday Evelyn’ now, in bright red letters.

Strawberries, big as both his small hands put together, pointed up around the top of the red-frosted cake in a ring like the points on a crown, and Jack and Danae were halfway around when they ran out. Rose went to politely request some more of her homegrown ingredients (it was very important to be clear with your intentions and say please and thank you, she reminded Jack before heading into the adjacent, skylight-bright and vine-thick room, petting the head of a giant Venus Flytrap as she went), leaving Jack and Danae to continue painting more red icing and food coloring onto any missed spots and sneaking licks off the spoons.

This kind of normal was the strangest thing in Parole.

And it never lasted.

Danae and Jack both jumped as a shrill cat’s screech cut through the air, followed by thunderous barking. Then, the rapid, harsh scraping of metal claws against wood and tile.

Dandy? Danae called, voice instantly tight with anxiety at the guard dog’s alarmed bark, putting down the large bowl of red icing and turning around quickly, just in time to see a metallic animal zip into the kitchen from her open workshop door.

It wasn’t Toto-Dandy. It was much smaller, and even though it didn’t look quite finished—more like a metal skeletal frame with a more-completed head than a fully formed animal—it moved much more like a cat, crouching low, almost flat, and scooting along the ground. It zigzagged wildly around the kitchen, briefly scrabbling at the kitchen door, before it ricocheted out into the hallway, ears flattened against its shining head. A moment later, Dandy himself followed, bursting into the room with a much louder, wilder, entirely doglike bluster.

Oh no. Danae paled, face filling with rapidly growing horror. Dandy, no. Stay!

The huge, black-fur and shining-steel wolf paused for a moment, staring at his two surprised humans as if weighing his options. Then he chose one. Toto-Dandy dove after the cat toward the living room in a fresh explosion of barks and answering furious yowls.

Crash.

Toto-Dandy was not always one of her more graceful creations. On his way out, the huge metal wolf slammed into the kitchen table, and everything on it jolted to the side and a good three inches into the air, including the lovingly crafted cake.

No...

Breathless, paralyzed, Danae watched it happen from across the kitchen, but it might as well have been from a mile away. Horrified, she couldn’t move a muscle—then she moved all at once. Her legs were propelling her forward before she knew to jump, arms outstretched, but she was too late and too far; she would never make it in time. The cake and its plate slipped off the table, fell—

And landed safely in Jack’s waiting arms. The huge cake was almost too heavy, too unwieldy, too much, but he planted his small feet and stood firm.

Good! Danae almost collapsed with relief before she reached him, but managed to steady herself, and then Jack, keeping herself between him and the noisy animals still yowling and barking up a storm in the living room behind her. Oh, good job Jack, you’re my hero. You are my absolute hero.

I was just in the right place at the right time, he said, and she had to laugh. One of Evelyn’s favorite saving-the-day phrases. Kids really did pick things up fast. Looked like he’d picked up the truth-and-justice part too.

Yes you were. She sighed, hands on his shoulders for a moment before slowly, gently taking the cake (almost bigger than the boy who’d saved it) and placing it on the kitchen counter, out of reach of any flailing animal appendages. "Now. Dandy!" she let out a sharp whistle.

A huge, black canine head appeared around the doorway to the living room, bright blue eyes wide. They didn’t need to be human, or even organic, to look guilty as hell.

Over here. She patted one thigh and pointed at the floor. Leave the kitty alone, it’s a work-in-progress. She could still hear somewhat grating hostile feline noises and caught a flash as it ran past at the end of the hall; it must still be in a panic and trying to escape.

Dandy didn’t move, but his head drooped a little lower.

I know, boy, you’re just doing what you know best. But you know you’re not supposed to play with—

These should be enough, Rose said from behind her with a bowl full of fresh, huge strawberries. Surprised, Danae turned to see her wife