Happy Birthday dear Emily

Lochlann was beaming.

He knew he wasn't really fooling her. She'd be able to tell that his emotions were still a little suppressed, but he was throwing himself whole hardheartedly into this. His tiredness was transforming into a kind of mania.

He would make this night better for her.

He led her out the door and to the outside.

"You should try going on adventures," he said, and when he saw a shiny coin lying on the ground, Lochlann picked it up. It would be perfect.

"Heads is left, tails is right," he told her.

He gave her the coin to flip.

"What way are we going, Emily?"

"Sorry," Lochlann said, giving her an apologetic smile. Sometimes, he could forget the height difference and speed. Everything felt slow to him when he was used to having four legs--but simultaneously too fast. Time was measured here.

Lochlann considered this.

"It might," he concurred. "But you'll never know until you try it."

When she flipped the coin and it landed upright and then rolled away, Lochlann laughed.

"Forward it is," he agreed, and looked both ways before he took her hand again and headed across the street. The night made the island seem different, and Lochlann believed it actually made it seem bigger. In the daytime, the horizon reminded him that he was trapped and boxed in, but at night? They could go anywhere.

When they'd gone a while, Lochlann mentally assigned numbers in his head: 1-5 would be left, 6-10 would be right.

"Pick a number between 1-10," he told her.

"It's your adventure," Lochlann grinned at her. "You tell me where to go. Hot dog stand it is."

He didn't let go of her hand. He was enjoying this excuse to hold it, to have some fun that was innocent and free of ghosts or death or sexual tension. He walked besides her, more mindful of the pace since she'd called him out on it earlier.

His emotions were still simply gratitude and tiredness, but there was no escaping the unexpected feeling that Lochlann was having now.

He was having fun.

She hoped he was, too.

When they approached the hot dog stand, Lochlann asked her, "What do you want on yours? I'm paying. Absolutely no arguing. It's your birthday adventure."

Lochlann could not reasonably talk about what tasted good or bad to humans. When he was first starting out in school, his parents coached him to observe how others ate.

It was the most nerve wracking experience of his life. He was expected he have questions about what he liked and what he disliked. His first time in a cafeteria, Lochlann had seen more food than he had in his entire life. America was an interesting place. You could starve to death while surrounded by food because sheer number of choices was overwhelming.

Despite this, Emily's combination struck a bell as a little unusual. Then again, Lochlann had eaten a full grown man and left nary a trace. Who was he to say what tasted good?

His own hot dog was relatively plain--ketchup, mustards, relish. It was what his brother suggested Lochlann get when he asked Lawrence for advice when he school was planning on taking the students to a baseball game. Lochlann's family had moved after one of his classmates mysteriously drowned.

He was still thinking about drowning when he realized he was remarkably hungry, and not just for a hot dog. He could barely touch it because he'd just watched Emily slide the hot dog past her lips and

Wow

That was

Oddly hot.

Lochlann swallowed and said, “Where to next, Emily?”

"Far be it from me to tell you what tastes good," Lochlann gave her a grin. "So if relish...sauerkraut...hot dog fiesta hell...is what tastes good for you, enjoy it."

Lochlann thought about asking her if she wanted to know what he tasted like.

He pushed that thought away.

He was happy to just walk with her during the night, occasionally stopping to take another bite or two of his own hot dog, and then eventually wiping his hands on the napkins. When they were both finished, he took their trash to discard it.

"Emily," Lochlann said suddenly. "Can I ask you to trust me just a little bit?"

He flinched after he said that.

"I mean, normally trusting me is a bad idea, but I have a specific plan that does not involve anything more than me blindfolding you so you don't know where we're going," he said. "If that makes you uncomfortable we don't have to. But i want to surprise you."