Big Bend (g/t)

Thoughts

Dave

"Is Dan around?"

I looked up to see a skinny, overly tan woman glaring at me. She looked vaguely familiar - I was fairly certain I'd seen her around before. That made sense, if she was asking for the park supervisor by name.

"He's out to lunch right now," I replied. "Is there something Annie or I could help you with? Or you could leave a message for him?"

The woman gave me a look that almost made me take a step back - a sneer of pure disdain. She eyed my name tag.

"Dave, huh? I take it you're new. When I want to talk to Dan, I talk to Dan."

"Right. Well, he's at lunch, so..." I said.

She huffed. "Fine. I'll wait."

The woman took a seat on the bench near the door of the visitor center. I shot a quick glance over to Annie, who just shrugged. I looked back to the woman. She was scrolling through her phone, her back now turned to us.

Not my circus, not my monkeys, I decided after a moment, returning my attention to the countertop I'd been organizing. Hardly the most important job, but it was a slow afternoon. As most afternoons when Easton wasn't working tended to be. The giant certainly drew the crowd management was hoping for, I'd give him that much. I placed the last highlighter in the cup they sat in, then shook my head. They'd look better organized by color, I decided.

"Any idea when Dan will be back?" The woman by the door asked, still sounding annoyed. I sighed internally. I'd really dared to hope that the end to my interaction with her had already happened. Annie answered before I could.

"Probably within the hour. I think you just missed him."

"Fantastic," she said sarcastically. "I have things to do, you know."

Maybe don't stop by unannounced, then, I thought. I forced a smile.

"We could take a message for him-"

"My father's cattle are missing." She said, cutting me off. I fought to keep the confusion off my face. She continued. "Three of them."

"And you think they wandered over here?" Annie asked. I didn't know much about cattle ranching, but I couldn't help but think this was a weird amount of effort to put into finding three cows.

Don't ranchers have, like, thousands of cows or something?

"No," the woman replied. She rolled her eyes. "I think they were taken."

"Okay, so...what does that have to do with us?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself. She gave me a look that suggested I'd just said something hopelessly stupid.

"My cattle are missing. You lot employ that freaky giant alien predator. Do the math," she said.

"You think Easton took your cows?" I said, finally catching up.

"Beauty and brains," she responded sarcastically. I mulled over her accusation in my head. It didn't seem especially likely, at first thought, given that Easton had said he was a vegetarian and didn't seem to so much as blink without asking John.

He could have lied about that, my brain whispered conspiratorially.

"I assure you, I'm sure Ranger Parks isn't responsible for any missing cattle," Annie said. "There's a number of predators in the area, from mountain lions to-"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what they told you to say," the woman replied. She looked over at me. "Are you also going to give me some canned PR response?"

"Coyotes are a major source of cattle loss, I've heard," I added half heartedly, still considering what she'd purported. I recalled the nightmare I had about Easton. The one where he'd killed people, and been planning on killing me, without a single care. I also remembered the way he'd been looking up at the stars that seem night, his pale green eyes filled with wonder. The way he'd been so careful in picking us up. How warm and soft his hand had felt to stand on.

God, why can I never have a single straightforward thought about him? I thought in frustration.

"Yeah, so are fucking giants." The woman's tone was laced with sarcasm and contempt. "Whatever. You know what, just let Dan know I stopped by."

"Will do," Annie replied. The woman shot another sneer in our direction, and then stormed off out the door.

"She's always fun," Annie said, as soon as the woman was gone.

"So I was right thinking she looked familar," I mused. Annie nodded.

"Yep. Her name's Joy. Kind of ironic. Her dad owns a ranch nearby, and she apparently never grew out of her highschool mean girl era. She stops by semi regularly with some half assed complaint for Dan. Personally, I think she has a little crush on him and is just looking for a reason to stop by. Like, no one can really be that dramatic over "kayakers ruining in the view" or whatever else she drags in here," Annie said.

"So, you don't think Easton took the cattle?" I asked, half jokingly.

Of course Easton didn't. Wouldn't. He's way too nice, anyways.

"I don't think she'd notice if 300 of her dad's cattle went missing," Annie replied with a snort. "Unless it got in the way of her next tanning appointment, anyways. I'll mention it to Dan, I guess."

By the time I got off work that evening, the incident had all but faded from my mind. It was brought back to the forefront as I saw Easton sitting outside the employee housing building. He was talking to Angie, who was sitting in the frame of her window. I probably shouldn't have still felt surprised when he turned to glance over at me as I walked up. Aphirial super hearing and all of that. It was maybe more nervousness than surprise, I realized a moment later. I wasn't exactly sure why.

Probably because he's like, 200 fucking feet tall, I thought. Or because he's like, 200 fucking feet tall and actually looks happy to see me, which feels almost...flattering? I'm smaller than one of his fingers and like, that insignificant and he still looks happy to see me.

I pushed that thought from my mind. It was just that he was a giant - a fucking aphirial, for crying out loud. That was enough to make most people nervous, no weird confusing thoughts of how he was such a stupidly nice person and flattery or whatever needed. That was all.

"Hi Dave!" Angie called from the window. "How was work?"
I walked over to them, noting that I didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable standing next to Easton's leg as I might have a few months prior.
"It was work," I replied with a shrug. "What're you guys talking about?"
"This girl who showed up last night," Angie said. "Apparently she made quite the impression on Easton."

I wasn't entirely sure why I felt my stomach turn slightly at that last sentence, and I didn't particularly want to dwell on it.

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yeah. I guess she ran into him outside his place and like, didn't even know he was working here? And then was just like, 'oh, you're an aphirial, that's nice. Know any good camping spots?' Which is not the usual reaction." She looked over at Easton. "No offense." He shook his head slightly.

"No, you're right. It caught me off guard," he said with a slight laugh. "There's just usually more...questions."
Or running and screaming, I added silently. I could only imagine the reaction I'd have had if I randomly ran into Easton in the middle of the night, especially not knowing he worked here. It probably wouldn't have included asking for camping recommendations.

"Oh, also, he does have snapchat," Angie said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" It took me a moment to remember I'd been wondering about that the other night.

God, why did I say that outloud?

"Because of my other friends from Earth. And my sister had some sort of program designed for the software interfaces because of the whole Earth-Aphiria liasion thing she's a part of, which I don't really understand techwise and I'm rambling now, so...uh, long story short, yeah, I have snapchat."

At least Easton seemed to interpret my embarrassment over having asked Angie as confusion about how that was possible, I thought flatly.

"Oh. That's cool. Yeah, I was just wondering how that would work," I said.

I didn't add that I wasn't really sure if that was true. Or that I wasn't even sure what the alternative option was for why I'd asked Angie in the first place.