Beyond the Gateway (Cranksepticeye)

Thirteen

Standing before his apartment door, Jack took a deep breath and turned his key in the lock.
"Tim?" he called out tentatively. "Um . . . I'm home-and-really-really-sorry. . . . "
Silence.
"Tim?"
"He ate my soap." Tim walked slowly out of the bathroom, arms folded across his chest, the tone of his voice pleasantly conversational . "My eighty-dollar bar of hand-milled Japanese herbal complexion soap. From Japan. He ate it.
"Oh . . . "
"He also ate your two-dollar bar of Irish Spring. I let him eat thar one."
"Tim, I'm really, really sorry-"
"Actually, I gave it to him to eat." Tim smiled sweetly. After a moment of staring honeyed daggers at Jack, he frowned and said, "Did you know you're soaking wet?"
"I kinda got caught out in the rain. . . . "
"Go put on a robe or something before you warp the floor, will you?"
Jack looked down at his feet and saw that there was a puddle forming around him. He scooted past Tim, who stood in the bathroom doorway, shaking his head. Jack heard a whinnied greeting from over Tim's shoulder.
Stripping off his jacket and jeans, he slipped into his bathrobe, thinking about how he was not enjoying coming home soaking wet twice in a row. A cup of tea would be nice, and give him an excuse to avoid the bathroom while he put the kettle on.
"Did . . . um . . . did he eat the oats?" he asked, smiling tentatively at Tim as he edged past. "You know . . . after the soap?"
"He did not." Tim followed him into the tiny kitchen. "However, in an effort to avoid the further consumption of toiletries, I tried giving him some of your ridiculous kiddie cereal." He waved at a box of Lucky Charms that was sitting open on the counter. "That seemed to go over well. So did scratching him behind his left ear."
Jack glanced at his roommate, extremely surprised by how well Tim was taking all of this.
"Not that I'm becoming attached or anything!" Tim said. "Because I'm not."
"Okay . . ."
"I mean - even though he's been a very well-behaved horsie and hasn't even made a horsie mess- " Tim stopped suddenly, realizing that Jack was stating at him. "Never mind."
"Okay . . . , " Jack said again. He turned to make the tea. Tim was silent for a moment. "McLaughlin . . . what happened to you today?"
"What do you mean?"
"You look kind of . . . spooked. Wiggy. And its not because there's a soap-devouring pony in the apartment. What's wrong with you?"
Jack bit his lower lip to keep it from trembling. Now that he was home safe in his own apartment, the thought of what had happened in the alley came rushing back. He suddenly realized what a scary situation he had been in.
"Jack?"
"There was this guy in the park yesterday. I've never seen him before, but he gave me a rose and . . . well . . . then he just sort of disappeared."
"So? What about him?"
"I think he might be . . . following me."
"Okay," Tim said slowly. "I know you're new to the big city ald all but, see, that's not a good thing, Jack."
"He was in the alley outside the theater this afternoon."
"An alley? Oh, even better! Did you call the police?"
"No, but I told him to stop following me."
"Oh, good - you talked to him," Tim said sarcastically. "That's nice and safe!"
"I know, I know . . . ." Jack stirred distractedly at his tea. "But he had a lot of opportunity to hurt me if he'd wanted to. And he didn't. He said I should trust him."
"What? Trust him? He's not some guy your wako uncle hired to follow around or something, is he?"
"Like a detective?" Jack blinked away the sting of unshed tears. It hurt him somehow to know the random act of kindness he'd been presented with in the form of that beautiful flower might, in fact, have been just a calculated move to get close to him. It had seemed such a lovely gesture at the time.
"Yeah, or some kind of bodyguard," Tim said. "We all know how deeply enthusiastic dear old Uncle Ev was about you moving here."
Jack thought about that for a moment. "Maybe . . . ," he said. Evan could be freakishly overprotective.
Tim sighed, checking the time on his watch. "I have to go. I have a date and, thanks to your heroic horse-rescue efforts, I'm going to have to shower at the gym. Are you going to be okay by yourself?"
"I'll be fine." Jack said. He was feeling a bit better now that he was home and had told someone about his encounter. It didn't seem quite like such a big deal anymore. Just Big City Weirdness, and he could handle that.
"Look, just do me a favor and don't do anything stupid?" Tim said, swinging a coat over his shoulders and heading for the door. "Our little buddy in there might be well behaved, but so far, he hasn't contributed to the rent, so I still need you around."
Jack grinned and nodded. He couldn't beleive how understanding Tim had been so far, but he was grateful.
"Maybe you could spend the evening trying to figure out a way to het Mr. Ed out of the tub," Tim suggested as he opened the door and stepped into the hall. "But if you do go out, watch your back, okay?"
"I will. I promise. Habe fun tonight."
The door closed behind Tim, and Jack went into the kitchen. He picked up the box of Lucky Charms and shook it. It was half empty. At the sound of the cereal rattling, he heard and answering whinny. He headed toward the bathroom, poking his head around the door. The horse flicked his ears in Jack's direction. He snorted, and a large, iridescent bubble appeared, inflating from his left nostril to the size of a small balloon before popping loudly. Jack laughed out loud at the surprise on the animal's face, and he answered back with a whinny that sounded distinctly like a bashful chuckle.

"Come on, horse."
Jack felt stupid.
For one thing, the horse seemed as if he might be smarter than Jack was. He refused to fall for the trick of moving the handful of cereal farther and farther away in an attempt to get him put of the tub. He just stretched out his neck until he was out of reach and then tilted his head, looking at Jack with big sad eyes, until he relented and sat on the edge of the tub, feeding him marshmallow moons, horseshoes, and clovers.
For another thing, he couldn't keep calling the horse "horse." It felt . . . well, rude somehow.
Jack poured another handful of Lucky Charms, holding them up the the velvety-soft muzzle. The animal's eyes seemed to brighten with enthusiasm, and he nuzzled around in his palm. It tickled and Jack laughed. A name occurred to him.
"Lucky," Jack murmured.
The horse lifted his head as though responding and gazed at him, munching placidly on the sugary treat. Well, it kind of fit. He was lucky that he'd been in the park last night, and he was lucky that Mrs. Madsen in the apartment next door hadn't heard all the commotion and called the cops. He was lucky that the landlord hadn't paid a visit. And he was extremely lucky in that Tim, for some unfathomable reason, hadn't killed either of them yet. Lucky.
Jack scratched behind his left ear, and Lucky whickered softly with pleasure. Jack got the impression that if he were a cat instead of a horse, he would've started to purr.
I just hope for both our sakes that you're a "Good" Lucky, Jack thought, and not a "Bad" lucky. He was perfectly well aware that luck could go either way.