(18+) Smooth Xscape (Complete)

Ch. 23: (Un)predictable

We ended up staying there for the rest of my pregnancy. I was huge as a whale, and it didn't make any sense to travel from place to place without any specific plan. And since Emanuel and Ennio learned to know Michael's, to them, new personality, they sort of accepted his whimsical and unpredictable behaviour. Mostly they just ignored each other, but I knew Mr. Jackson side eyed Emanuel like a hawk when he was around me.

Mr. Jackson kept taking his medicine, but Michael was still absent, and dearly missed. Still though, Mr. Jackson was a lot calmer to be around, and surprisingly enough he didn't mind either the work on the gas station or helping out on the farm. I was a little curious about why he didn't change from one personality to the next as frequently as he'd usually done, for as long as I'd known him. But I'd learned that he was more stable when things were easy and predictable around him, just like they were now.

One day, when I was just about done preparing lunch, I heard a lot of commotion outside. And seconds after, Ennio and Emanuel came in, carrying Mr. Jackson between them. But this couldn't be Mr. Jackson, because he was whining like a little child. It just had to be...

"The sheep attacked me, Missy!!! It huuuurts!"

...Joe.

I sighed, while Emanuel and Joe simultaneously tried to explain what happened.

"ONE AT THE TIME, PLEASE!"

I turned to Joe to give him a warning glare to make him shut up. But he already was silent, because now, his eyes were glued to my stomach with an indefinable expression on his face.

"We heard someone shouting and then a lot of loud noises and banging on the walls. And then we found Mr. Jackson cornered up by the sheep, with Smokes in the middle next to him," Emanuel explained, and shook his head while he scratched his neck. Joe had been put down on the floor, and was now running his hands over the parts of his body that obviously had felt Smokes' wrath, which appeared to be pretty much his whole self.

"What?! Why was he with the sheep?"

"We don't know! We thought he had learned to stay away from them...?!"

I facepalmed and giggled.

"Ennio? Emanuel? I'd like to introduce you to Joe."

I extended my arm towards the whimpering man in front of us.

"This is another one of Michael's personalities, and he's as clumsy as it gets."

"Heey... That's not a very nice thing to say," Joe objected and started to get up from the floor.

"Oh," Emanuel said.
"So... Should we... Uhm. Shake his hand or something?"

He scratched his neck again.

"Yeah, probably, since to him, you're both strangers. But don't worry. After lunch, I'll take him for a walk and fill him in on what he needs to know. Just be aware that he probably won't be much of a help in the barn and with the animals, for the next few days. But he'll adapt, if you just give him some time."

The tree men shook hands, and Joe coyly thanked them for saving him from the angry sheep. And while they talked a little, I served lunch.

"So, how many personalities were there, you said?" Emanuel whispered, while we watched Joe trying to read the label of the tea he was preparing for himself.

"Six, as far as I know. And this one is still a teenager."

Emanuel nodded silently, trying to make our little conversation seem as normal as possible.

"He can't harm a fly, but he is a walking tragedy. So if he bothers you too much, you're free to hoist him up on the flag pole. Just tell me, so I can bring him back inside when it gets dark."