For Love of Mother-Not - Alan Dean Foster [30]
Sure you will, he thought bitterly. Better be realistic, like Mother Mastiff says. You’re stuck here forever. Moth’s your home, and Moth’s where you’ll spend the rest of your days. Count yourself fortunate. You’ve a concerned mother, a warm home, food . . . .
Food. Surely the flying snake was hungrier than ever. “We’d better get you something to eat,” he told Pip, who gazed up at him with fresh interest.
He checked his credcard. Not much money there. Not that there ever was. Well, he could manage. Trouble was, he had no idea what Alaspinian minidrags liked to eat. “I wonder what you’d settle for,” he murmured. The snake did not respond. “If it’s live food only, then I don’t think there’s much I can do to help you. Not on a regular basis, anyway. Let’s try here, first.”
They entered a stall well known to Flinx. Most of the booths and tables were unoccupied, since it was between mealtimes. As it developed, finding suitable food for the minidrag turned out to be less of a problem than he had feared. Much to Flinx’s surprise, the flying snake was omnivorous. It would eat almost anything he set in front of it, but raw meat seemed to be a special favorite. Flinx cut the meat into small chunks, which the snake gulped down whole. Flinx helped himself to an occasional bite. When times were bad, he and Mother Mastiff had existed on far less savory items.
Pip was fond of any kind of fruit or berry, though it shied away from vegetables. Something else they had in common. Flinx thought. Oddly enough, the snake would even lap up milk. Flinx was sure he could supply enough variety to keep his pet both happy and alive. Maybe it would even eat table scraps. Perhaps that would weaken Mother Mastiff’s antagonism. As he experimented further, he discovered that the snake was particularly fond of anything with a high iron content, such as raisins or flakes of guarfish. Had he been a biochemist equipped with a field laboratory, he might have learned that the minidrag’s blood contained an extraordinary amount of hemoglobin, vital to transport the oxygen necessary to sustain the snake’s hummingbirdlike flight.
When Pip had swollen to twice his normal diameter, Flinx stopped trying new foods on his pet. He relaxed in the booth, sipping mulled wine and watching the lights of the city wink to life. It wouldn’t be too bad to live out his life on Moth, he admitted to himself. Drallar was never dull, and now he had a special companion with whom to share its excitement.
Yes, the flying snake had filled a definite void in his life as well as in some mysterious, deeper part of himself. But he still longed for the stars and the magical, unvisited worlds that circled them.
Be realistic, he ordered himself.
He waved to some acquaintances as they strolled past the restaurant. Older men and women. Sometimes Mother Mastiff worried that he preferred the company of adults to youngsters his own age. He couldn’t help it. It wasn’t that he was antisocial, merely that he chose his friends carefully. It was the immaturity of those his own age that drove him into the company of adults.
A fleeting emotion from one of those to whom he had waved reached back to him as the group rounded a corner, laughing and joking in easy camaraderie. Flinx snatched at it, but it was gone. He sat back in his booth, the wine making him moody. Better to have no Talent at all, he thought, than an unmanageable one that only teases.
He paid the modest bill, slipping his card into the table’s central pylon. Outside, the evening rain had begun. Pip rode comfortably on his shoulder beneath the slickertic, only its head exposed. It was sated, content. Ought to be after all you ate, Flinx thought as he gazed fondly down at his pet.
Rain transformed the brilliant scales of the snake’s head into tiny jewels. The moisture did not seem to bother the snake. I wonder, Flinx thought. Is Alaspin a wet world, also? I should have asked old Makepeace. He’d probably have known. People lucky enough to travel learn everything sooner