Annie LXXVI: The Long Night With You

(Chronological index: Ray as College Senior)

(Further disclaimer, this story is inspired by the Billy Joel song, but I have no rights to the song or any part of it.)

Ray sat on the steps of the dorm and stared across the campus. Steiner ran across the street, splashing through the rain and puddles, a folded newspaper over his head.

He paused at the bottom of the steps. "Ray! Raymeister! Rainin' Ray! Ray in the rain."

"Hey, Rob," Ray said in a flat tone.

"Ray-O-Rama. Ray O'Sunshine." Both men glanced up towards the pouring rain. "Okay, not sunshine," he admitted.

"If I'm lord of all I survey," Ray said, "I'm Reigning Ray in the Rain."

Rob's face froze for a second as he tried to parse the comment. He gave up and smiled. "Good one," he guessed. "Whatcha doin' in the rain, Rainman Ray?"

"That's a new one, Rob," Ray said. "And... My sylph is out here somewhere."

"Annerino!" Rob shouted. "The Annster. Little Annie Two-"

"Stop," Ray said.

"Okay," Rob said. He lost the jocular tone. "Is Annie running away?"

"I don't think so. She's just upset."

"Okay. Need... Need help looking for her?" Rob asked hesitantly.

"No. I'm not looking for her. I'm waiting for her." He stood up and stretched. "Go on inside, Rob."

"Alone-Ray, holding a candle for the Annimator!" Ray didn't react and Rob went inside. As the door closed Ray heard that Sandy was in the first floor lounge.

"Sandy Beach Blonde!" Rob shouted. "The Sander working on her paper. The Sandpaper!"

Then the door closed and he was alone again. He thought the trees looked kind of pretty, glistening in the streetlight. He idly reached out to tug on a branch. It snapped back, each wet leaf spraying heavy drops across the sidewalk.

He wiped water off of the face of his watch and checked. Nearly time for his hourly round of the building.

There were too many places that Annie might hide if she didn't want to be found. But he made himself available if she was through with her-

"Master?"

He spun around at the small sound. She was barely loud enough to hear over the water in the drainpipes.

But after years of practice he zeroed in on her location and walked quickly over.

Annie stood on a brick that edged the overgrown flower garden at the front of the dorm. She was just on the other side of the white-water flow from the drain spout, clearly not interested in crossing the channel. Ray wasn't sure she'd have made it across.

He stepped over the rivulet and held his coat over his head like an awning. It exposed the small of his back but his sylph was out of the rain. "You about ready to come inside?" he asked.

She pushed something off of the brick with her feet and nodded mournfully. He reached down to pick her up.

Her t-shirt and shorts were sopping wet, shoes squelching, her long hair sticking to her skull, neck and shoulders like a neoprene hood. As soon as he touched her she sneezed. It didn't stop until he had her stuffed into his shirt pocket. His collar and throat were wet but the pocket was dry and body-warm.

He felt her shiver as she settled in. Then he reached down to the side of the brick and pulled up a wooden skewer. "Something to keep?" he asked.

"N-n-n-n-n-n-"

"Okay, okay," he said, dropping it back down. "Just wondering if you needed a trophy."

"D-d-d-d-d-d-"

"Shhh," he said as he zipped up his jacket.

He walked gently up to his floor and his room. One hand pressed his coat gently, holding Annie towards his body heat. The shirt wicked water away from the sylph and spread it across his chest and side.

He kept her there until he'd soaked two washrags in hot water, wrung them out most of the way and slipped them into sandwich baggies.

One was laid flat on the desk blotter. He eased his finger into the pocket and lifted out his pet. She was curled into a tiny ball and wouldn't spread out on the jerry-rigged heating pad.

"Lucky for you," he said softly, "I'm a pushy bastard." He gently stripped her clothes off. Then, one limb at a time, he spread her out and tucked the second pad over her. She shivered a bit less violently as he pressed the top layer down gently.

Fingertips at elbow and knee kept her from curling up again until she could manage that on her own.

"P-p-p-please, Ray," she bit out. He leaned down close. "Sssssssooo-"

"Soup," he finished. "Too bad I didn't think about that ahead of time." There was a knock on the door. He let Danielle in. The coed carried a steaming bowl of Cup-o-Soup.

"I heated it as soon as I saw you come inside, Ray," she said. "Just like you said."

"Very good," Ray told her. He slipped out of his wet coat and shirt and grabbed a clean tee. The Freshman sighed. He took it as a compliment until he saw that the woman was looking down at his sylph. "Yeah, Annie will love that," he told her.

He put the wet stuff on the empty roommate's bed. They were between assignments once more. Ray suspected that Annie's midnight renditions of the Time Warp were becoming a Residential Staff legend.

She hesitated to leave. Ray suspected she wanted to help feed Annie. He was torn. She had done him a favor, waiting by her window and microwaving the soup. But Annie was in an odd mood. He liked to be the only one around at such times.

"She's a little skittish right now," he said. "But... I need someone to watch her tomorrow after-"

"I'lldoit!" she volunteered. Ray glanced down at his sylph for an opinion.

Annie had her eyes closed and was breathing quickly. "Okay, I'll...bring her out to the lounge about-"

"Icancometoyourroom! If she's more comfortable I can watch her here. In your room. Rather than mine. She'd like that, wouldn't she?"

"I...guess," he said. "Um. Okay, be here around ten, then."

She thanked him six times and backed out the door, closing it softly. He shook his head and looked for his box of crackers.

An eyedropper of soup softened the center of the oyster cracker. Then he picked out pieces with the tip of a toothpick and offered them to Annie. Between bites he rubbed her hair dry with a lens cleaning cloth.

She'd stopped shuddering and her color was starting to return. Two crackers later she wriggled free of the baggies.

He wrapped her in a napkin and put soup in her drinking cup. She sat in the crook of his arm and sipped.

"Trophy?" she finally asked.

"I dunno. I wondered if you had something to prove tonight, or went spoiling for a fight or something."

"No plan," Annie admitted. "Just mad." She glanced up at his profile. He was nodding his head, but not looking particularly worried.

"Mad enough to punch a weasel," she said. He nodded again.

"Not feeling any sort of...guilt, Master?" she asked.

"I'm not the one you're mad at," he said. He was facing the window, staring out at the night. But now he was looking down on the trees.

The wind picked up and the streetlights were flashing across the leaves and branches. A security car went slowly past. He checked his watch.

"Danielle stayed up until one as a favor to us," he said. "We'll have to make it up to her. Freshman...what do they like?"

"Food," Annie said. "Get her a pizza while she's sylph sitting, you'll be as a god in her eyes."

"Deal. What does she want on it?"

"She's got a taste for bacon, I believe."

"I'll make a note," he said with a smile and a pat on her head.

"I'll remind you when you call it in."

There was another long silence. It might have even been poignant but she started sneezing again. He patiently cushioned her back and offered her a corner of another handkerchief when she stopped.

"They never called, Ray," she said.

"No," he agreed.

"Am I evil, Ray?" she asked very softly.

He stopped petting her back. "Let's pretend I paused long enough to convey a humorous unwillingness to give an honest answer, but before the laugh track faded, I lifted you up to my face," he said, lifting her up to look her in the eye, "leaned my head forward to indicate intimacy and sincerity, and said no. Not to anyone with three brain cells to rub together and evaluate you objectively."

"I thought it was two brain cells?"she said, then, "Inflation," they said together. She smiled though her eyes were moist.

Ray held her in one hand and stood. He turned off the light and collected the cover off his bed. He carefully wrapped it around himself and made a nest in the chair. She was tucked in between his throat and a fold of the blanket. They sat and watched the rain together.

"Decca records had a chance to sign the Beetles in 1962," he said softly. "One day...your parents will realize that they missed a similar opportunity. They turned you down. Twice."

She sniffled a bit and he pretended not to hear it. She wriggled a bit on his skin. The little heels poked like dental tools but he didn't comment. He never had.

"The Mom said they were just scared."

Ray winced at her phrasing. After her own parents rejected her, Annie had not been able to talk about biological superiors. She couldn't refer to anyone as her or his mom, dad, parent.

After a while she'd managed to distance herself from any sort of relation by calling his folks The Mom and The Dad. It was kind of a sign that she was feeling insecure or distant in one or more relationships.

"Probably. Scary enough that the world goes crazy and their daughter doesn't come home from school. But to find the double whammy... Especially after your Church has decided it's God's judgment."

"Yeah," she said. "But they've had years. The terror...shouldn't it have faded?"

"Some of these groups that hate sylphs," he reminded her, "they just keep fanning the flames."

"I guess," she said. They sat for a bit longer.

"You really did mail the letter, didn't you, Ray?"

"Annie, Annie, Annie. Someone, who looks a lot like you, closely inspected the letter I typed, that you signed. They watched me fold from, if I remember clearly, a distance of about two centimeters."

"I just-"

He overrode her explanation. "She almost went into the envelope with it to make sure it was comfortable. Then she made a little mark on the outside that she didn't think I saw."

"Oh."

"And when I was about to put the envelope in the mail, she demanded a chance to 'kiss the stamp for luck,' and incidentally check that the mark was intact."

"I...." She shrugged and stopped talking.

"And she literally hung from my sleeve to watch the letter go down the chute in the Post Office." She didn't try to respond. "And with all that firmly in mind, I still won't accept any idea that you're evil."

"Thank you, revered Master," she said softly.

"Untrusting, maybe. Needlessly suspicious. Capable of pretty base accusations. Unfounded accusations I might add."

"It's not that I don't trust you, Ray," she said. One hand idly stroked his neck. "But...it could have led to...complications."

"You think your parents would want to take you away from me?" he asked. "They literally had their chance. And I woke up to your nightmare screaming for a week."

"I........ screamed?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. He was silent for a long time. "I tried to comfort you after the first one. You slapped and kicked at me and cried yourself back to sleep." He sneezed. "I left you alone after that."

She thought about that for a while. "Master, I just- CHOOOO!"

"Gesundheit. But at least you didn't bite m- CHOO! I think, CHOO! CHOO!"

"Bless you," she said. Then she reached out and lay a hand on his throat. "And...seriously. Bless you, Master."

They rode out the rest of the night in his cocoon.

He woke when his alarm went off, coming fully awake without moving until he knew where Annie was.

She'd slid down from his shoulder. The handkerchief was stretched out between the blanket and his shirt. His hand flexed gently, feeling around under the blanked.

"Mrff," something mumbled. "Whadda want?" She had found a fold of blanket over his heart and nestled there.

"I need to get up, Annie."

"Yes, sir," she said. She started to climb his shirt. He carefully picked her up and wrapped her in the still-warm handkerchief.

Ray placed her on her bed in the cage and closed it. She mrffed a thanks and curled in on herself.

He turned off the alarm, then spread the blanket and made the bed. Annie would have a guest this morning and he didn't want to embarrass her.

Then he went to find breakfast for them. She'd be waking soon and she'd be hungry as a-

"Master?" she called plaintively as he touched the doorknob. "Bacon?"

"A whole slice, just for you," he promised. Then he shut the door behind him. She snuggled down into the handkerchief with a sleepy smile.



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