TSTOF chapter 6

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It was so beautiful.

I wasn't prepared for it to be beautiful.

Her house was filled to the brim with new sights, smells, objects, and a strange melody wafting through the air, like singing without words from a large table that spun. It spun! I was dizzy almost instantly, overcome with too many new things. Lucille noticed, making a strange, airy sound and taking my hat. "You've never been inside before, have you?" I shook my head feebly. She made the sound again, a sort of "ha ha ha" noise, which in spite of the newness and strangeness of it, made me smile back at her. Gently, she led me from the doorframe and hung my hat up to dry, offering me a long, thick piece of fabric. "There you are, just dry yourself with this, and I'll find you some different clothes to change into." She was off and rummaging through a tall wooden box with slots before I had a chance to voice my confusion. Half of what she'd said didn't make sense to me.

Not that it really, truly mattered too much. The fact that I was in a human's house, with someone who wasn't afraid of me, was enough. I began to relax a little, looking around more in wonder. Everything sparkled in the light, or smelled sweet, or was soft to the touch. So different from the streets of Paris! My joy was just begging to be set free, welling up almost to bursting.

"Voila!" Lucille appeared again, holding a pile of white cloth in her arms, smiling wide. "The police will never recognize you in this." Tenderly, I lifted the top of the pile and examined it. It was a jacket, much like the old ragged one I had been wearing, but much newer and much nicer. She was giving this to me? I looked at her in surprise, silently questioning her. Why? Why would you do this for someone like me? I didn't even have to say it. She understood. "Go ahead, Monster! It's for you. We have plenty of outfits. I'm sure my uncle can spare one." Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. "Hmm. Surely you must have a better name than just 'Monster'. That's a terrible thing to call you." Lucille made the airy noise again when I utterly failed to be able to get the jacket on. "Easy, you'll rip it! Here, like this," she said, guiding both my arms through the considerably smaller arms of the jacket, and buttoning up the front. "Marvelous!"

I looked down at it, then to her, then back again. Say something! I had to say something, thank her somehow. But my words were few, and I didn't want to look like a fool in front of her. Hesitantly, I quietly whispered, "M….Me…Merci…"

She stared into my eyes, shocked. "What did you say?"

"Mmmm….Merc…ci?"

Slowly, she broke into a smile and touched my hand. "Amazing. You're not monstrous at all, are you?"

Not monstrous?

Lucille turned back to the pile of cloth, helping me dress into the different pieces of it, but my mind stuck on that phrase. Not…Monstrous. NOT monstrous. Me? But I was! Wasn't I? Why would she…

"Sharp!" She patted my head and pointed to the mirror. "You could almost pass for a fine gentleman in this."

In the mirror, a completely different creature stared back at me and smiled wide. Was that ME? The thing didn't look ugly, or monstrous, or even dangerous. It looked… almost…

Human.

Without warning, and much to my surprise, the noise from before erupted from my mouth. "Ha ha ha!" I touched my hand to my face, overcome with joy. "Ha! Ha ha ha ha!"

Lucille seemed a bit worried about all this, but she made the noise with me. "You like that?" I nodded eagerly. She smiled. "Heh…Well I'm glad to see you're laughing." I stopped for a second, tilting my head in confusion. "Oh! That noise you were making, and that I made. That's called laughing. You…well, you laugh when you're happy!"

Happy.

I'd never been this happy before.
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