Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Because she was Ursa’s mother. I wasn’t in Ursa’s body yet. I didn’t take it over until after the men killed her.”
“You mean they killed your mother?”
“I meant Ursa.”

aybe because I’d lost my dad without getting a chance to tell him what he meant to me, I decided to get closer. I got so close, her pain and fear became my own. We shared everything and loved each other like we never had when death was some distant thing. In the end, part of me died with her. I’m not recovered from it even now, but I made the conscious choice to enter the darkness with her. Everyone I know who’s lost someone they love has voiced regrets—they wish they’d done this or that or loved them more. I have no regrets. None.”

better.”
“I know. I’ve decided language isn’t as advanced as we think it is. We’re still apes trying to express our thoughts with grunts while most of what we want to communicate stays locked in our brains.”

There’s no stopping Tabby when she gets one of her ideas. Did she tell you she once snuck a lamb into the hospital?”
“Wait—did you just say a lamb ?”
“Yep. Her vet specialty is large animals. One of the lambs from the research herd lost its mother, and she was helping bottle-feed it. She knows I love the baby farm animals she works with, so she packs the lamb in her car with its milk, drives up to Chicago, and sneaks it into my room two days after my breasts were removed. She takes this tiny lamb out of a shoulder bag, lays it on my bed, and hands me the bottle. There, she says, who needs tits anyway? There are other ways to give milk. ”
Gabe looked away and blinked.
“I know. I cried like a baby. At first she thought it was because I was upset. But I loved it. It was one of the best crazy things she’s ever done.”