Homing by Stephanie Domet

between them, sucking meditatively and mostly keeping quiet, except to bitch about the cold. As they turned to go, a flash of colour caught Henry’s eye. A line of small brightly hued animals gathered under the bushes near the side door.
    â€œThe fuck,” he said. “Check these out.”
    He crouched down to get a better look. Cat, frog, fish, bird, all made of paper and neatly arranged beneath the lowest boughs of the evergreen shrubbery, sheltered there from the wind.
    â€œAwww,” said Johnny Parker. “Ain’t they cute. The fuck are they?”
    â€œDunno,” Henry said. “What’s it called? They’re made of paper. Ori...orig...origami or something,” he said.
    â€œWhat’re they doing under there?”
    â€œFucked if I know,” said Henry. He stood up, brushed his hands off on his jeans. “Weird.”
    â€œYeah. Let’s go,” Johnny Parker said, already starting to walk away, toward Grafton Street.
    â€œYeah, okay.” He looked at the animals one more time, shivered again suddenly, violently, and shook his head. “Fucking weather,” Henry groaned. He caught up to Johnny Parker and slugged his upper arm. “Booze Barn,” he shouted, in a semblance of happy yelling.

    â€œDUDE,” Johnny Parker hooted, giving Henry a short shove. In this way, they made their way off to the bar.
    * * *
    Nathan hid behind the bushes till the loud guys moved on. It was awful when they spotted his animals, though he’d hoped one of the guys might at least know what they were for, that in such an accidental way Nathan might find out what he was supposed to use them for, or make of them, or do with them. But no luck. They were origami; sure, Nathan already knew that. The question was why were they being sent to the library? Even better, who was doing the sending? He was just going to have to be patient, he thought, and wait for it to become clear. He hated to think of them being stolen by someone while he paced the path. Because what if it turned out you needed to have all of them all together to get it, whatever it was you were supposed to get? He shuffled over to the clearing under the shrub where the animals sat. He liked being able to see them any time he wanted, but obviously, that just wasn’t going to do any longer. He had trouble these days actually using his fingers, maybe from the cold. But if he concentrated really hard, he found he could move small items just by thinking about it. He focused on the origami for a while and managed to nudge them further under the bushes, to a more protected spot. Then he curled up in the bushes himself. It was cold and damp but he didn’t mind. He closed his eyes and tried to think of Rebecca, but he could only see Leah. Seeing her made him feel bad, but he didn’t know why. So he kept his eyes open instead.
    * * *
    Leah lay in the dark in her room; eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Wasn’t much to look at up there, and she’d already counted the ceiling tiles. And here she was, still awake. She let out a lungful of breath. This middle of the night wakefulness was what she got, she supposed, for sleeping all day and doing nothing to earn a night of rest. Lying on the couch reading home decorating magazines wasn’t exactly the kind of thing that could wear a girl out. It was plenty depressing, sure, and that brought with it its own kind of exhaustion, but it wasn’t the kind that tended to lead to the satisfied, deep sleepshe was craving. She wasn’t going to find that kind tonight. She rolled over and looked at the clock. Coming up on two in the morning. God. Way too early to actually get up. Too late to get dressed again and pretend she’d just been napping. Way too late to call anyone, even Charlotte. Well, she thought, I can always get up and do the dishes.
    â€œYes,” she said aloud. “I’ll get up.”
    She sat up, gingerly put her feet on