Read Your Gravity: Part One for Free Online

face. “I remember the day when Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played it at Woodstock. That was my first time I’d ever been with a—oh, you don’t need to know that part. Anyway, will Greg be joining us for dinner?”
    “Yeah, he texted me. He’s on his way. Can I help with dinner?”
    “Sure. You can put the hot dogs on the grill there.”
    “You eat hot dogs?”
    “They’re Tofurky dogs. Totally meatless, but just as good.”
    I picked up a pale, tube shaped substance. It was hard to imagine anything looking like that tasting good. But I was so hungry I’d eat just about anything at that point.
    “So how was your first day of college life?”
    “Fine.” I was such a liar and apparently a really bad one because Rainbow arched an eyebrow at my answer.
    “Your aura tells me otherwise.”
    “My aura?”
    “Yes, it’s a bit of a muddy blue today. It’s as if you’re afraid of something.”
    “It’s nothing bad, really. My chemistry professor and I got off on the wrong foot. He kind of acted like a . . . well, uh, like an arrogant asshole.” There was no other way to put it.
    “They usually are.”
    I laughed. “To be fair, I kind of ruined his shirt and made him late for his class. I tried to apologize to Professor Cooper, but that just made things worse.”
    A bowl slipped out of her hands, shattering on the floor. Her face paled.
    “Are you okay?” I bent down picking up the pieces around her bare feet.
    “Did you say Cooper? Jackson Cooper?”
    “Yeah, do you know him?”
    She blinked, opening and closing her mouth as if I’d caught her off guard.
    “Sure. A lot of people do. He’s one of the leading researchers in his field.” She grabbed a broom and busied herself sweeping the spotless floor. “Interesting that a renowned biochemist would teach a freshman chemistry class. So, he was cranky?”
    “That’s the understatement of the decade.”
    “I’m sure things will settle down once everyone is over the first week of the semester crazies. How about your other classes?”
    She was trying to change the subject. That just made me even more curious. She didn’t seem like the type of person to avoid things. That was more my parents’ MO.
    After we set the table and placed the Tofurky dogs on a platter, I sat down, ready to dig into the salad. At least that looked reasonably normal. That’s when I heard a yelp and saw Greg’s head dash across the kitchen window.
    “Greg?”
    There was a loud squawking followed by a high-pitch screech and he zoomed past the window again.
    The front door slammed, and he rushed into the kitchen, yelling, “Make it go away! It’s attacking me!”
    “What’s after you?” I asked as I watched Greg run around the table, his arms flailing.
    He quickly hopped on one of the kitchen chairs and snatched a knife. “That . . . that thing.”
    He jabbed the knife at something beneath his feet.
    “Look at its beady eyes. It wants to kill me.”
    I looked around the floor and saw a flash of feathers as something scurried past my feet. Yelping, I jumped up onto my seat. “What the hell is that?”
    “Penny, what did I say about you coming into the house?” Rainbow scolded as she bent down and scooped up the creature. She ran a palm across its tiny head. “You naughty girl.”
    “Is that a . . .?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “What is that?”
    “Pass me the barbecue sauce and that’s dinner,” Greg said.
    The chicken squawked.
    Whoa! A pet chicken. Was that a Texas thing or Rainbow thing?
    “Now, now, Penny, he didn’t mean that. He was just joking,” Rainbow crooned.
    “No, I’m not,” he mouthed.
    Penny’s beady eyes glared at him, keeping an eye on the knife.
    “I didn’t know you had any pets,” I said.
    “Penny belongs to my life partner, Meadow. She’s backpacking through Tibet. You’ll meet her in a few weeks when she gets back. Greg, you can put the knife down. Penny won’t peck at you. Right, Penny?”
    Greg narrowed his