"Probably not," Evelyn replied.
"Would there be lots of people there with four arms or something freakish?"
Evelyn giggled, then said, "No."
"There'd have to be some sort of difference, wouldn't there?" Kiera's brow furrowed. "If no two people are alike on our planet, how could we be like anything from somewhere else?"
"I don't know," Evelyn admitted.
"I bet they'd be ruled by spiders the size of your car," Kiera said with a shudder. "Could you imagine?"
"They don't have spiders," Evelyn said firmly. "And the people are pretty normal. I imagine I'd want to know if I could come home to visit you."
"Yes, that'd be cool. I'll take care of your house while you're gone," Kiera offered. Drowsiness was beginning to take hold of her. She closed her eyes, content.
"And the cat," Evelyn added.
"Okay."
"But wouldn't you want to go, too?"
"I'm not sure," Kiera murmured, hovering at the edge of sleep.
"Would you be afraid?"
"Probably."
"Maybe you should stay."
"Probably," she said. "I guess I could visit for a week, if it means so much to you."
Evelyn's happy response was lost as she faded into sleep.
Kiera dreamt of a planet filled with spiders and dinosaurs and awoke in her bed a couple of hours later to the soft sound of her alarm clock going off. She blinked her bleary eyes, unwilling to move for fear of the distant headache intensifying. The lingering images of recliner-size tarantulas from her dream made her shudder and look around self-consciously to make sure none were in her room. The scent of bacon reached her from the kitchen.
Romas was there. Evelyn only cooked when he spent the night, which would also explain how she ended up in her bed. She recalled falling asleep on the roof and knew Evelyn to be too tipsy to carry or drag her down to her room. Romas had tossed her in bed more than once over the past three months, though he had stopped lecturing her on how unbecoming a lush was to a man looking for a wife.
He had some unworldly views on things, she mused. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, where she had pinned one of her inspiration posters above the bed. This one showed a determined kitty hanging from a tree branch and always made her smile, even when she was hung-over.