“Zas! Answer the door.” Ezza mumbled into his pillow. He gave Zas a push. Zas came awake with a shock as he was practically pushed out of the bed. Picking up his pillow he hit Ezza with it.

“Why should I answer it?” He huffed angrily. Ezza turned his head and tried to glare at Zas through his sleep blurred eyes.

“Because it’s probably Katrina. She has no concept of time, or common decency when there’s something she wants.” Ezza said.

“That’s not true.” Zas said tugging on his clothes.

“Whatever man, she practically lives here. How often have I had to stay on the couch?” Ezza asked. Zas smirked as he ran his hands through his hair in an attempt to tame it.

“Price of being single in an adults world.” Zas joked as he walked out.

Zas opened the door to an excited Katrina, who leaped into his arms and gave him a hug.

“Morning, Love Bug.” She said tapping him on the nose. Then she walked past him into the house. Dina smiled a little shyly at Zas. He stood to the side and motioned her to come into the house. Dina followed her sister in and looked towards the bedroom.

 

“Oh, Mr. Grump was just getting up. I’ll just go check on him.” Zas said. He winked at Katrina who giggled, and then went into the bedroom. Ezza was sleeping peacefully in the bed. Zas leaned down close to his head, and whispered in his ear to wake up. Ezza grunted and shifted a little. Whoo-boy, this was going to be fun. Zas crawled onto the empty side of the bed and turned so his feet were placed against Ezza’s back. He called Ezza’s one last time. When he didn’t respond he pushed as hard and as fast as he could with his legs. Ezza crashed off of the bed and came up from the floor yelling.

“What is wrong with you!? Are you a child or just brain-dead you jerk? Honestly, I’m tired. Unlike somebody in this house, I actually work hard, and don’t just talk at work all night. Then I come home to an ungrateful friend, who can’t even let me rest. Go be with your little annoying woman! Leave me be!” Ezza rubbed his eyes and stared balefully at Zas.

“Well, I’d do that, but someone else came over. Someone who was looking for you, and is waiting for you to make an appearance.” Zas replied amused. Ezza stopped and then looked towards the main room as if he could see through the walls.

“Who is it?” He asked.

“Dina Caliente. She’s been coming over a lot, always looking for you. I suggest you get out there Tiger.” Zas said heading back out. Ezza sighed a bit impatiently and then started making himself presentable. Honestly, human woman were such a pain. He paused as he put on his pants. Thoughts of Ti’Voxi entering his head. His chest twinged a bit from the sad memories and he shook his head. No point living in the past, besides woman from any planet were pains. He gave himself a once over in the reflection of the aquarium glass and then headed out.

“Hello Ezza. Sorry about that, Zas said you were already awake. I didn’t mean to have you woken.” Dina said as Ezza joined them.

“It’s not a problem. Always good to see you Ladies.” Ezza said smiling at Dina and Katrina.

“Oh really? I thought I was an annoying little woman.” Katrina said sulkily. Ezza looked at her kind of sheepishly.

“I apologize. I didn’t mean it like that. I was tired, and suddenly found myself shoved out of bed. I was merely grumpy and spoke out of turn.” Ezza said. Dina and Katrina both started to giggle. Ezza looked confused and then looked at Zas.

Okay, what’s happened?

They’re having fun with you. Apparently they heard you wake up. Human woman are fun aren’t they?

I think you finally went brain-dead.

“Oh Ezza lighten up. I was just messing with you. Zas can be a bit much at times. Trust me I know.” Katrina said giving a little giggle and slapping Zas on the leg. Ezza smiled back at her and bowed his head. “Besides, you need to stop being so formal, people will think you’re not human.”

Both men froze at her remark. Dina snickered and mimed a robot. Zas let out a nervous laugh, followed shortly by Ezza. Neither girl noticed the men’s discomfort, and they moved on to other topics. After a short while there was knock on the door. Layne had arrived. Ezza went out to talk to Layne for a moment while Zas entertained the woman.

“So you have a Gardner now?” Katrina asked. Dina had gotten up and was looking out the window, watching Ezza.

“Yes. The deal we made with Clara has been very beneficial for everybody. The specialty items are a hit at Make A Dish and we now have more income than ever before.” Zas smiled, his arm stretching behind Katrina.

“Ezza is great isn’t he?” Dina smiled as she watched Ezza and Layne looking over the plants in the garden. Zas and Katrina looked at each other and then smiled.

“Who said anything about Ezza?” Katrina asked. Dina’s face turned pink and she turned away from the window embarrassed.

“I just meant it’s his produce that we use in the specialty dishes everyone loves. Also, he takes really good care of his garden so it’s no wonder the food tastes great. I mean, if the produce is great the food will be too. That’s all I meant.” Dina rambled as she went to the table to sit. Zas chuckled.

“Oh calm down. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Katrina said. After that they had quite a pleasant visit. Ezza however remained outside with Layne tending the garden. After a while the girls left and Zas went out to join the guys.

“You missed a very lovely visit.” Zas said.

“I liked it better out here. Besides the garden needed work.” Ezza said pulling some weeds out. Layne laughed.

“Probably safer out here too.” He said. Ezza nodded his head in agreement. Zas let out an exasperated sigh.

“Honestly Men, and I use that term loosely here. You have to get used to woman. Do you plan on living alone the rest of your life alone.” Zas was staring at the two men.

“Not alone. I have you.” Ezza stated simply. Layne watched as the two best friends bickered back and forth about romance. It was a common occurrence here he had figured out since being hired.

“Maybe I’ll move out one day, settle down with a nice woman. Start a family. Then you’ll be by yourself. What are you going to do then? Move Layne in?” Zas asked.

“With who?” Ezza asked at the same time Layne asked if Katrina knew he had met a nice girl.

“I meant Katrina!” Zas snipped. “Besides, I doubt Layne wants live with a grump like you anyways.”

Ezza looked at Zas for a moment in contemplation, then shifted his gaze over to Layne asking for back up.

“Well now, I wouldn’t mind having Ezza stay with me. Of course, my wife might. Our boys just left the nest a short while ago. So I think she’s looking forward to spending time together.” Layne said. Both Zas and Ezza stared at Layne for a minute

“Wait, you’re married.” Zas said astonished. Ezza slapped him the leg.

“Don’t be rude.” Ezza said as he went back to weeding. Layne laughed and nodded at Zas.

“Yes Sir, my Lucy is a wonderful woman. We’ve had three wonderful girls. Pain in my backside, but wonderful all the same.” Layne said. Zas rubbed his chin.

“Girls you said? Legal.” Zas asked. Layne laughed and flung a small amount of dirt at him. Zas retreated into the house as Layne chuckled and Ezza apologized for him.

Over the next couple of weeks Bella Goth started coming over. She had seemed to become friendlier with them after Mortimer had come home and told her about Katrina seeing a young man named Zas. She came over for the company on days when Mortimer ‘worked’ late. As always when she came over she peppered them with questions of Katrina. Both Zas and Ezza had learned how to steer her away from that topic over time.
One evening they got a call from Summer. She was going to throw a BBQ and wanted them to come. After working in the garden and cleaning up, they headed over.

“YEAHY! I was hoping you two would agree to come.” Summer came bouncing down the front steps as soon as they got there. She gave each of them a hug and led them in. Ezza decided to go out to the yard and check on the garden he had planted a while ago.

He passed Trevor on his way out who was prepping the BBQ. Trevor followed him over to the garden patches and made small talk. For Ezza’s part he made general noises that kept Trevor talking but he mostly blocked him out. After a few lewd jokes Ezza excused himself, saying he was going to check out the community garden behind the house. As he left Trevor went back to starting dinner. Ezza found Zas and Summer chatting in the small alcove off of the kitchen about computers. He let them know where he was going and then left.

Outside Ezza took a deep breath. He loved being outdoors. He turned the corner and started heading towards the community garden. It was funny, they didn’t have sidewalks on his planet, but here on Earth he felt compelled to follow them, even though it would be quicker to not use them. There were a lot of quirky things on this planet, like how the weather never changed. It was always sunny. It made for a lot of work in the garden, but humans always seemed to get a lot done because of it. Ezza came to a stop just outside the garden entrance. There he saw two people; one was a beautiful woman and the other was…well he wasn’t sure what it was.

The woman looked up at Ezza and smiled. The other person walked away and the woman beckoned him over. Ezza approached slowly. He wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Hello Big Fella. I’m glad you found me. So you want to do the challenge? Sure you do. That’s why you found me right?” She said smiling at him. Ezza stared at her.

“I’m Jasmine,” she said. “Here let’s start off by giving you this.” She pulled a shelf out from behind the wall. She handed a small red shelf to Ezza. He took it and looked at it for a moment. He smiled and thanked her, but not sure for what. Seeing the confused look on his face, Jasmine continued.

“So, there are lots of people who are participating. You put this shelf up at your house. Now as for what to do. There are volunteers around town, they will be dressed up for the Day of the Dead celebration. All you have to do is go up to them and ask for their skulls.”

“Their skulls?” Ezza asked in disbelief.

“Yup, once you collect nine of them, bring them back here and I’ll give you mine. It’s the tenth one.” Jasmine said happily.

“You don’t need them? None of you do?” Ezza asked for clarification.

“Oh goodness no. It’s all in good fun right? I mean what would I do with it?” She laughed as if she had made the greatest joke in the world.

“What am I supposed to do with all your skulls?” Ezza asked staring at her in wonder.

“Why you call the Grim Reaper. Make friends with Death. Okay Big Guy, get out there and start getting people’s skulls. Oh look there’s one of the Celebrants now.” Jasmine gave him a shove towards the young girl walking down the street towards them. Ezza was both frightened and fascinated by what was about to happen. Steeling himself as he reached the girl, he had to call out to her a couple of times because she seemed engrossed in whatever was happening on her phone. Finally she looked up at him.

“Ew, what?” She said with obvious disgust. Ezza was too preoccupied with what would happen next to note the tone of her voice.

“I’m here to get your skull.” He said. His voice started strong, but by the end it had quieted to almost a whisper. He seemed excited, but whether from a morbid fascination or a dawning horror about to be witnessed no one could be sure.

“OMG! I knew this was a horrible idea. Go ahead Luna, it’ll be fun. Do something for the Community. Get our family name out there. Hugo is doing it. Hugo also stuffs his face all the time. Like I’d do that, as if! What are you staring at you perv!?” Luna said noticing Ezza’s focused attention on her.

Ezza had leaned close to Luna so he could witness her taking out her skull. He had a look of wonder on his face and didn’t notice her back away. When he finally did at her little outburst, he backed up blushing.

“I didn’t… I mean, I was just…” Ezza scratched his head as he stammered out his excuses. Luna stomped her foot and then started yelling at him.

“Honestly, you’re so old. Back off geezer! God, the things I have to put up with. Besides, you almost ruined my makeup! Do you know how long it took me to get it just right? Matched to my dress. I even tied in the colour of my shoes and trim. Like hello! I’m too good for you.” She had started waving her hands around. Ezza was starting to get embarrassed.

“I, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted your skull.” He said rather pathetically.

“As if! Like I’m giving you any sugar, you perv.” Luna finished in a cold tone. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and then stormed off leaving Ezza standing on the sidewalk embarrassed and disappointed. Sugar?

Ezza returned to Summer’s home just as Trevor was plating the hotdogs he had made. At the look on his face Summer asked what was wrong. Ezza told them about his encounter with Jasmine and Luna. Trevor laughed.

“She sounds like a force to be reckoned with. I would’ve killed to be there and see that.” He continued laughing.

“Don’t worry Ezza. She was just a poor sport. I’m sure you’ll get the next one.” Summer said. Zas nodded and patted him on the back not quite understanding himself.

“I’m still not sure why I want people’s skulls. Don’t you need them?” He asked. Trevor burst into laughter spitting some food out of his mouth. Summer shot him a dirty look and then explained about the sugar skulls. Understanding dawned on both men at the same time. The rest of their dinner was great. They talked for hours, eventually moving inside one of the bedrooms as Liberty came home and gripped about not being able to watch tv after work.

After getting home, Zas went into the bathroom and Ezza did a last-minute check on his garden in case something had happened while he was away. SItting in the tub, he had to wonder if there was a better one. Not that this one didn’t do the trick, but it was slightly uncomfortable and confining. He’d talk to Ezza about it in the morning.

Ezza had just crawled into the bed when Zas came in.

“You know, I was thinking about this earlier. Have you noticed anything strange about this planet?” Ezza asked. Zas slipped under the covers.

“You mean besides the fact that it doesn’t look the same as home? How about how it’s full of aliens?” Zas asked a grin starting to spread on his face.

“I meant how it’s strangely advanced in some ways and yet clearly lacking in others. The weather too, I noticed it today. It’s optimal for humans. There’s no changes, it’s perfect for humans to grow and prosper.” Ezza said rolling his eyes at Zas’s sarcasm.

Zas sighed. Rolling away from Ezza he made a noncommittal noise. He felt Ezza lay back and finally drifted off to sleep. Zas lay awake for a long time thinking about what Ezza said. All Zas could hear was Now hold still Muffin.