H15C2

Hybrid 15
Chapter 2

Leslie rolled her shoulders carefully, then stretched her arms up behind her head as she leaned back in her chair. Paperwork was her least favorite part of owning a business, but the satisfaction of her completed work was almost enough to make up for it. She usually had to finish up on Saturday mornings, but she was actually going to have this one free. Not only that, but she would have the apartment to herself since Jeremy was spending the night with a friend. It was going to be a good week after all.

Walking down the half dozen steps to the main body of her baseball card store, she was immediately met by John Wright, her assistant manager in the shop. As usual, he had his trusty clipboard in hand, ready to relay messages, discuss invoices and take instructions. "I've just finished unpacking the Fleer shipment and the Topps are ready for you too, but we were shorted twelve boxes in the Donruss order."

Leslie nodded. "I've already talked with them. They said that they were back-ordered and we would get the other boxes within the next couple of weeks. Just set out all of the Donruss we have and a few of the others. I'll decide later if I want to break up the rest of the sets."

John scribbled briefly at his clipboard, then tapped his pen against the next order of business. "There was a guy that called earlier asking for as many Cal Ripken, Jr. that we can get a hold of. Specifically, 1984. I told him that we didn’t have any in stock at the moment, but I took his name and number."

Leslie pursed her lips in a silent whistle. That particular card wasn't the easiest thing to find, but she was fairly sure that she could come up with several. "Did he say which brand name he wanted?"

"He said that he preferred Donruss, but he would take anything and everything that we could get."

Again she nodded. "I think that I have about half a dozen in my own collection that I would be willing to part with. Call him back and see if he wants any more than that and I'll contact Dad if he does. Speaking of Dad," she held up her finger to keep John from continuing with his list before she lost her thought. "He was actually able to track down that 1963 Fleer set that we've been looking for. Call Brian Jacobs and tell him that the price stands at $1600 and make sure that he still wants it. Of course, Dad has already checked the set for quality, but I'll give it a look-see when it gets here."

"You're not fooling me, Leslie Collins," John smiled as he made a brief note to himself. "You'll be drooling over that set the minute it comes in the store. I wouldn't be surprised if you told Mr. Jacobs that he can do with his money and just keep the set for yourself."

"Believe me John, if it was anyone other than Brian Jacobs, I just might do that, but he's too good a customer to disappoint. Was there anything else?"

"No, that about does it for me, but weren't you suppose to pick up Jeremy at the park at three?"

Leslie glanced up at the Mickey Mantle clock that hung high on the wall beside her and saw that it was already half past three before turning her attention back to her assistant manager. "No. Jeremy’s staying over with a friend tonight and his mom was suppose to pick them up. She should have called me by now, though."

“They probably just stopped off for ice cream or something,” he assured her, but knew that Les would be on the phone as soon as she could steal a minute to herself.

Stepping out from behind the counter, Leslie crossed over to a hefty man seated in a wheelchair that was having a profuse argument with one of her employees. "How are you doing these days Shorty," she addressed the man in the wheelchair with a smile as she held out her hand. "We haven't been seeing much of you lately."

"You know how it goes, Les," he gave her a wicked grin as he took her hand. "The ladies just can't get enough of me so you'd better get your appointment book out while you can."

"I'll just have to take my chances,” she returned, brushing off the obligatory flirtation easily. The majority of the men that were regular customers in her shop usually made at least one pass at her while they were there and she handled it all with a smile. "So what can we do for you today?" she asked solicitously, taking a baseball card in a hard plastic cover from her employee, Bob, while she listened to Shorty's story.

"I was looking to sell that '73 Nolan Ryan, but Bob here is only offering me fifty dollars for it and I know that it's worth almost twice that," Shorty huffed indignantly. "I checked it in the buyer's guide myself."

"Now Shorty," Leslie began with just the slightest note of rebuke in her voice. "You know that those prices are for mint cards and this one has a wax mark on the lower left corner as well as a rough cut edge just above that." She handed the card back to Bob as she leaned toward Shorty and lowered her voice to a low rumble. "I wouldn't offer you more than thirty-five myself so you better take Bob's offer while you can." She looked back at her employee and gave him a conspiratorial wink. "I'll dock his paycheck later."

Moving slowly away, she detached herself from the conversation with practiced ease as she headed toward a man leaning over a section of her counter with a card box resting in front of him. He appeared to be peering into the display case, but she hadn't missed the gentle shake of his shoulders as he eavesdropped on her conversation, quietly chuckling at the results.

"How are you today, Mr. Jenkins?" she asked politely as she stepped up to him. "Find anything interesting?"

Luke turned, leaning his elbow on the counter as he looked up at her. "Only the show, Miss. Collins," he said with a smile. "You do have a way of...handling men."

Leslie sighed. She was in no mood to match words with Luke Jenkins, especially not in her own store. "I walk a fine line, Mr. Jenkins. I must keep my customers happy, but keep from getting taken in the process."

Luke nodded slowly, then turned her words back on her. "I suppose that depends on what you must do to keep your customers happy and what you're getting taken for?"

"Not for a fool, I assure you." She saw a spark brighten his eyes and started to fold her arms around her waist, then quickly dropped them again when she remembered the way that he had looked at her when she had taken that stance once before. "Are you buying or selling?" she asked coolly.

She’s strictly business, Luke thought a little remorsefully. He knew it was his own fault for blatantly challenging her when they first met. If he had only taken the time to get the facts, then she might be turning that charming smile on him instead. "Selling," he stated as he nudged a white rectangular box in her direction. "It's a complete set."

"What are you asking?" Leslie asked automatically as she pulled open the lid to check the contents.

"Two hundred?" he suggested tentatively.

She had only gone through the first few cards in the set before slamming the lid closed again and turning toward him with her fists on her hips. "What kind of game are you playing?" she asked furiously.

Luke quickly stood up from leaning against the counter and held up his hands in surrender. "It's a fair price," he defended himself.

"It's a ridiculous price! That's a '71 Topps set. It's worth ten times that amount and you know it!" Les quickly dropped her hands to her side and took a steadying breath before fixing him with a hard look. "I run an honest store, Mr. Jenkins. My customers get a fair price for the things that they buy and receive a fair price for the things that they sell. I don’t appreciate having my integrity or my knowledge of the business put into question which, I have to assume, is your intent by asking for such a ludicrous price."

She took another moment to calm down before affixing a serious look on her face. "Now. If you want to sell the set, I'll make you a legitimate offer."

Luke slid the box back in front of him and carefully tucked in the winged flaps as he closed the lid properly. "Actually, I'm not interested in selling, but I thought that it would be the easiest way to strike up a conversation with you." He gave her a sheepish look out of the corner of his eye. "I don't seem to be doing very well in that department lately."

Leslie could see why he had developed a reputation of a heart breaker. She actually regretted her outburst and felt herself swaying toward his rock-hard body and roguish good looks, but she wasn't a woman to swoon every time a handsome man looked her way.

"You didn't give me a chance to apologize the other day,” he added. “I was way out of line and I thought that I could make it up to you with dinner?"

She could feel herself weakening and hated herself for it. She knew that he had only been looking out for her brother when he had confronted her and she respected him for that, but that didn’t mean that she had to fall into his arms now that he had apologized. Firming her resolve, she offered him a slight smile as a peace offering. "That isn't necessary, Mr. Jenkins. It was only a misunderstanding and I do appreciate your concern. Apology accepted."

"That offer for dinner still stands," he stated quickly when she would have turned away. "I know of a new Chinese restaurant in town that serves great egg-drop soup."

Leslie bit at her lip to keep an affirmative answer from slipping out, then offered another practiced smile. "Actually, I was planning on staying in to watch the Braves/Reds game tonight." She had intended the statement as another refusal, but he didn’t take it that way.

"Even better," Luke smiled. "I'll order some pizza and pick up some beer," he said hopefully. "I have a big screen TV,” he added when she looked about to refuse again,

She hesitated for a second and knew that she had been hooked. She gave him a genuine smile as she nodded toward his box of cards. "Keep your set, Mr. Jenkins," she said as she walked away.

"And the game?" he called to her back.

"Pick me up at six," she tossed over her shoulder.

<*>

"I can't believe you're doing this to me." Rick offered his most pitiful look as he pleaded with his friend in the kitchen, but Luke wouldn't budge. "You're only watching the game, for crying out loud. What difference would it make if I was here?"

"Did you take a good look at her?" Luke returned in a conspiratorial whisper as he gestured to Les waiting in the other room.

He nodded solemnly. "So she's a looker. So what?"

Luke shook his head. "You don't get it, man. It's not just the looks. She's smart, she’s honest, she’s got a head for business, she actually loves sports and she even owns her own baseball card shop for Pete's sake." He ticked off her most important attributes on his fingers, then paused for dramatic effect. "To top it all off, her mother died when she was fifteen."

Rick's eyes grew as round as saucers as he drew in a sharp breath. "The perfect woman," he whispered reverently.

"Exactly!" he heaved out with a sigh of relief. "I've already screwed up with her twice and I want to make sure that I don't do that again. That's why you have to get out of here and now!" he insisted as he pushed him toward the back door.

"But I just can't go back to the house," Rick begged. "Carol's mom came into town early and they've already moved the furniture out of the game room so I can't watch the game there."

"Then go down to the pub. They have three big screen TV's there and, if you set in the corner booth, you can see all three sets." Luke continued to nudge him. He wasn’t entirely unsympathetic, but that night was too important to him. "Believe me Rick, if it were any other night, I'd be there for you, but not tonight!"

Luke felt a little pang of guilt as he walked back into the living room, but it died a quick death when he saw Les standing by his floor to ceiling cage searching for its skittish occupant. She really was beautiful. That long ebony hair glided across her back like silk and her snug blue jeans put just the perfect accent on her tapered legs. It was hard to believe that a woman so delicate could be so knowledgeable about sports. Rick wasn't kidding when he called her the perfect woman.

"Where's Rick?" Leslie asked as she darted a glance back at him, then turned to search the nooks and crannies of the elaborate cage again. She was sure that there was something in there, but she just couldn't find it.

"Oh...uh...he had to leave," he answered awkwardly as he moved toward her. "He did tell me to say good-bye to..." The rest of his statement was cut off when a white blur threw itself against the side of the cage and Les leapt back into his arms with a strangled scream.

"What the hell is that?!" Les panted as she looked down at the floor of the cage where a bizarre snake-like creature stared up at her with its mouth agape.

"Sorry. I should have warned you." Luke was reluctant to let her out of the circle of his arms, but he knew that his pet wouldn't give them a moments peace if he didn't try to calm the animal. "He's actually harmless, but he has a nasty habit of jumping out at you when you least expect it."

Les watched nervously as he reached into the cage and withdrew the animal. "I didn't know that snakes could jump like that."

"He's not really a snake," he corrected her as he gently scratched the animal on the back of its head, then held it up to his face to speak to it. "You know better than to jump against the cage like that. You could hurt yourself," he reprimanded his pet gently, then held it out toward Les. "Hy, I want you to meet Leslie. Les, this is Hy."

She looked up at him curiously at the introduction. He actually spoke to the animal like it could understand him. "Do you mean hi as in," she flicked her hand briefly in a wave, then slowly reached out to touch the unusual animal.

"Hy is really short for Hybrid. Hybrid one, to be exact. My dad was a geneticist, you see, and Hy was his first creation." Luke moved his hand closer to Leslie's so that the little animal would slide into her palm. "Hy is a combination of about a dozen different animals ranging from snakes to primates."

"Is that really possible?" Les asked incredulously.

"You have the proof in your hand." He smiled at the way that Hy curled around her hand, obligingly lifting his head to be lovingly stroked.

"What is this?" Les asked as she carefully lifted the tip of the animal's tail. "Is that hair?"

Luke nodded. "That wasn't the only thing that Hy got from the primates. He has an intelligence that defies all reason. He can sit up on command, or roll over. He'll even come when you call him, if he’s in the mood to, that is.”

"You're kidding?" She laughed as she looked at the colorful diamond markings along Hy's back. "He's absolutely beautiful. I've never seen an animal like him."

"And you never will," he confirmed. "Hy is one of a kind, much to Dad's regret."

"What do you mean?"

"Hy's sterile. Dad went over his notes and back again hundreds of times, but he couldn't figure out where he went wrong. He’s suppose to be a hermaphrodite. With the DNA that was incorporated into Hy's genetic makeup, he should have been able to reproduce without a partner, but he never did." Luke offered a casual shrug for something that he didn't quite understand. "Dad about drove himself nuts before finally giving up and trying again. That's when he brought Hy home for me as a pet."

"You mean that there are other animals like Hy?"

He shook his head. "Not like Hy, but there were a few other successes.” He held up a finger to hold that thought as he disappeared into the kitchen again.

Les heard him opening up the back door and calling out the name Morse. A few moments later, he was walking back in with a coal black animal trailing after him. “That has got to be the most unusual dog I’ve ever seen,” she commented.

“Did you hear that Morse?” he asked the small animal as he bent down to pick her up. “She called you a dog.” He smiled at Les as he held the animal up for a closer inspection. “It’s a common mistake, but she’s definitely not a dog.”

“That’s a horse!” she exclaimed, completely astonished at the diminutive size. “It can’t be more than a foot tall.”

“Eight inches from head to hoof,” he returned as he lightly stroked her neck. “Here. You can hold her, but be careful. She likes to nip things especially fingers and toes.” He slipped the animal into her hand as he took Hy back from her and let him slither over his shoulders. “I call her Morse because she’s part mouse and part horse, but she has at least a dozen different species in her as well.”

“Is she a hermaphrodite like Hy?” she asked, cuddling the tiny animal in her arms as she ran her fingers as well as her eyes over its entire length.

“No she’s not. Dad tried to create a mate for her, but none of them survived more than a few weeks.”

“Oh look! She has two toes instead of one!” she said as she stroked the hoofs, then Morse started to thrash in her arms to the point that she was afraid that she was going to drop her.

Luke quickly reached out to help her set the animal safely down to the floor. “She’s ticklish there,” he explained, then they watched her gallop off into the kitchen.

“Is she okay in here?” she asked with concern.

“Oh yeah. Morse is even trained to the litter box, but she prefers to be outside when the weather’s nice. She has free reign of the back yard and, considering her size, that’s like a wide open field to her.”

Les shook her head, her thoughts a blur of unasked questions. “This is absolutely amazing,” she said, then laughed at the inadequate statement as she reached out to touch the fuzzy tail of the snake around his neck. “They are both so beautiful and so completely unique that I can’t even think of the words to describe how I’m feeling. Did your dad make any other hybrids?”

“I don't really know,” he answered honestly. “A lot of the stuff that Dad worked on was classified so he didn't talk about it much. I guess I'll never know now if he ever succeeded again. Dad died about ten years ago."

Les gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry. I know what it feels like to lose a parent." She shifted her attention from Luke quickly when the small creature that he held stretched its head up to her nose. Her first reaction was to pull back, but then she lowered her head again and sniffed. "He has a scent!" She drew in a slow deep breath. "Why, it's almost like...tropical flowers or something."

Luke smiled as he return Hy to his cage. "That was another thing that Dad couldn't figure out. Hy emits that aroma only when he's held in the human hand. Dad seemed to think that it had something to do with the oils on human skin mixing with those on Hy, but he couldn't tell for sure. It's past you bedtime Hy," he spoke to the animal like a small child.

But Hy had other thoughts. He turned his little head from Luke to Les and then back again, fixing his master with, what Les could only explain as, a beseeching look.     "No. Les will come back to play with you another time," Luke told his little friend, then watched as his pet slowly climbed the combination of dead tree branches and carpeted wood to reach a tiny little house midway up the cage.

"I can't believe it!" Leslie gaped in amazement. "He actually looked like he could understand you!"

"Hy likes to play dumb sometimes, but he's really very smart." He smiled down at her, then their conversation was abruptly interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. "That must be our pizza. Why don't you get the game on the set and I'll round us up a couple of beers," he suggested as he moved toward the door.

<*>

They chuckled softly over the game as they walked up the three flights of stairs to her tiny apartment and stood on the landing outside her door. If nothing else, the evening had declared a cease of all hostilities between them and had sprouted a shoot of friendship that promised to flower. But Les suddenly wanted more than that. If only she knew how to tell him that without sounding like a complete fool. "I must say that I'm terribly disappointed in you," she tested, glancing up at him coyly.

Luke blinked rapidly in surprise as he looked at her. He thought that he had behaved like a perfect gentleman all evening. "Disappointed? Why?"

"Well, from all of the rumors that I’ve heard about you, I half expected you to pounce on me the moment we walked into your house."

Luke chuckled softly, wary of alerting her watchful neighbors. "The rumor about the Sheldon twins still circulating, is it?"

"One of many," she answered with a smile. She knew better than to take rumors at face value, but Luke Jenkins was a favorite topic of the ladies in town.

"Actually, that was one of Rick's inventions, but the twins didn't bother to deny it for some reason. You know what it's like to live in a place as small as Crammer. The town pastime is who's doing what to whom and they usually get it wrong."

"But still," Les hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "I wasn't expecting the game to be the only thing that you were interested in."

His grin faded until only the corners of his well-shaped lips showed any sign of humor and his eyes held hers with a penetrating stare. "I'm interested," he whispered.

Leslie's heart leapt excitedly. Was he going to kiss her now? She had made an opening for him the size of Kansas, but Luke kept his distance. Several seconds had slipped by and still nothing. What is wrong with me? she wondered. She was disappointed that he hadn't made a pass at her, but she would have been insulted if he had. Was that crazy?

She had to admit that she had been curious about Crammer's legendary Romeo when she had first moved there and started hearing the rumors about him. Then, when he had become the coach of her little brother's baseball team, her interest was pricked again, but she wasn't nearly curious enough to become one of the rumors. She liked her private life to remain that way. Maybe she should have paid more attention to those ladies when they gossiped about Luke? Maybe then she would have learned how to flirt properly.

"What do you say about taking in a movie tomorrow night?" Luke asked as he leaned against the door jam of her apartment. "There's not much playing here in Crammer, but Clarksville isn't that far away. We can make a night of it and go out to dinner as well."

Les twisted her key in the lock and pushed the door open just enough to reach in and flip on the switch. She never regretted having to turn down an invitation more. "I'd like to Luke," she looked up at him with a wicked smile. "But Jeremy will be here tomorrow and I'm sure that you don't want me shirking my duties as a guardian to him."

Luke's head dropped down to his chest. "Touche," he conceded honorably, then gave an alternative suggestion. "I could always stop off past the video store? Something that we could all watch?"

Les suddenly decided that she liked his persistence. "I think that I can do my share and whip up something for dinner."

"You mean you can cook?" He affixed an appropriately shocked look on his face as he grabbed at his chest, then lifted his eyes toward the heavens. "Lord, is there no end to the wonders of this woman?"

Les laughed at his overacting, feeling a shiver of delight run through her when Luke quickly captured her hand and held it between both of his. "Until tomorrow?" he said with a crook of his eyebrow, then slowly raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Chapter 3