Check Out the Excerpt to This Story by Joti Heir

Syan’s current first-tier accommodations were Aleksander, Shin Tzu and Zoobie. Zoobie’s parents were mad artists which gave him a thin layer of intrigue by association. The other two were a prairie drive. 

It was the first of August so she was staying at Aleksander’s place in East York. He worked out of his company’s Beijing office for the first two weeks of every month so he was pretty solid accommodations. Syan decided to get Chinese take-out for dinner. She didn’t like to use the kitchen too much, she knew she got sloppy after a few glasses of wine. 

Syan watched the new episode of The Bachelor, ate her Chinese, drowned in wine and went to sleep in the spare bedroom. The next day she met her old college friend Charlene for dinner. Charlene liked to discuss private things, it was annoying. Syan put up with it because she stayed at Charlene’s place when she was in between accommodations.

“How’s everything going? No word from the devils right?” she asked.

It’d been five years since she left her parent’s home and two years since they’d last tried to drag her back. She wasn’t sure if Charlene always asked about them because she cared or because she was a gossiping idiot. 

“No.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“No.”

“Maybe they’ve lost interest.”

“I guess so,” said Syan.

On the 16th of August, April she hung out at Zoobie’s, they were unofficially enjoying a warm bed once in a while. She couldn’t stay there for long periods since he never went anywhere.  Zoobie left for work at 6 the next morning, she hung around all day and then left for the bars just before he came home at 7. 

Syan knew everyone at the bars in Toronto so she could hang out with the staff until early morning. That was good when she couldn’t stay at her other accommodations and had to stay at Zoobie’s. Zoobie never had a schedule for too long so  He artisted when he wanted to and did regular-people work when he wanted to. Syan was thinking about replacing him due to his unpredictable accommodation status.

Syan waited outside of his house on a bench in the park across the street. She peered throught the leaves of the trees waiting for him to leave. It was 6 a.m., he should’ve been gone, but he wasn’t. Finally, at around 6;15 a.m., he meandered outside and did some stretches before hopping into his Romeo and taking off. When your parents pay for your existence, you can afford to meander.