46 I discovered that chili is brown and red. It contains several ingredients and smells a lot. There was also something called jalapeno corn bread. And there was a bowl of pieces of different fruits.
After so many warnings, I was very nervous about tasting the chili. But I sensed that Cassie's father would be offended if I did not try some. So I ate a spoonful.
I think that as long as I live, I will never forget that experience.
The chili was hot in temperature. But it was also hot in a totally new way.
The tastebuds of my human tongue seemed to explode! They burned with an intensity of flavor like nothing I'd tasted before or since. Every nerve in my body seemed to tingle. Water dribbled from the tiny ducts beside my eyes.
It was not as wonderful as chocolate. But it was intense! So incredibly intense!
Oh! An Andalite would never understand. This was what being human was all about. Taste!
The glory of it. The incredible wonder of it.
"This is a wonderful food!" I cried.
"Excuse me?" Cassie's mother said.
"Ah HAH! At last. Someone who understands the joy of hot food!" Cassie's father cried.
I realized I had eaten my entire bowl of that marvelous chili. I wanted more. That taste! That feeling! I wanted more!
"There's plenty more," Cassie's father said. He filled my bowl again.
"Um, Jake?" Cassie said. "You really don't have to eat that much."
"I'll eat yours!" I cried.
My eyes were bulging from my head. My skin was tingling. My stomach was making sounds.
But still, I wanted more.
"I love this kid," Cassie's father said. "I wonder if his parents would let us adopt him. Jake, you are a very discerning, intelligent young man."
"He's insane," Cassie's mother said. "There's no other explanation."
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I suspected that Cassie had kicked me under the table.
I looked at her. She smiled sweetly, and then kicked me again.
"That's probably enough chili," she said. She was staring at me in a very direct way.
"Yes. That is enough chili," I agreed. I pushed the bowl away. "Chili. Hi. Chee-lee."
47 "I used habanero chilies," Cassie's father said. "The hottest substance known to man."
"Not as hot as the temperature created during nuclear fusion," I pointed out.
"So how is school, Jake?" Cassie's mother asked.
I knew what this activity was. This was called "making conversation." The rules were that each person would ask the other person a question.
"It is fine. And how is your work caring for animals?"
"Same old, same old," Cassie's mother said. "Although we are about to have some new camel babies."
Cassie's mother is a veterinarian at the zoo, a place where nonhuman animals are kept.
"So, Jake, you think the Bulls are going all the way again this year?" Cassie's father asked.
I could tell that Cassie was growing tense. She was afraid that I would not understand the question. But thanks to my reading of the World Almanac, I knew the "Bulls" were a sports team.
"Yes," I answered. "They can go all the way."
Then, it was my turn to ask a question. That is how "making conversation" works. "So, did you know that the cream separator was invented in 1878?"
Apparently, they did not know. Cassie, her mother, and her father all stared at me in surprise.
After that, we watched television for a while. It was a fictional depiction of a family. I watched it, and watched Cassie and her parents.
A human family was a good thing to learn about. I had seen Prince Jake's family. And now I was seeing Cassie's family. They are different in some ways. For example, Prince Jake's family performs a brief religious ritual before they eat. Cassie's family does not. And in Prince Jake's family, the father falls asleep while watching television. In Cassie's family, it was her mother who began to fall asleep.
"I must go," I told Cassie. "It has been almost two of your hours."
Cassie's mother revived long enough to say that I was crazy, but I was "still so cute."
Her father winked his left eye at me and waved as I left. Then he laughed at something from the television.
Outside in the cool evening air, Cassie sighed heavily. "Well, we got through that without it being too much of a disaster. Come on. I'll walk you out a ways, till you can morph back without being seen. By the way, here's a book for you, since you're done with the World Almanac. It's a book of quotes. Stuff that famous people said." She held it out for me to take.
"Thank you," I said.
48 I felt strange walking into the dark. Walking away from Cassie's house. Strange. As if it were cold out, although it wasn't.
"So what did you think of my parents?" Cassie asked.
"I liked them," I said. "But why has your father removed the hair from his head? Hair. Hay-yer. I meant to ask him, but forgot."
"He's going bald," Cassie said. "It's probably better not to mention it. It's a normal thing for humans. But some people get sensitive about it."
"Ah, yes. My father's hooves are getting dull. It's normal as well, but he doesn't like to talk about it."
"What's your father like? And your mother?"
"They are ... just normal parents. They are very nice. They are ..."
"Goon."
"My throat feels strange," I said. "Like there is an obstruction. I am having difficulty speaking. Ing. Is this normal?"
Cassie put her arm beneath mine. "You miss them. That's normal."
"An Andalite warrior may spend many years in space, far from his home and family. That's normal."
"Ax. You said it yourself. You may be an Andalite warrior, but you're still a kid, too."
I stopped walking. I was far from the light of the house. I could change back into my own shape without being seen. I realized I was looking up at the stars.
"Where are they?" Cassie asked, following the direction of my gaze. "If you're allowed to tell me that."
I pointed with my human fingers at the quadrant of space where my home star twinkled.
"There."
I watched that star as I melted out of my human form and returned to my true Andalite body.
"Ax, you know that Jake and Tobias and me, and even Rachel and Marco, we all care about you. You know that, right? You're not just some alien to us."
"Thank you for the chili," I said. "It was wonderful." Once more an Andalite, I ran for the forest.
I spent part of the night reading the book of quotes. I should have been resting, but I felt disturbed.
49 More and more I thought of how easily I could turn the radio telescope at the observatory into a Z-space transmitter. The idea of contacting my parents filled me with sadness and longing.
"They could tell me what to do," I thought. "They could give me instructions." And in another part of my mind I thought, "Wouldn't they be proud that I was fighting on against the Yeerks? They would all say, "He's an other Elfangor. A hero."" I'm not proud that I was thinking that. But I have to tell the truth. And the truth was, I wanted everyone back home to think I was being very brave, all alone on Earth.
Already in my mind a plan was taking shape.