Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Liesje doesn’t talk much. She mentions her son, Jan, a few more times. She talks about how he liked the snow, and how he’d laugh at her attempts at farming since she was a “city girl.” I confess to her that I grew up in the slums on Homeworld, which has no greenery to speak of, and how coming here shocked me. How the air smelled “wrong” to me until I realized it was because it didn’t smell like air filters or exhaust.
It’s a good way to pass the afternoon, and I’m surprised when the sun begins to set. All of the bots are more or less in working order, except two that need new chip-sets that I’m going to order for her. I set them on the “clearing” cycle and they get to work on the overgrown field.
“You’ll come back tomorrow?” Liesje asks, watching the bots get to work. “To check on them?”
“If you like.” The bots will be fine, but if she wants me to come back tomorrow, I will.
Liesje shrugs and heads back inside, and I try not to smile. It’s a start.
Chapter
Six
DEVIN
I watch the snow tumble from the gray sky to the ground in fat, perfect flakes and wonder if that jerk Sinath has forgotten about me entirely. It’s been four days since we parted and he promised to bring a tree for us to put up at Liesje’s place. Since then, I haven’t heard a peep. I’ve gone into town several times and passed by the custodial office to see if he was at work, but every time he’s been gone or busy.
I suspect he’s avoiding me.
Maybe I should have asked someone else to help me. Sinath hates Jerry, and he seemed repulsed when I’d jokingly suggested I kiss him, so that should tell me something. I move to the box of decorations I’ve been working on and eye them miserably. I’ve spent every waking moment inside, working on crocheted garlands and braided ornaments. Most of the crafting stuff I have is yarn or yarn-based, but I did cook up some salt-dough disks in the shapes of ornaments and painted them. It’s been days of losing myself in the holiday spirit, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m actually rather proud of all the work I did for her, and it sucks that it’s all going to be for nothing.
Maybe I can just go decorate her place instead. We don’t have anywhere to hang the ornaments but maybe that won’t matter. Maybe it’s the thought that counts.
There’s a knock at my door and Jerry chitters, scampering to hide in the box of decorations.
“Jerry, no,” I exclaim, trying to catch him. He’s eaten two of my salt-dough ornaments so far and I have to keep hiding the rest from him or I’m going to have little red and green Jerry poop-pellets all over the house. He wriggles out of my grasp, hiding under a pile of garlands.
The knock at the door comes again, this time more impatient.
Shit. I try to grab Jerry again, only to have him chirp angrily at me and tangle himself in the garlands I’ve painstakingly made for the last few days. If he chews his way through them… With a frustrated growl, I snatch him up, garlands and all, and race for the door. “Coming! Coming!”
I open the door, wriggling animal in my arms, and stare in surprise at the figure on my doorstep. It’s Sinath, wearing a heavy coat, snow dusting his horns and short hair. In his arms is a large brown pot with a three-foot-tall tree sticking out of it.
“Oh my god,” I squeal, delighted. “You got a tree after all!”
“I did.” He grins at me, proud, and holds it out. “I told you I would. Snagged this one off the first agriculture ship that came through Port. I hope your friend likes ugatchi fruit, because this is an ugatchi tree.”
It looks nothing like a Christmas tree. The leaves are heart-shaped and an almost neon green, the bark a pale, smooth brown, and it looks more like a jazzy palm tree than anything. Even so, I couldn’t be more thrilled. “I think she’ll love a fruit tree. Come in!”
He enters my house, stomping his feet on the mat to get rid of the snow on his boots, and then eyes me and the creature in my arms, who is still covered in colorful garlands. I fish the end of one out of Jerry’s mouth just as Sinath chuckles. “He looks like a dancing girl I saw on Haal Ui once.”
I give him a wry grin. “He’s been getting into my decorations thinking they’re treats. Give me a moment and I’ll detangle him.”
Carrying Jerry over to the cramped, alien sofa that I never use, I sit down with him and pull my braided garlands off of his round, squirming body while he tries his best to tangle himself in them again. It’s an exercise in frustration, but I finally manage to free him and set him on the floor.