“And it serves him right too.”
Samay giggled. Ester hadn’t realized how much she missed her friends.
“So, how’d you land this gig? I mean you got to sing a little at the Fried Tuzan event.”
“I have to thank my uncle again; he owns a small café on the other side of town. He told me I could stay with him for free, but only if I agreed to sing at his café. I was nervous at first, but then people started to come to the café just to see me. I couldn’t believe it, and from there, things just started to take off.”
“That’s awesome,” Ester said.
Samay nodded. She was happy to see that Ester was thriving and she wished her the best. “Hey, would you like another one? My treat.”
“Heck yeah!” Ester threw her fist in the air.
“Okay, wait here.” Samay got up and bounced back into line.
It was really nice seeing her friend again. Ester missed all of her friends from academy. Samay looked back and smiled. Her face lit up as her thick black pony-tailed fro bounced with her. Seeing old friends and eating treats after long days of window shopping was never a dream for Ester, but it was something she could get used to.
***
Attending Samay’s show later that night was amazing. She was a goddess behind the mic, and Ester was convinced that Samay would become the next be thing—right up there with Glass Doll, who was a new electro-beat artist Angel was into and Ester was starting to like as well. After the show, Ester said her goodbyes to Samay. She promised to catch every show Samay was in town for. The girls exchanged numbers and hugged, promising to keep in contact.
After the show, Ester went back to Fried Tuzans and got dinner to take home. She headed back to the train station and while she waited, she caught sight of her neighbor. It was the woman who looked after that little brat that had stolen from the shop earlier today. Ester stared at the woman from a few feet away. She looked exhausted and yawned repeatedly on the platform. A train arriving for one of the north locales pulled into the station. It wasn’t the train Ester was taking home. The woman jumped back to life and rushed quickly to get onboard. Once on board, the woman slipped on another shirt with a different logo on it. She must be heading to another job, but it was already so late. She was working really hard, and it couldn’t be easy looking after a child like Gar. The train pulled off and Ester stood and watched it leave. Someone needed to talk to that boy.
When Ester arrived home, it was almost dark and very cold and rainy. It wasn’t as bad as Adum’s winters, but the wind tunnels created by the buildings made it extra cold. She wished it would snow like it did back at home. She could deal with the snow, but freezing rain was its own kind of hell. Ester shivered in the lobby; today had been a long day and she didn’t feel like walking up three flights to her apartment, so she walked to the elevator and pressed the button. Machinery clanked and cracked, making her cringe, reminding her why she never took the elevators in the first place. She stepped back and shifted the weight of her bag from one hand to the other. The lobby doors from the outside opened, blowing in a mighty wind. Ester stiffened as the cold air bit at her back. She turned around and was surprised to see the woman with the short midnight blue hair from the market. She walked in briskly and headed straight for the stairs. Ester didn’t know she lived in her apartment building or maybe she was just visiting.
“H-hey,” Ester flagged her down. The woman froze and looked at Ester. “It’s me, from the market. You bought some purple greens from the booth I was working at.”
The woman seemed surprised that Ester noticed her and backed up when Ester approached.
“Sorry if I startled you,” Ester said to ease the tension.
The woman only stared, as if she were calculating her words. Her hand hovered over the door handle, but then she pulled it away.
“Ah, yes. They market near the shop town,” The woman said. Her body was tense and eyes focused.
“Yup, that’s the one. Did you enjoy the greens?”
“They were edible,” The woman said bluntly.
“Um, that’s good. I mean that’s all we can hope for, right? I’m Ester, by the way. I live on the third floor. Do you live here, too?”
The woman scanned Ester’s eyes. Ester smiled to break the awkwardness, but that only sharpened the woman’s glare. The elevator dinged, breaking the tense silence.
“Um, that’s my ride, gotta go, but if you do live here hit me up. I’d love to chat.” Ester rushed away.
Once she was in the elevator, she took a deep breath. That was awkward. She guessed some people were not as outgoing as she was, and she hoped she didn’t seem rude running off like that. But there was something about her that put her off. Ester put those thoughts in the back of her mind as she got off the elevator. All she wanted to do now was eat dinner and take a nice long bath.
***
That night, Ester fell asleep on her couch in the den. The volume on her tele screen was on low as the images from the screen created shadows in the room. Bundled up tight in her blankets, she began to wake from the sound of scratching at her door. She grumbled and groaned as she tried to ignore it, but it wouldn’t go away. Frustrated and half asleep, she fumbled around for the remote and turned the tele off. The scratching stopped, and she fell blissfully back to sleep. Then the scratching sounds started up again. She groaned and reached for the remote, but when she couldn’t find it, she opened her eyes to a dark room. The tele was off, but the scratching noises persisted. Was someone at her door? An uneasiness crept through her mind, bringing her fully awake as the scratching sounds got louder. Who could it be at this hour? She looked at her wristband. Could it be Chargie? She’d never been visited by him this late at night, but given InyOuty’s age, worry started to build inside of her. She got up and grabbed her long coat and zipped it up. Just before she got to the door, she thought for a brief second, what if it wasn’t Chargie? What if it was some creep? She didn’t have any weapons in her apartment, but she did have kitchen knives. She searched the kitchen and settled on a pan. It would be less deadly to swing a pan then it would be to swing a knife. The scratching continued, and Ester stood at her door ready to greet or chase off whatever woke her up from her sleep. She reached for the doorknob, unlocked it, and flung the door open.
“What is it!” she shouted, hoping to scare off whoever it was.
The boys fell back on themselves as they looked up at a rage filled Ester. She recognized one right away.
“You,” she growled, and the rest of the boys scattered as she reached out to snatch up Gar.
Gar screamed and kicked as Ester lifted him off his feet high into the air. He looked for his friends, but they were long gone.
“Let-let me go.” Gar wiggled.
Ester turned and looked at her front door. There were pictures of penises and curse words littered on her door on top of the graffiti that was already there.
“You little brat.” She turned and slammed him against the wall.
She didn’t care that he was a kid. If he was brazen enough to tag her door, then he was old enough to get his ass beaten. She clenched her fists, ready to pound the kid into dust. She growled then looked into his eyes. He reminded her of some of the kids back at the orphanage. Displaced and full of hatred, she remembered how Sister Genevieve would handle them. Ester softened her grip, and Gar took this opportunity to kick her. He barely missed her face.
“What’s your problem kid? Why you picking with me?” Ester growled.
“Piss off!” He shouted.
“Okay, we’ll try this again.” She dropped him to the floor and he landed with a thud. She reached down and grabbed him by the ear.
“Ow ow ow, let go!” He squirmed.
“Not a chance. Your old lady is worried sick about you, I’m sure.” Ester closed her apartment door and locked it and started dragging the kid back to his apartment. If he wasn’t ready to talk, then she would take him home and let his guardian take care of him.
�
�Let go.” He winced and wiggled, but Ester’s grip was like a vice.
“You know, you got a lot of nerve tagging my door, and yes, I’m telling your old lady what you did.”
“I-I don’t care.”
Ester continued to drag him along. He put on the breaks, but Ester continued to pull.
“I hope she’s not sleeping.” Ester headed downstairs.
“No, wait…” He gasped as he started to tear up. “You can’t…because she’s not home.” Ester stopped and looked down at the boy. “She’s-she’s at work, and if she has to come back early they might fire her.” Gar averted his eyes.
He lost the battle with his tear ducts and wiped his snotty face with his arms as he started to sniffle. Ester sighed and took a deep breath and let go of his ear. The boy grabbed it but made no attempt the run.
“Why are you causing trouble like this, kid?”
“What-what do you care?” His face was red, making his tan skin look darker.
“I don’t,” Ester said coldly. “But it’s my door you’ve marked up and who’s going to pay for that?” The boy said nothing. “Or should I leave the bill with your mother.”
“No!” Gar blurted out, then he looked at the ground. “And, she’s not my mom. She’s my aunt.”
“But she feeds you right? And takes care of you?” Ester plucked him on the forehead.
“Ow!” Gar rubbed his forehead.
“And this is how you repay her?” Gar didn’t say anything. Ester sighed and relaxed her shoulders. She was familiar with the look of troubled kids, and sometimes they just needed a stern talking to instead of getting their folks involved. “I’ll tell you what. You and your buddies fix my door, and I won’t tell your aunt.”
“What? How am I supposed to do that?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. You had balls enough to tag my door, but don’t have much sense on how to fix it? Maybe I should just bill your aunt and have a service man come and do the job.”
“No,” Gar begged. “I’ll-I’ll fix it.”
“You got till the end of the week and don’t try and bail on me. I know where you live. Are we clear?” Ester stood over Gar.
“Ye-yeah.” Gar lowered his head.
“Now scram.”
Ester eyed him as she watched him run back to his apartment. She watched him go in and didn’t leave until five minutes later. How long had it been since Ester had seen a fire like that in someone’s eyes? Too long, she thought to herself on the way back to her apartment, but she knew from experience that a flame like that left unchecked would burn up everything.
***
Morning came bright and early, and this time it wasn’t the scratching at her door that woke her up but a loud knock. She groaned as she once again dragged herself out of bed to answer the door. With her slippers and jammies on, she walked to the door, not even caring how she looked.
“Who is it?” Ester said from behind her door.
“Excuse me, miss. My name is Sky Tos. I am the aunt of Gar Su. We live downstairs.” Ester opened the door and there stood Sky with Gar in tote. His face was puffy and wet. No doubt he looked like he got a stern talking to. “I am so sorry to bother you, but Mr. Chu’Pree said he saw my nephew and his friends drawing on your door, and we wanted to come and apologize.” Sky pulled Gar forward by his arm. She forced his head down as they both bowed. “Please allow me to cover the cost of the damage to your door.”
Ester looked down at them both and sighed. “It’s okay, Miss Tos, I’m sure Gar knows better not to do this again.”
Sky looked up at Ester, her eyes puffy and red and pleaded. “Please ma’am, please. It’s the least I can do.”
Ester looked between her and Gar. The boy looked like he was on the brink of tears. She didn’t want to make a big deal of this. “How about this, I’ve got soap. You send your nephew over to clean this up, and we’ll call it even. What do you say?”
Sky looked at Ester like she was going to cry and graciously thanked Ester.
“I actually have powdered soap at my apartment. Gar,” she said sternly to the boy. “You are to go back to the apartment at once and grab the soap, bucket, and bushes. And I don’t want to hear your mouth about it.” Sky hissed, then she turned to Ester and forced a smile. Her watched buzzed. She gasped as she fretted. “I-I have to go, I’m so sorry.” She looked at the place Gar once was. “I’m so sorry, but I promise to make him clean this up. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Ester leaned against her doorframe and saw Sky off.
It must be hard raising someone else’s child all on your own, but she could tell that she really cared about him. Gar returned as he was told and got to work cleaning the graffiti off of Ester’s door. Ester sat on the floor of her apartment watching him in silence, as the angry ball of brown hair scrubbed away. She yawned and plucked a ripe mango from her fruit basket and looked back at Gar.
“Hey kid, you want one?” she said.
Gar looked up and saw the mango in Ester’s hand. His mouth started to water, but he said nothing.
“Okay, fine with me, more mangos for me.” Ester placed the mango back into the basket as she broke apart her mango and took a great big juicy bite.
Gar frowned as he watched her eat. He turned his head and pouted, but then spoke up. “Um, could I have one?” Gar mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Could-could I have a mango please?” he said a little louder.
She looked at him, then took out a knife and started to cut another mango. “Alright, come in and wash up.”
Gar stood slowly and walked inside of her apartment. It was small like his, but with only one bedroom. Ester continued preparing the mango as Gar washed his hands in the sink.
“Here.” She placed a plate of mangos on a small table in her kitchen and pulled up a chair.
“Thank you, um…” Gar trailed off, looking at her expectantly.
“It’s Ester,” she said as Gar continued to sit there, making himself look small.
“What’s the deal with you, kid?” She sat down at the table. He didn’t say anything at first then Ester slid the plate away. “Why are you acting up?”
Gar avoided eye contact. He looked like he wanted to yell, but instead he just stared at his fingers. “It’s-it’s nothing.”
Ester slid the plate of mangos back over to him. “Doesn’t sound like nothing.”
He snatched a mango as if it would run away and bit into it. “I-I don’t know. I just, I just hate it here.”
Ester nodded. “I can see that. The place is run down and the outside smells like shit.”
Gar looked up, his eyes giving his emotions away. “I just want to go home.” He looked like he wanted to cry, but he didn’t. “I just want to go home,” he whimpered.
“But you can’t, huh?”
Gar nodded. “My parents died in an accident two years ago, then my aunt lost her job and even though she would have been better off without me, she still took me in. But she works all the time to send me to that stupid prep school. I hate it, and everything around here is crappy and broken down. It’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair,” Ester said bluntly as Gar slumped. “And I get that. My parents died when I was young too.”
Gar looked at her in surprise.
“But your aunt really cares about you, and she’s working her butt off to make sure you have the best life. Love like that isn’t easy to come by and shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s going to be hard for a while, but you have to do better—at least for her.”
“I can’t.” Gar looked down at his hands.
“And why not?”
Gar didn’t make eye contact. “I just can’t.”
“You can’t or you won’t?”
“You don’t get it!” Gar snapped. “The kids at the prep school make fun of me. My uniform is always dirty, and they say I stink because I come from this place. I hate it there.”
“Screw those kids.” Ester took another bite
of her mango. “Trust me, those kids are going to be sitting there with their jaws on the floor when they see you succeed. Bullies suck and you’ll probably never get rid of them, but if you really want to stick it to them, succeed. Be the best person you can be and knock them all out by showing them it doesn’t matter if you live in a dump with your aunt or that your uniform is stained. You came to that school to get an education. What do you want to be when you grow up, Gar?”
Gar looked up. This was the first time she had called him by his name. “I-I want to be an architect like my father.”
“Okay then, well you better become the best damn architect Ans-on and the entire world as ever seen. You know why?”
Gar shook his head.
“Because you’re Gar, that’s why. You’re not going to let anything get in the way of your dreams and there’s nothing those snobby brats at your school can do about it.”
“You really think so?”
“Trust me, kid. You work hard, and you’ll be the one designing skyscrapers. Now opening: Gar’s mega shopping center, an architectural wonder.” Ester waved her hand around.
“I’m not going to make a mall!” Gar laughed.
Ester laughed with him. “Yeah well, whatever you make it’s not going to happen if you keep cutting up. Hit the books, kid. I’m already booking my next destination at one of your buildings.”
Gar smiled and happily finished his snack. By the end of the day, Ester’s door was all cleaned up. She hoped that little pep talk helped him, but it stung a little telling a kid that hard work alone could make your dreams come true—knowing that hers was out of reach. There was something she knew for sure, and that was that the path he was heading down now would only led to more pain and trouble. It wasn’t too late for him; it wasn’t too late to turn it around.
Chapter Eighteen
With Angel’s visit only days away, Ester poured hours into thinking of things to do. She was still new to this area, and she didn’t know what people in the metropolises did for fun, besides shopping and she was sure Angel would love that. But she wanted to find other things to do. She turned to the local news hoping to find something interesting happening about, but Ans-on news was saturated in national news and very little aired that had anything to do with the area Ester lived in, unlike back home. Ester groaned as she laid back on her couch. It was her day off, and all she had on her list of things to do were a few dozen eateries and more than her lifetime’s worth of shops. She checked the time; it was a little after ten hundred hours. She still had the entire day ahead of her to try and figure out something to do.
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