He nodded. “You didn’t say why you were here, and I am sure your passport said Eden Smith.”
She cocked her head. “You didn’t ask for my passport.”
“I will later. Island time.” He winked.
Eden blinked. “How do I get a chip, and will the chip work on Wonder?”
“It will, but you can get a cuff here. It locks and only works when it’s on you.”
“I am in emigration talks to have a permanent home on Wonder.”
Rache looked at her. “Cool. A reason to come back.”
Eden smiled.
Moira grinned. “So, are you two good?”
Rache nodded. “Yes, and really thankful for the clothes.”
Ven asked, “Where did you get them?”
Eden smiled. “Moira made them. Called them in-between clothes. So, we can step down into less clothing, but frankly, I could wear this on any summer day at home. No one would bat an eye.”
Moira’s mom looked at their clothing. “It’s a little masculine but very pretty, Mimi.”
Rache smiled. “Mimi?”
Moira sighed. “Apparently, anytime they asked someone to volunteer, it was me, me. From the time I was three. Mimi.”
Her family all grinned.
Syar held his little girl and said, “It’s going to be hard for Penina. Pen or Nina.”
Moira nodded. “Unless she said something stupid, in which case you are going to put it on a T-shirt and sell it to tourists.”
Syar grinned. “That sounds like a nice income stream.”
Moira’s dad reached into his briefcase and came out with two flat cuffs. The girls snapped them onto their wrists. Just like that, they were able to buy whatever they wanted. They synced the cuffs to their accounts, and Moira smiled. “Do you want to grab something to drink? Test out the cuffs?”
The ladies agreed, went to a local shop, and got some ices. Syar, Ven, Reynaldo, and a whole bunch of locals followed them to the beach, where a fire was lit, and grilling had begun.
Rache looked around. “Does this happen often?”
Moira smiled as she saw her mother fussing over the bread, and her father was supervising the roasted meats.
Syar smiled. “Moira is one of those people who is well-known wherever she has been. And she is loved. She is very loved.”
“I tended to turn up when folks needed a circus monkey.” She wrinkled her nose.
Syar sighed. “You are an amazing performer. You just need confidence.”
“Yeah, being the whitest thing on this beach doesn’t really imbue me with confidence.”
Ven smiled. “No, shit. What could be worse, maybe being fuzzy and spotted?”
Moira looked at her. “I only changed a month ago.”
Ven winced. “Oh, right. Sorry. I have had years, and it still feels odd.”
