“Cool. Um, did I wake you up?”
“Kinda. I was about to get up and have something to eat anyway. You hungry?”
“No, I’m good. I stopped and had a burger on my way here. Is there a place I can do some laundry?”
“There’s a laundromat six blocks from here.” I picked up my phone and showed it to her on Google Maps. “It’s one of the good ones. The dryers are expensive, but I have a heated clothes rail you can borrow. Just set it up on the balcony. There’s a free handwashing sink area too, so you can save money by handwashing some stuff and only paying for the fifteen minute spin cycle to get most of the water out.”
I felt really bad, but I had a cupboard of nothing but the cheapest of the cheap ramen, so I was in no position to give her a few bucks to wash her clothes. As it was, two days before, I’d washed the bare minimum I needed in the bathtub and wrung it out by hand the best I could and hung it out to dry.
“Awesome,” she beamed up at me. She pointed awkwardly at the door. “I’ll just go do that then.”
“Right. Um, hang on. In case you’re not back before I leave for work, ‘cuz that’s just in a couple hours, let me give you Rory’s old key.” I went and fished it out of the drawer in the kitchen and gave it to her. She accepted it with a faint smile and waggled her fingers good-bye at me before turning to leave.
I went back into the kitchen.
“Imagine that, Kelly showing up here like that, out of the blue.” I put on a pan of water to boil to cook my noodles. I smiled to myself, remembering my older cousin and how she used to make time for us littler kids. She was good people, and offering what little I could was the right thing to do, I was sure of it. Heck, maybe she’d like it here and take up DoorDash-ing full time or I could see if I could get her a job stocking at the store right alongside me. We could buy one of those flip chairs that turned into a single mattress and share this apartment. With two people working and actually paying the bills, I’d have some breathing room, even with the student loans. I hummed to myself happily, already imagining it.
3
KITTINIR
Carl hurried over to me, looking eager to share some bit of news. From his excitement, I figured it either had something to do with Friday’s upcoming game or he had news about his car.
“Kit! You’ll never believe it!”
I raised an eyebrow at my friend. “Are you sure?”
He laughed. “Yeah, okay, you probably would. So, anyway, the bowling alley had some footage showing the smash and grab. It was kind of grainy, but it was clear enough to see the face of the guy who smashed my car up. Not only that, but when the officer saw it, he knew immediately who it was.”
“Let me guess, it’s a habitual offender who has done this very thing in the past,” I replied dryly.
“Yep! Only before, he was a juvenile but he’s eighteen now so he’s going to be charged as an adult. And get this - the kid’s dad is the assistant football coach at McAlister High. He’s been blowing up my phone half of this morning trying to get me to have the cops drop the charges if he buys me a fancier radio and pays for my car window.”
“And are you?”
“Nah. With his rap sheet and only getting community service, it’s clear this kid needs a major wake up call. Besides, like I told his dad, they’ll be buying me a new radio and window anyway, and I don’t want some fancy set up. I want an original radio, which given it’s a vintage Mini, is already not going to be super cheap, especially after they pay the import tariffs.”
I laughed. “Sounds about right.”
His expression sobered. “I did tell the police that I want him to face some jail time, but that I also really want him to go into some kind of mandatory therapy. The kid’s been doing this sort of thing since he was eleven or twelve, so there’s gotta be a reason. He obviously is acting out and he needs to discover the root cause of it and come to terms with it.”
“Spoken like a true psychology professor,” I told him.
“Well,” he shrugged, “I mean, you’re not wrong. Anyway, I just thought I’d catch up with you on that before teaching my afternoon class. See you tonight at the alley. You have more practicing to do.”
I shook my head at my friend’s antics. He could have told me this over the tacos we’d eat tonight at the alley, seeing as it was a Tuesday which for some reason meant tacos. Even the cafeteria was serving them today.
My kunnasrskyn chirped, and I moved to a quieter spot to answer it.
“Kittinir,” I responded.
“Have I caught you at a bad time?” Xeranos asked.
“Not at all. I was on my way to the library to see if the reference books I’d requested had arrived and been catalogued and placed on the shelves.”
“I see. Well, as soon as you have a chance, you need to report to the nearest Scholarship office. I’m afraid we need you to give an updated profile, including a fresh DNA sample.”
“An updated profile and a fresh DNA sample?” I repeated, puzzled.
