• Thursday- September 30- 16 P.A. •

It’s Edison’s fourth day babysitting the group of kids he’d offered to watch. So far, they seem to like him and they listen for the most part, although sometimes they get a bit out of hand. After asking, Edison got the okay to use one of the empty apartments at Roomies as a temporary daycare for the kids that come.

After four days, Edison and the kids are used to each other. They can move around in the same space together without tripping over egoes or ruining cheer. Since it’s a nice, sunny day, Edison had taken the kids for a walk around the district. They enjoyed it thoroughly and defended Edison against the teenagers that teased him for his choice in job. The kids give him hardly any trouble when he says it’s time for them to go back to the apartment, mainly complaining because they were having fun.

“How do you manage to do this without flipping a switch?” Calvin asks from where she leans on the doorframe as Edison and the kids walk back into their borrowed apartment.

“I don’t...understand,” Edison murmurs.

“How are you so good with kids?” Calvin rephrases.

“Oh. I...don’t know. I’ve always had to be,” Edison replies.

Calvin takes a drag from her cigarette and blows it away from the kids. “May says you raised her.”

Edison looks over. “You two talk a lot?”

Calvin shrugs. “Sometimes. She’s cute and she doesn’t give me crap for who I am.”

Edison nods slowly. “I don’t know why she would. And yes. I raised her. No one else was going to do it.”

“Good for you,” Calvin says. “That kind of drive isn’t as common as it used to be.”

Edison flashes a smile as he follows Rusty.

“Looks like you’re getting a new one,” Calvin says before he can pass the threshold.

Edison glances at her, then sees the man and child walking toward him. He recognizes the man from the front gates, Oren. The child with him, Edison doesn’t know.

“You’re the daycare guy, right?” Oren asks when he gets to the doorway.

Oren is one of the guards from the front gate. He has short cut dark hair, russette brown skin with dark moles, and hazel brown eyes. He’d bigger and older than Matt, but softer in a way.

“Yes,” Edison confirms, glancing at Calvin as she walks away.

“This kid was dropped off at the gate a few days ago,” Oren reveals, looking down at the boy. “I don’t know who left him and I don’t think he speaks english.”

Edison tilts his head and crouches so he can be face level with the boy. “Why do you think that?”

“He keeps tryin’ to talk, but hasn’t said a clear word since I found him,” Oren answers.

“Huh.” Edison nods and shifts his attention to the boy.

The boy looks familiar in a way. It doesn’t take long for Edison to realize he was -and still is in some ways- this boy.

Edison points to himself and says his own name.

The boy glances at Oren, then back at Edison. He says something too quiet and jumbled for Edison to understand.

He tilts his head questioningly and gestures to his ear.

“Is...isid...rr,” the boy mumbles.

Oren’s eyebrows lift curiously.

Edison taps his ear one more time.

“Is Isid...ra,” the boy said, barely more clearly.

“Isid?”

“Ra.”

“Isidra.”

The boy nods sharply and steps closer, pointing to himself enthusiastically. “Isidra.”

Edison smiles as the boy starts babbling in words Edison barely recognizes. A few words catch his ear, but Edison doubts they mean the same thing in english that thy mean to Isidra.

“That is the most I’ve ever seen him talk,” Oren comments. “You are a wizard.”

Edison flashes a confused look at him, then holds up his hand for Isidra to pause talking, which he does. “Inside?”

Isidra blinks until Edison gestures to the door. He bounces on his feet and trots into the apartment.

“I guess he likes you,” Oren says.

“We’re from the same place,” Edison objects, pulling his gaze away from the boy. “What do you know about him?”

Oren shrugs. “He really likes fish and rice, and doesn’t seem to need them cooked. He’s also a really good climber and likes high places. I found him asleep on top of my fridge yesterday morning. He also likes sleeping in the bathtub.”

Edison nods.

“I’ll be back for him later then, if you’re comfortable with him,” Oren decides.

“Sure.” Edison waves as he walks through the door.

Oren walks away as Edison nudges something over so the door stays open. Isidra sits with Jackie in the little space to the right of the door, while Zanaida, Evia, and March play with wooden blocks and old world toys, and Rusty and Demetri are in their corner by the bathroom wall with a mismatched deck of cards.

Matt looks up when Oren comes back to the gate. “Did he take the kid?”

“He sure did. Like a dog taking a kitten. He even got the kid to give him a name!”

“Really?”

“What was it?” Jacelyn asks as Oren sits down next to her.

Jacelyn is a twenty-eight year old woman with flat black hair that’s as short as Oren’s and almond brown skin. Her eyes are bright brown, usually hidden behind dark glasses. She stands five five and could kill a man with her hands alone. No one has asked if she has.

“Isidra,” Oren says slowly.

“The hell kind of a name is that?” Jacelyn murmurs.

“Sounds like he’s a Feral,” Matt snorts.

Oren agrees.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave him with the other kids?” Jacelyn asks.

“He’s been cooped up at my place for almost two weeks and he hasn’t hurt anything yet,” Oren points out.

“Yeah, but what if he’s sick or something,” Jacelyn inquires.

“I don’t think he is. Like I said, he’s been with me for almost two weeks and I’m fine.”

“What about the whole speech thing?” Jacelyn wonders.

“Edison got a name out of the kid, right?” Matt asks, rolling onto his stomach and stretching on his lawn chair. “He’s pretty much a Feral himself, more so than his sister. If anyone can communicate with that kid, my money’s on him.”

“I bet you could,” Jacelyn suggests.

Matt looks over at her with a scoff. “The hell gives you that idea?”

“You’re kinda part Feral, right?”

Oren snorts. “He’s more like an indoor, outdoor cat.”

Matt rolls his eyes. “I’m a cat now? Really?”

Jacelyn and Oren laugh as he rolls to his feet.

“Well, I’m slipping out the kitty door so I can pee,” Matt decides and hops down from the raised guard stand.

“Don’t you dare bring any dead things back!” Jacelyn taunts.

Matt laughs as he walks around the wall to the dried out grass, finding a private enough area.

When he’s done, he zips his pants and rinses his hands with the alcohol wipes from his pocket. Ekua and a small guy are handing out sandwiches when he gets back to the guard station.

“Ooh, yes!” Matt cheers and jumps onto the stand without bothering with the stairs. He trots over and accepts the sandwich Ekua gives him. “You are a blessing to my life, Ekua.”

Ekua laughs. “This blessing has to go back to work.”

“How will I survive?” Matt sighs as he falls against the wall dramatically.

“Ass,” she laughs and walks back down to the doors.

He only laughs.

“So, are you and him like...together?” Dane asks.

Dane Siggers is a light brown man with dark eyes and no hair. He stands nearly two inches shorter than Ekua, but makes up for it with three years. Twenty-two and working in the kitchen at the only restaurant in Burnsley, he and Ekua had become quick friends.

Ekua shakes her head. “No way. Just friends.”

Dane nods.

“Why’d you ask?” Ekua wonders.

“Just curious. He doesn’t seem that affectionate,” Dane says.

Ekua shrugs slowly. “He is in his own way. Mostly through words and jokes like that. We’ve only known each other since the end of last winter.”

Dane nods again. “That makes sense.”

They get back to the restaurant in time to see Maybelle leaving from lunch. She waves at Ekua as they pass each other, then trots up the ramps to Four to clean out freshly empty apartments in Roomies.

So far, the apartments she’s gotten have all been fairly taken care of. There’s leftover stuff that tenants leave behind and as the cleaner, Maybelle’s lucky enough to have first pick at what’s there. After picking out a few small things that fit in her pockets, she packs the rest of what there is into the plastic crate she’d set just outside the door so she can get to everything.

“Ooh, leftovers.”

Maybelle peeks out the bathroom door and smiles when she finds Calvin in the front doorway, crouching at the crate of stuff. She slips back into the bathroom to finish what she was doing. When she leaves the bathroom, Calvin is standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with an unlit cigarette in her lips.

“How you doin’ so far?” Calvin wonders.

“I’m almost done with this one,” Maybelle replies with a smile.

Calvin chuckles, shaking her head. “Glad to hear it, but I meant in general. You guys have been here for a little more than a week now, right?”

“Oh.” Maybelle nods as she walks over to the fridge. “Yeah. We’re good. It’s nice to have a roof again. I think the last time I wasn’t worried about getting rained on was last winter, and that was just an old barn. So many holes in that one. I swear, I couldn’t tell the difference between the roof and the night sky.”

Calvyn smiles softly. “Why didn’t you guys just go to a district?”

Maybelle glances over as she opens the fridge door. “Uh, we don’t really like them; districts. Usually, anyway. Matt said this one was okay and I guess since we didn’t have anywhere else to go and were running low on food, Edison agreed to follow him. So far, things seem okay, so maybe we’ll be able to old out for the winter.”

She pauses, holding a glass bowl, and murmurs, “I hope so. I like it here.”

Calvin hums thoughtfully.

“H-how long have you been here, by the way?” Maybelle quickly changes the subject.

“A few years,” she answers. “It’s pretty nice here. People respect who I am, so that’s enough reason for me to stay.”

Maybelle smiles. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Calvin nods in agreement and watches Maybelle clear out the fridge. “You can be done for the day after this one.”

Maybelle looks over. “Are you sure? There’s only one left and who knows when more people will show up looking for places.”

Calvin shrugs. “If they get here before the apartments are cleared, so what? Just means they’ll have first dibs on leftovers.”

“But that’s the best part.”

“If you want to keep going, you can. I’m going to hang out, though,” Calvin decides and lights her cigarette.

Maybelle tilts her head curiously.

“I-if you don’t mind,” Calvin adds, sounding nervous.

Maybelle smiles and shakes her head. “I don’t. Why, though? Don’t you have other stuff to do?”

Calvin waves dismissively at the smoke she blows into the air. “I can do it later. I enjoy your company.”

“Thanks.” Maybelle tries not to blush as she brings an armful of stuff to the crate outside the door.

She gets back to the fridge to continue going through. She does that all around the apartment, getting Calvin to reach higher spots. When the apartment is completely empty, Maybelle leaves the crate just inside the door and goes on to the next apartment. Calvin starts to follow, but stops when she sees a small group of people walking up the ramps toward her.

“Honey, you must have future vision,” Calvin chuckles.

Maybelle laughs.

“I’ll see you later, I guess,” Calvin says and waves as she walks away.

Maybelle waves back, then disappears into the next apartment to clean it out. This one doesn’t take nearly as long. It seems like the tenants only left what they really didn’t need. When she’s done, she shuts the door and stretches as she walks along the leven to Edison’s self claimed daycare.

Calvin is just leaving the new group in their apartment and invites Maybelle to help her bring crates of leftovers to the trade shop down on level one. They each carry two crates down the ramps and Maybelle smiles a greeting to two parents going to pick up their kid from Edison.