When Moira returned from the library, she found Neesa sitting in the living room watching a comedy with a bowl of celery on one hand and a bottle of ranch dressing on the other. Moira said a quick hey and looked in the fridge for snacks so that she could watch the comedy with Neesa. She knew her cousin liked crunchy vegetables, but she herself hated the blandness of celery and the taste of ranch dressing and would much prefer something sweet, like strawberries or nectarines. Moira wasn’t a picky eater, it was just that some textures made her uncomfortable due to her sensitivity to sensory inputs. The fridge was empty, except for a carton of eggs. Uncle Martin and Aunt Zoe had left a note: “Went grocery shopping. We will get chocolate-covered almonds for Moira and baby carrots for Neesa. Please wash the dishes and do the laundry.”

Moira turned to her cousin. “Hey Neesa, you did your share of the chores?” she asked while checking the washing machine. Neesa answered in affirmative, so Moira checked the dishwasher and put dirty dishes in. When she was younger, all the grease and dirt on the plates would gross her out. Now, she knew to wear gloves while handling the dishes.

Neesa’s comedy show was finally over and Moira sat next to her, enthusiastically telling her about Kenta’s greenhouse and Vannie’s plan about reading a pop-up book for elementary schoolers. Neesa was not very interested in the part about reading, but when Moira told her about Kenta’s boyfriend, she seemed sad. “I have a crush on Kenta, Moira, and not just because he baked me muffins although I gotta admit that was a huge bonus. Oh well, I suppose he is too old for me anyway, but I am still a bit heartbroken,” Neesa sighed. Moira shot her an empathetic look and put an arm around the cousin’s shoulder. Suddenly, Moira’s phone vibrated in her pocket. Neesa had a habit of reading texts over Moira’s shoulder, but to be fair Moira always did the same to her, so growing up they almost had no secret to keep from each other.

There was a text from an unknown number. The area code indicated that the sender lived in Black Elm, the neighboring planet to the west of White Banyan. Moira and Neesa exchanged a glance and then clicked on the message.

Hi, my name is Nardho Sitohang. Kenta told me about you. I’m his boyfriend’s brother. I’m so excited to know that you’re also going to Blue Orchid, scholarship pending. I want to get to know you better, as does my twin sister Nardhia. Do you think we can set up a video call? Sorry to just text you like this. Kenta showed me a picture of you. You are so cute! Here is a picture of my sister and I that we took during a vacation in a tropical island in my planet. My family used to live in Silver Pine but my dad got a job in Black Elm about a year and half ago, so we moved and I like it here more than our old planet. I am excited about going to yet another planet for college and, you know what, maybe during semester break you can take me to your planet. I know that Red Sycamore is the planet with the wealthiest citizens in our solar system, but all I know about White Banyan was that in some regions the winter can get extremely harsh.

In the picture, Nardho and Nardhia were building a sand castle with Kenta, who held two coconuts with umbrella straws, and a man who Moira assumed must be the boyfriend. The twins had matching tattoos on their necks of an animal Moira did not recognize. Neesa did a quick browsing on the web and found out that it was the birds of paradise, once native to Earth in a country called Papua New Guinea. Neesa deduced that the Sitohang family might have Papuan ancestry or some ties to the country before their ancestors migrated to Black Elm. Moira agreed with her and asked how she should reply to Nardho’s text and what he could have meant when he said she was cute. “I don’t think he meant to flirt, I think he was just being nice, although yes you’re very cute and no, I didn’t say that just because we’re cousins,” was what Neesa said to prevent Moira from getting the tone wrong.

After putting some thought, this was what Moira texted back:

Hi Nardho, I like the picture you sent. You and your sister looked so cool with the tattoos. May I ask if the tattoo means anything personal in your culture? Oh, and about the video call, I can’t do that today because I have a thing I need to prepare for my part-time job, but let’s do that tomorrow night once I get back from that job. I hope the time difference is not an issue.

Nardho replied back almost immediately: Glad you think our tattoos are cool! Those are tributes to our great-great grandmother. She was a Papua New Guinean astronaut, the first of her fellow countrymen to go to Indigo Inferno solar system. The country took a while to catch up with all the space travel trend. She met our great-great grandfather, a member of the Batak tribe from an island in Indonesia called Samosir, during the journey from Earth. We knew almost nothing about what life on Earth was like, but we do know that great-great grandmother loved bird of paradise. By the way, about the video call, don’t worry about it. Black Elm and White Banyan only have like six hours of time difference. Just let me know when you are online! See you soon!

Relieved that Nardho didn’t find her question offensive, Moira gave Neesa a big grin and the girls high fived. Then, Moira retreated to her room to take a rest because prolonged social interaction made her exhausted, even if the interactions were with people she felt understood by.

The next day after her shift at the school’s laboratory, Moira made her way to the library while Neesa stayed behind to do cheerleading practice. When Moira opened the door, she saw that Vannie had been waiting for her with two adults that she did not recognize.

“Hey Moira, you’re just in time! Let me introduce you to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, although they said you can call them James and Debbie. They will show you the area we have decorated for today’s reading event. The kids should arrive any minute now,” Vannie said in her high-pitched voice, wheeling herself to give Moira a pamphlet about the event. She also had a stack of books on her lap, the same title that she had let Moira borrowed yesterday. “I’m gonna give the kids their own copy of the book to read along with us. The teachers said that reading along is good to improve the kids’ literacy skills,” Vannie explained expertly.

James and Debbie led the girls to an elevator that took them to a brightly-lit room. The room was as huge as an expensive five-star hotel ballroom and there were murals of wild animals on the walls. One wall had polar bears, another wall had penguins, and the rest had pandas and raccoons. Moira wasn’t sure what the theme was, but if she had to take a guess she’d say it was probably to show kids animals that live in colder climate and those that live in warmer climates. She did wonder why the warmer climate walls couldn’t just have pictures of monkeys and tigers. Then something clicked and Moira realized all the animals depicted on the walls were the same animals portrayed in one of the stories featured in the pop-up book!

The elementary school students arrived with their teachers, talking among themselves and looking like little balls of energy. Moira could already tell that she would be overwhelmed, but James and Debbie gave her a reassuring smile and Vannie gave her hand a tight squeeze.

“Good afternoon, fellow adventurers and brave explorers! I’m your host James and this is my wife Debbie, who we need to thank for planning everything. Vannie over there would provide animal sounds and we have been joined by a new friend. Everyone, give big applause to Moira! She’s going to read aloud with y’all.”

“Hi, it’s Moira here! Today we’re going to read together. I have a story about a raccoon and a panda who got stranded in a frozen planet and got help from a tiny penguin and a polar bear cub. Could anyone volunteer to role play? Vannie will help you with the acting.”

The kids all raised their hands and Moira picked four kids at random. Vannie helped them put bandanas with pictures of the animals they represented. The kids were also given sock puppets.