| "Ha! You're it!" Andrew teased. I gave him a roguish grin as he began to dart away. "And no tag-backs!" I chuckled at that.
"Come on, I won't hurt you," I shot back. It was true, I wouldn't hurt anyone. I always thought I was a fair and kind individual. I darted after the boy on my thin legs, running over the rubber-covered ground of the park. I was a fast runner too--especially for my age. I was seven years old, and determined to tag my friend. I raced after him through the local park, ignoring the other kids, the parents and strollers. Andrew ran into the grassy field. I followed, running after him. He hopped over a rock and glanced back at me. He thinks that'll stop me? I asked myself as I leaped over the stone, closing in on him. I brushed a few strands of my straight, black hair out of my eyes. Oops. 'Nother haircut, I thought grimly. But I didn't need to worry about that now, I was playing tag with my friends! Andrew curved around a few trees, but I didn't lose him. Then he darted left, heading for the entrance of the local park, and out of the field. "Hey, you said you couldn't go there!" I yelled at him. -> |
"Noooo," he chided, "I said you couldn't go there." He grinned, and continued heading for the entrance. I was hot on his tail, though, determined to tag him. He reached the entrance and started running up the ramp. I stayed close behind. There were more people here, some entering, some leaving the park. He dodged around a tall man holding a young girl's hand. I wasn't going to give up; I would tag him. A few more strands of my hair fell over my dark blue eyes, and I was forced to brush them away again--but not before I had collided head long into the girl! I fell backwards against the rubber-covered ground as the girl staggered back a few steps, rubbing her forehead.
"Ow!" the girl cried, as she, too, fell to the floor. By that time I had recovered, more or less, and sat up. "Uh, I..." I looked around, feeling more than a little dumb. I saw the girl in front of me, and scrambled to my feet. The man by her, her father, I guessed, had knelt down beside her. "Sorry...I'm really sorry about that," I said in what must have been a shaky voice. I glanced around for Andrew. Where had he gone to? -> |
| The man helped the girl up to a sitting position and then put a hand to her forehead. He looked to be in his early 30's, had golden-brown hair, and crystal green eyes.
"I'm real sorry about that." I held my hand out to her. "I was running, playing tag with a few friends and--are you okay?" I looked her over. She was pretty, I thought, with long honey-colored hair that she wore in a pony tail. She had thin arms and legs, seemed a little short, and skinny. She had one milky blue eye, and one milky green eye, which I found a little strange, but in an unusually beautiful sort of way. The girl took my hand and I helped her to her feet. "I'm okay," she said, still rubbing her forehead. "I'm really sorry for knocking you down like that." I felt like a complete fool. Maybe I should have got that haircut after all. "It's okay, really," she told me. I still felt like a fool. I glanced at her father, who was eyeing me suspiciously. I looked at the girl again. I didn't recognize her. "Um....Hi. My name's Lithus. What's yours?" I asked her, trying to change the subject. "Kaldra. Kaldra Pemtal...I just moved here a couple of days ago." -> |
"Oh, really?" I tried to sound as surprised as possible. "I've been living here for as long as I can remember. I mean, in this building...not this park," I added. "It's a nice place. You'll really like this park, too." I turned around and pointed at the swings, and monkey bars. I had to squint to look at the top of the monkey bars, since the holographic sun was very bright. "Those are fun, and you can do a lot of things on the monkey bars. I once did a double flip off them."
Kaldra's eyes shot wide open. "You did? Wow!" "Yeah," I grinned at her, "but don't ask how I landed." She giggled. "Owch. You okay?" I nodded. "Yeah, fine." She had stopped rubbing her forehead now. "Um...I could show you around the rest of the place if you'd like." I glanced back up at the man, who was smiling now. "Is he your dad?" Kaldra smiled up at him. "Yup. He's a diplomat." "Oh," I said, not too sure what a diplomat was. "Well, I could show you around if you would like, and if he would allow it." "Sure I will, Lithus," he said in higher voice than I had expected. "Mind if I tag along, too?" I shrugged. "Not at all. Follow me." -> |
| He sure knows where he's going, I thought as Lithus led me and my father through the vast playground, around the park, and then back to the main streets of Coruscant. I doubt if anything could have prepared me for the immense differences between Bakura, where I had grown up, and Coruscant; all the buildings on Coruscant were literally mile-high skyscrapers, the tallest buildings reaching over two kilometers above ground level. Corridor after wide, long corridor were filled with people of all species making their way to and from their various destinations.
"That's the main lift," Lithus said, pointing at the lift-tube. "It goes from the bottom of the middle level up to the top of the building." He had taken us to the main corridor. It was very wide, and surprisingly bright. On one side of the corridor, lift-tube after lift-tube lined the wall, and on the other, I could see out into the tower-filled skyline of this city-covered world. I was gazing out the window when Lithus told me that the image I was seeing, of the window, wasn't real. It was actually a holographic picture taken from a little camera mounted on the outside of the building, which was in actuality a mile or so farther down the corridor. "A lot of newcomers seem to think that's a real picture," he explained. -> |
I nodded absently, lost in my own thoughts of this amazingly complex maze of buildings. Suddenly, Lithus frowned.
He turned toward the lift-tube side of the corridor and looked up at the public chronometer. He gasped. "That just can't be good!" My father looked down at Lithus, worried. "What? What can't be good?" he asked. In the blink of an eye, Lithus motioned for me and my father to follow him, and rushed back down the corridor. We hurriedly followed. "What is it, Lithus?" I asked when I had caught up with him, and was running by his side. He swiftly dashed around a skinny Rodian. "I've got to get back to the park! My mom told me not to leave without telling her. She says 'there's no telling what kind of people are wandering through the halls,' and she's probably right." I nodded, and continued to follow Lithus as he led my father and I back to the playground. It didn't take us long to get back; apparently he knew a few shortcuts through the corridors. He quickly spotted his parents, and ran over to them. A little worn out, my dad lagged behind a little. I stayed with him, while Lithus approached his parents. -> |
| "Lithus! I told you not to leave the park without first telling us! It's dangerous for a seven-year-old boy out on the streets all alone," his mother was telling him.
"I wasn't alone, Mom. And yes, there was a grown-up with me," he said and pointed to me and my father, who had now approached. Lithus' mother looked up at my father, and then down at me, before eyeing her son again. "Are these the people who accompanied you?" My father broke in. "I'm the grown-up he's speaking of, I believe. We're sorry for any trouble we might have caused. Lithus and Kaldra here--" he put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him "--ran into each other by the ramp, and Lithus offered to show us the area. We have just moved into the neighborhood, and we're thankful for whatever guidance we can get, as these corridors and buildings get rather confusing." -> |
I loved it when he gave one of his speeches, like this one. He was a great talker, and I admired that.
"Oh, I see," answered Lithus' mother. "Well, as long as you're okay...." She smiled at Lithus, and then at my father, obviously convinced that no harm was done. "Hey, Lithus!" someone called from behind me. I turned around and followed Lithus' eyes as they zeroed in on a boy, who looked a lot like Lithus. The boy began running towards us. "Where have you been all this time?" he demanded. "Hi, Denal. Sorry about the game. Where are the others?" Lithus asked. "Searching for you," Denal reported. He then stopped, and looked at the rest of us. "Hello, Mrs. Namali," he said to Lithus' mother. Denal glanced at me and Father, unsure of who we were and what to say to us. -> |
| Father, being a diplomat, took the opportunity for formal introductions and began chatting very businesslike with Mrs. Namali. Denal had run back to tell his friends that everything was okay, and that they could return to playing tag, and me and Lithus had started talking about school, and my house, which was still a mess from the move. "I'm not doing anything this weekend. Maybe I could help you clean everything up," Lithus offered.
I gave him a brilliant smile of relief. I could not even begin to explain the mess in my house and the bother it caused me. I watched his face light up. You'd think he actually liked cleaning up. For a little while longer we talked about where we were from and things like that. I admitted to him that I missed Bakura a whole bunch, though maybe not as much as before. He smiled again. -> |
"Lithus," a voice called, "it's time for us to go." It was Mrs. Namali. She walked over to us, with Father by her side. After confirming with our parents that Lithus would come to help clean my house up, I said a final good-bye to Lithus before he left the park.
"And it's time for us to head home, too," Father said. I skipped happily to him and grabbed his hand. The prospect of a new friend had put me into a good mood. I smiled and headed out the park, to my family's new home. -> |
| "It's very nice of you to do this, Lithus. I talked to Kaldra's father on the holophone and he stressed how much of a clutter his house is in. He appreciates your offer to come help, you know, and I'm sure Kaldra does too. After all, it's hard to get your roots settled after a move off-planet." I looked up at my mom. There she was, babbling again. Sometimes she just couldn't help herself. She and my father had come to Coruscant from off-world, and it took them a long time. She frequently told this story, and I had already learned not to try and stop her.
"Your father and I moved here from Igmella Prime a few years before you were born. Dad, stubborn old Trey," she laughed quietly didn't want to move, but I convinced him that his ideas for computer-networking would be more profitable here, on Coruscant, and that if we wanted children they'd be better on the capitol world than on Igmella Prime. On Igmella Prime people in their early twenties are drafted into the army to serve 2 years in the Planetary Militia. -> |
"Your father agreed to come, but when he bought the computers he wanted, his business went nearly broke." She shook her head, remembering. "He managed to find a few sponsors to fund his business, luckily."
I looked around on the walkway, only half listening to her. There, on the next block, I spotted Kaldra's house, and tugged twice on my mom's hand. "Over there, Mom! Kaldra's house." "Oh yes," she smiled. "Anyway, like I was saying, your father hired a few sponsors to fund his business. After a while he slowly managed to earn profit." She stopped telling her tale once we were at the door of Kaldra's house. Instead, she rang the doorbell. I heard a rather loud and resounding ding-dong from the other side of the door, and waited for it to open. "I have to go to the doctor's now, Lithus," Mom told me, "so I'll drop you off here. Okay?" -> |
| "Okay," I said. The door opened, revealing the smiling Lysander, Kaldra's father.
"Hello, Ms. Namali, Lithus." He acknowledged us both with a short nod, and motioned for us to come in. I took a short step inside and looked around. "Come on in, Caryn," Lysander said, vocalizing his previous action. -> |
"No, I can't. I have an appointment to keep," she said.
"Oh, I see," Lysander replied, his smile never fading. "Thank you for dropping Lithus off." |