APRIL
The next morning, April held Bo’s little hand as the elevator doors opened into the lobby.
As she had promised, she was taking the little one to the store to shop for more jam. So far, Bo had been cheerful today, eating her breakfast in high spirits because she was going out with April again.
Hopefully, Bo would be okay without her dad until he returned tonight. April couldn’t imagine how hard it must be to leave such a small child overnight.
“April Clarke, is that you?” a familiar voice called from across the lobby.
She looked up to see three women striding her way. One was a Bergalian, one a Terran-like being except with bright pink skin and tail, and the third was the amorphous being who she’d seen in the gym yesterday.
“Are you teaching your dance classes today?” the blob lady asked hopefully.
“I don’t officially teach anything,” April hedged, feeling secretly thrilled that the lady had enjoyed dancing so much.
“Well, you should teach,” the lady replied forcefully. “You’re very good.”
“I’m sure the fitness teachers have to have an arrangement with the board of the building,” April said. “I wouldn’t want to get Captain Rivvor into any kind of trouble.”
The pink lady laughed, her tail swaying slightly. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said.
April blinked at her, wondering if the woman had some sort of sway. As far as she knew, the board of an established building like this one would be run by a bunch of rule loving sticklers. They would want any teacher to be certified in some way. And probably not Terran.
“That’s nice of you to speak to them for me,” April said politely. “Thank you.”
The woman’s eyes widened for a moment, then she rallied. “No problem, dear. It’s nice to have a respectful young person around.”
It was a little odd, but April was new to the whole situation, and she didn’t really have a handle on how everything worked yet.
“It’s good to be here,” April said. “Bo and I need to get to the store, but I’m sure we’ll see you around the building.”
“See you then,” the woman said.
“Bye,” the other two giggled.
Wealthy people sure could be strange. But these women were quite pleasant, not the snobs she would have expected. This building might not want celebrities, but it didn’t seem like they expected everyone to be old money either.
As usual, April had misjudged. She was delighted to be wrong.
“What kind of jam are you going to look for?” she asked Bo. “More starflower, or something new?”
“I don’t know,” Bo said, sounding dreamy.
April smiled and they stepped out of the lobby into the sunlight.
“Hello, Mr. Deerborne,” she called to the doorman.
He waved to her and gave a little bow as he helped another resident out of a rented hover car.
It was funny how quickly this strange place was beginning to feel like home.
“Can we go to the zoo after we finish at the store?” Bo asked.
“We’ll have to bring our groceries back first,” April thought out loud. “And your sister wanted to go with us next time, right? Should we ask her?”
“Yes,” Bo yelled enthusiastically.
April glanced down at her little smiling face. It was so nice that they were both feeling happy today.