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TENET: 66
Do not reward a tantrum by giving in.
- Dr. H. VynFleet, 132 Tenets of Childcare & Maintenance
APRIL
April had set her bracelet to wake her early.
When it went off, it took a moment for her to remember where she was. The bed was so soft, the room so full of warm light.
Her tiny cell at the club was cramped and windowless, and she had shared it with two other girls. No matter how hard they tried to keep themselves and the room clean, it was too warm and always smelled like sweat and sleep in the mornings.
This room was cool and comfortable, and it still had a faint scent of pine, like the rest of the house this morning.
But there was no time to soak it in now.
She wrapped a robe around herself, grabbed her clothes, and headed to the hall bathroom, hoping she could be in and out before Khall needed it.
But as soon as she was in the corridor, she could hear him in the kitchen talking to the girls.
Sweet Stars, she was the last one up.
She hurried through a speedy shower, dressing and heading out to the kitchen without bothering to dry her hair.
“Do I really have to take the air bus?” Minerva moaned while unwrapping a protein bar.
April could sympathize. She didn’t like air buses one bit. Or air-anything, for that matter.
“Honey, it’s so convenient,” Khall told her, then looked in her direction. “Good morning, April. How did you sleep?”
“Fine, thanks,” she said, hoping he couldn’t guess that she might have fallen asleep thinking about his impossibly hot picture.
“But Tyd Brothwell is so rude,” Minerva grumbled. “He’s always yelling and farting.”
April tried to hide her smile.
Khall laughed, then downed the rest of his mug of coffee.
“See you guys later. Comm me if you need anything, April.”
Suddenly, he was out the door, Minerva was on the balcony stepping onto an air bus, and April was alone with Bo.
Bo sat on a stool, silently eating a gigantic hunk of bread with jam.
“I guess I’d better fix my breakfast,” April said to herself. “Then we’ll have to decide what to do with our day.”
She decided to fix herself bread and jam too.
Once she had the bread on a plate and the cell of jam, Bo took interest.
“You like bread and jam?” Bo asked.
“A person would have to be crazy not to like bread and jam,” April declared.
Bo grinned and shoved a big bite in her mouth.
“I guess we’re out of paints,” April said as she poured herself a mug of coffee. “Is there anything else you like to do?”
