Mel shook her head at the notion, then noticed the waitress looking their way. Tables were full even at this late hour and she probably wanted them to leave. “We should order something or leave. What about pie?”
Baby looked over at the counter and the old-fashioned carousel of pies there. “I miss pie,” she sighed.
“They have fruit pies. We can eat pie.”
Baby looked at her like she was about to break some bad news. “What is pie crust made of, Mel?”
“Shoot. Butter. Sometimes lard. That blows.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to miss pie.”
“Want to go?” Baby asked.
“Not really. I could ask you questions all night and for the next thousand years, I think.”
“We’ve got time.”
“I guess we do,” Mel said, then smiled because it was true.
Does That Work On Taxis?
Mel motioned they were ready to go and the waitress pointed to the counter. This was an old-fashioned place and they prided themselves on doing things very retro. It made for excellent food, but had its quirks. No paying at the table was one of them.
They waited behind a group of young people obviously post-club. The smell of a long night of dancing and booze lingered on them, but they were vaguely lit in blue like everyone else in the room. It was sort of comforting to be surrounded by people who were just what they seemed to be.
Behind them, two guys nudged each other and watched the pretty girls. They were younger too. When Mel got to the counter and tapped her phone to bring up her payment, her badge floated in holographic splendor above the screen for a moment.
One of the guys behind her said, “Since when do the cops recruit high school chicks.”
Mel was confused until she remembered what her mirrored reflection had shown her. She smiled over her shoulder and said, “Don’t let this fool you. Got a facial today. Tomorrow I’ll be old again.”
The guy grinned at her wolfishly and said, “Did they do all of you like that?”
She glanced down as a kaleidoscope of colors formed in the area of the man’s chest, a ball of every color swirling tightly. She narrowed her eyes at it, but Baby touched her arm and said, “Let’s go.”
As they passed the tables, Mel whispered, “What was that?”
“Just a guy. Our kind calls that the teenager syndrome, but it can last for a long time in some people. It’s nothing at all. Young people don’t know what they are yet and their emotions shift their perceptions and attitudes. They explore and don’t understand themselves. All you’re seeing is that indecisive moment when they can become something else.”
As they pushed out of the door, the cold night greeted them. The streets still glimmered from the mist, but the air had grown crisper. They buttoned up their coats and stood there, bathed in the yellowed light from the diner.
Baby snugged on some gloves emblazoned with girlish unicorns riding on rainbows. They didn’t fit her as well anymore now that she was a teen. They’d bought them together during their shopping trip. The young woman saw her looking and brushed the look aside. “Don’t worry. I’m covered. I just really like these.”
“Where next? Do you have a place to stay?” Mel asked.
Baby grinned. “You’ll find out soon enough how well equipped we are. I’m fine.”
They stepped aside as the two young men walked out of the diner. The blue was back, no hint of the swirling mass inside him from just moments before. He averted his eyes from her face and walked quickly away.
Tucking her arm into Mel’s, Baby turned them the opposite direction. “It takes work to stay a blue, you know. Don’t take the swirls personally. They almost always pass.”
At the corner, Baby let Mel’s arm go and stepped away, then turned to walk backward. Her steps were jaunty. A bus was slowly lumbering up the street toward them, washing them both in light from the headlights. She grinned at Mel and asked, “Do you know why I like old people so much?”
“I didn’t know you liked them, but why do you like old people so much?”
Skipping backward a few more steps, Baby put herself too close to the path of the bus. Mel was about to yell, but Baby held up a hand to stop her. Her body looked somehow less substantial, like the remaining mist in the air was obscuring her from view. She yelled across at Mel in an echo-laced voice. “Because an old person who is still blue had to work hard to stay that way. It’s easy to become a monster. What’s difficult is staying human.”
With that, Baby leapt into the air toward the bus. Mel almost screamed, her hand shooting out as if she might stop what had already happened. Then she looked again. Baby wasn’t smashed into paste on the ground. She was waving from a window seat in the bus. Not a single person on the bus seemed to notice any change.
Her mouth gaping, Mel’s first thought was to wonder if that would work on a cab. It would make getting around on rainy nights so much easier.
Shaking off the idea, Mel looked at the time. It was so late it was almost early. She had another day off, but the last thing she wanted was to parade through her lobby looking like a twenty-year-old. It would raise too many questions.
No, she had to ditch some of her battery charge before she went home. But what to do with it? She briefly considered a nearby hospital, but they were so closely monitored that she’d wind up being seen on more cameras than she wanted.
Then she remembered the blue
