ABC - Penance

Pegasus Residential Block, Washima District

I lead Minke up the rear stairway to the first floor of the residential block. She was dressed in a new pair of jeans and an old shirt of mine, one from my rebellious twenties rather than my more sedate teens. It was a good fit on her and ironically on trend with a resurgence in ten year old fashion.

As for myself I was in a comfortable pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt and the inevitable armoured bike jacket over the top. I had never followed a fashion trend in my life and I was very happy with that. It allowed me to buy the cheapest clothes I wanted with the only provision being that it fitted.

“Here we are” I announced to Minke as we arrived in front of Jan’s apartment. Unlike our apartment building, the Pegasus Block units all faced onto a shared series of walkways that were open to the outside. For an apartment in the industrially focussed Washima District it was surprisingly spacious and well maintained. Most of the other residents were office managers, accountants and tradesmen.

Jan and her ex-husband Peter Andrews had been the odd ones out. Peter had been a Police Detecive, based at the Washima Guard Station. It was the same station I used to work from and Peter and I had been partners once.

It got messy when Peter and I had an affair, I miscarried our illegitimate daughter and my partner married my best friend. So I had a revenge affair with his wife, which he discovered and commenced beating her on a regular basis.

That whole mess got resolved in the only way I could think of. I shot him dead with a bullet right through his heart. The simplest solutions are always the best I found.

Jan answered the door on the second knock, pulling the door open and unleashing a small child shaped whirlwind against my legs.

“Aunty Weeza!” Amy yelled delightedly, crashing into me and nearly sending me over the balcony railing. My god-daughter hugged me with her tiny arms, a four year old miniature version of her mother and one of the dearest people in the world to me.

“Amy, let Luisa come into the house first!” her mother scolded the child in a good natured way. Jan was taller than me, a few inches at most, with dark brown hair and eyes and a thin set of lips. I had always considered her attractive, in that librarian kind of way that appealed to bad girls like me. Her figure was still pretty good even after giving birth to Amy and she dressed to show it off a lot more these days.

Jan’s eyes drifted to my companion, standing awkwardly at the side of our little scene.

“Jan, this is Minke” I said. “She’s a friend that is staying with me for a while. I wanted her to meet you guys, especially this little bundle of trouble” I picked Amy up, her growing weight making my hip twinge as I lifted her into my arms.

“This is Amy, my god-daughter” I explained to Minke, turning so she could see the doe-eyed child face to face. “She’s as beautiful as her mother” I added and snuggled my face into her warm neck.

“And as evil as her god-mother” Jan declared. “Welcome Minke, it’s nice to meet you” She held out her hand and Minke shook it nervously. I could see Jan’s eyes registering the scars on the girl’s hands and arms, the matching marks around her neck too.

We were ushered inside the apartment, Jan closing the door behind us. I carried Amy into the living room then set her on the central rug, taking a few moments to disentangle myself from her iron grip. Minke had followed me and I gestured for her to sit on the couch, the same one I often made out with Jan upon. She sat on the edge, maybe aware of the passion that had been spent on the faded covers.

I dropped myself into my usual chair at the small dining table while Jan went to the kitchen unit. She fussed about putting the kettle on to make us both a coffee.

“Ah, Minke, would you like something to drink?” Jan asked her politely. “We have coffee, tea, beer or juice”

“She’s too young for beer” I cautioned Jan with a straight face. “Got any Panic Cola left?”

Jan looked at Minke again and I could tell she was reassessing the young woman’s age. Without seeing her Ident, I would have guessed Minke was closer to twenty than sixteen. My lover finally nodded her head and opened the refrigerator, locating a can of the highly caffeinated soda.

As soon as she saw the soda can pass over her head and into Minke’s hand, Amy scrabbled onto the couch next to her. Minke was a little surprised at first when Amy pressed herself against her side, chubby little hands reaching eagerly for the soda.

“Don’t let her drink any” I warned Minke. “She’ll be bouncing off the walls until midnight if you do”

“Sure” Minke agreed, holding the can away from my god-daughter’s questing hands as she opened it. She took a long pull from the can and then burped self-consciously. “Pardon me” she said with genuine embarrassment.

We all laughed and the tension evaporated from the room. I met Jan’s eyes and she gave me a smile. Whatever doubts she had about my companion, she was willing to accept her since I obviously did.

The afternoon whiled away, the three of us chatting about inconsequential stuff while Amy drifted from one to the other. We drank more coffee and I discovered Minke liked hers black with two sugars. Amy was bribed with some juice and eventually persuaded Minke to join her on the big central rug for a game.

Jan and I watched as Minke seemed to interact quite well with the young girl. I asked her about it and she said at the camp she used to help babysit the younger ones. Jan latched onto that straight away.

“Babysitting?” she enquired. My lover gave me a speculative look then turned her attention back to Minke. “How much do you charge?”

“Hmm? I never got paid, it was just something that was expected of us” Minke replied.

“Is that so?” Jan answered and I could see the wheels turning in her head.

“You’ll have to pay her, Jan” I interrupted. “She needs to start thinking about how she can earn her own income”

Our discussion about finance ended abruptly as Minke chose a new way to entertain the energetic Amy. She summoned a Will o’Wisp from her palm, a bright yellow one, and sent it dancing over Amy’s delighted head.

My god-daughter squealed happily and jumped after the moving ball of light. Every time she got close, it slipped between her eager hands and floated to a new position.

“You’re a Firefly!” Jan declared.

“Shiner” Minke and I responded at the same time.

Then Minke upped the ante, summoning a second glowing sphere. This one was a bright blue and joined the other, swirling and twisting in response to Amy’s excited lunges. I watched Minke’s hands, seeing the movements she made mirror the movements of each Will o’Wisp.

Jan stood to turn off the room’s overhead light, leaving us with just the light coming in from the kitchen window. The balls of glowing light were even prettier in the dim light, the yellow and blue glows combining to cast a green glow over us all.

Amy finally ran out of energy and dropped her butt onto the rug, her eyes still following the glowing phantoms. Minke lowered them until they floated at the child’s eye level and let her grasp them in a hand each. The light shone from between her curled fingers then slowly dissipated away.

“Was that fun, Amy?” Minke asked her. Amy nodded and stood, taking a few steps then dropping herself into Minke’s lap. She settled herself and I swear the kid was asleep within thirty seconds.

“Well, that proves she likes you, Minke” Jan said. “The next time this one gets an evening off, I am booking you to babysit that little demon” She had pointed at me so I shrugged and added my affirmation.

“That’s fine. We’ll just need to work out a suitable hourly rate”

“Five Pandas!” Minke suggested from her seat on the rug.

“Three Pandas” Jan countered.

“An hour?” I interjected. “That’s a pretty good income for a teenager”

“Yeah, but I provide entertainment as well” Minke ventured with a hopeful air.

“Done” Jan agreed decisively.

It was only afterwards I wondered which of us was expected to pay Minke.