Munmun(17)

“Ohmygod, this is the best dream I’ve had since I was a kid,” one of them said, cradled by the tentacles of a skysquid.

“You are a psycho,” the other one told me. “Literally, I love how much of a psycho this kid is.”

“Chess what the heck,” I said. “I told you not to tell people.”

“They won’t tell anyone, I promise,” he said, but by then I knew you could never trust this pearlyskin middlerich or his golden friends.

“If any of Prayer’s dates find out, these dreams are over because there’s no point anymore, so, I would recommend that you maybe be more aware of that,” I said.

“I know, I know,” he said, giggling from the ticklings of a rainbow of doggypaddling shrimp.

“And also it will ruin Prayer’s best chance at happiness,” I said.

“Yes yes I know,” he said. “Wheeeee.”

“Not that you care about what happens to littlepoor kids,” I said, losing control a little and the shrimp blew up pretty big and really started clawing him, not that he could actually feel it, he just felt like he could feel it.

“Okay, I get it,” he said, thrashing around a little.

“We’re just dreamstuff to you, like this stupid shrimp,” I said to make sure he got it.

“I said I get it,” he yelled.

I let the shrimps get heavy, puff and fill like waterballoons, dive down at the city like bombs. We watched them burst and drench palmtrees and apartmentblocks, the big drops break on the doublescale condos, the little drops scatter onto the quarterscale tenamints.

“Warner,” he said after a while. “Honestly, though, I mean what do you think is really going to happen between your sister and my classmates.”

I realized I didn’t really want to think about it too hard because deep down, totally honest with myself, I wasn’t hopefull.

“I think the dates are going well right now, so, who can say, and overall nothing is certain and everything is possible, so, bottomline, who knows,” I said.

We left it at that.

? ? ?

The next morning Prayer had exciting news.

“But first I have to tell you I don’t know if the squids are the best datemobile,” she said. “Ingeneral I think you got it right the first time with hammockmoons and I don’t know if you need to keep experimenting around because it’s getting super weird.”

“What’s the stupid goodnews,” I said.

“I got invited to a lawstudent party,” she said. “In Lifeanddeathworld. They want actual me at an actual party, Friday night.”

Usher looked completely miserable and it infected me with a sick feeling.

Prayer was so excited she even told Paddy about it.

“Well, dang,” said Paddy. “I never heard of such a thing. Littlepoors at a middlerich party.”

“Not a bunch of littlepoors, just me,” said Prayer. “Not Warner. Sorry, Usher. They only invited me and honestly, if I had to guess why they chose to do it now, I think it’s because these guys really finally see me for who I am, not just a sad littlepoor weirdo, but as an equal because we can just talk and talk all night, and when we run out of things to say and the talking dies down, that’s truly just the beginning.”

“Prayer,” I said, because Usher was on the verge of killing himself. “Enough.”

“I just never heard of anything like that,” repeated old and not great at listening Paddy. “But I guess it’s like everyone says, times are different now, although I have to tell you, I look around and nothing has changed and nothing’s ever going to change, scale is scale, anybody who thinks otherwise is in store for a rude awakening, and let me just add this as something to chew on, you want to scale up then you gotta make sacrifices and there’s no easy way out, nobody’s giving you nothing for free.”

“Ohmygod, what am I going to wear,” said Prayer, and she wouldn’t shut up about it all the way to work.





LIFEANDDEATHWORLD


For lunch that day, Chess found me on a table and let me eat a corner of his lunch.

“You know, I find myself wondering what you do with yourself all day,” he asked me.

“Runs, climbs, pushandpullups,” I said.

“All day?” he asked, like this was insane, which, okay, it was insane.

But I didn’t want to describe to him the usual scummy littlepoor routine of spy around for crap to steal and use, hustle for munmun opportunities, eat scraps and sneak water, et set set setera, so I lied.

“I’m teaching myself to read,” I told him.

“How,” he said.

“How,” I repeated.

“Yes,” he said.

“I guess I’m still figuring that part out,” I said.

He got a funny look on his face.

“Warner, I want to do something for you,” he said.

“That is great news,” I said.

? ? ?

So that day Chess tucked me into his cool smooth leatherbag that smelled like woodfire and wisky, and he picked up Usher too, and he took me back to his apartment, so we could teach ourselves things with some magical middlerich tech.

His bed was eighty silk pillows, his water lived in crystal barrels soaking limewedges and mintleaves, his toilet was an ivory bathtub in a vault of candles. Walls were tapestried with screens and fabrics, soft to touch, rippling paisleys and murmuring news.