“So… what did you think?” Sharron asked. The kids had already co out, eaten so genuine synthetic at, horsed around, then went to bed, so it was just Jane, Alan, Sharron and myself left in the garage.
I just shrugged, sinking further into the plastic chair I’d been sitting in most of the night. “I don’t get it.”
“What?” Sharron just sat up straight and stared at in shock. “You didn’t find the barbeque relaxing? We had a good atmosphere, good food and good friends. What more do you want?”
“All that was fine. At the end of the day it just seed to be making dinner with extra steps. The kids enjoyed it, so I guess that’s a good thing.”
“I will admit, the food was way better than we’re normally used to. Thank you for cooking,” Jane cut in, while shooting a harsh look.
“I’m just being honest. I still rember the days when we had to struggle for every little scrap of food. I’m thankful we can keep the kids fed these days, but I can’t say cooking ‘outside’ makes it any more relaxing.”
“How can you be so thick?” Alan asked from across our makeshift circle. “It’s a new experience, sothing we NEVER would have experienced a couple months ago. Can’t you just enjoy it?”
“Enjoy, sure. Relax, not so much. Even though we’re safe inside the shelter, it’s still pretty open compared to most places. My instincts are yelling at to find cover. A small enclosed space where I can’t be ambushed. It’s hard to suppress, or relearn, sixteen years of survival instincts in a few weeks.”
Even though I could see Sharron didn’t understand, I saw both Jane and Alan nod in agreent.
“Well, at least I could feed you sothing nice,” Sharron said, grabbing a drink out of the cooler. “I don’t understand how you could still eat that tasteless slop after becoming a Samurai. You could have perfectly balanced als that taste great, for re points a day. Yet I’ve seen you eating those nutrient bars, or paste, on a regular basis.”
“It’s cheap, keeps forever, and Jane keeps it on hand for ergencies. I have no problem spending points on the kids, but I’m not going to waste the points on myself. I’ve grown up living on nutrient supplents, and I can survive without the luxury. Just because I’ve beco a Samurai doesn’t an I’m going to change overnight.” I paused, for a mont. “That being said, I am slowly adapting. I like sleeping on a comfortable bed at night, and I’ll occasionally splurge on sothing for myself. We don’t have to count every single credit anymore.”
Sharron sat back in her chair and took a deep swig of her beverage. “I sotis forget how little you guys used to have. I never saw your old digs, I’ve only really gotten to know you since you moved into the shelter, and you live a decent, if frugal, life now.”
“It’s all we really need, there’s no reason to splurge on extravagances.” I drained my beverage, threw the container to one of the bears standing around the periphery, then stood up. “Anyways, you wanted to show us board gas? I’m going to veto that movie idea. We don’t have a TV here, and you ntioned your favorite genre is horror earlier; That hive we burned earlier is already going to give nightmares, I don’t need sothing else keeping up at night.”
“We could watch sothing else, horror is just my favorite, but fair enough; We’ll play a board ga first. I have a couple in the RV we could play. I’d describe them to you, but I know Evelyn would just stare at blankly then just tell to choose one.”
“You know her so well,” Alan quipped. I just ignored the snarky bastard and followed Sharron back to her place.
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At the side of her living area was a small cabinet absolutely filled with boxes. As far as I could tell, most of them had never been opened. When I saw that I shot her a quick look.
“Don’t judge . I played them a lot when I was an IS, since there weren’t many other activities we could do without putting ourselves deeper in debt. I picked a bunch up after I bought my RV, but this is the first chance I’ve had to play one.” She dug through the pile, pulling out a box from the bottom. “How about this one? It’s cooperative.”
I took the ga, and shrugged. “It looks as good as any of the other ones. I guess we can give it a try. How bad could it be?”
As it turns out, a ga about trying to save the world from several world-ending diseases at the sa ti is not that chill. It’s actually kind of stressful. We barely managed to survive, and at the end of it I just collapsed on the table.
“That was fascinating… I never expected to require so much strategy to deal with a handful of cards and plastic cubes,” Jane said, inspecting a couple of the playing pieces. “Nor did I think that Evelyn would be so good at it.”
“My brain hurts,” I complained, pulling my hood down further. “I think I might have been thinking so hard I triggered my distributed planning implants.”
Both Alan and Jane looked at in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?” Alan asked.
“It’s a Samurai thing that helps organize the bears, and occasionally helps think good,” I replied.
“Well, it’s clearly not helping you now,” Alan shot back.
“How do you ‘Accidentally’ trigger sothing like that?” Jane asked. She leaned over and placed a hand on my head, probably to check my temperature, before leaning back again.
“You know , if it was sothing I had to activate, or even rember that I had, it would never get used. I really didn’t think the first ti I’d test it was a board ga. Kinda expected it to happen during a massive siege or sothing,” I replied, before rubbing my eyes.
“Sohow, I’m not surprised in the slightest,” Sharron said from across the table. “Although you’re very by the numbers when it cos to the bears, every once in a while you do sothing completely unconventional.”
“Na one ti!” I challenged her.
“You stole the main weapon off another Samurai’s ch in order to shoot a hive from several blocks away.” Even with my head down I could see Jane turn and look at . I guess I hadn’t ntioned that one. “Or when you started mounting antithesis lures into your IFVs, so you didn’t need to clear every single building in Seattle.”
“In all fairness that last one was Angeline’s idea, but you’ve made your point.”
I stood up, teetering on my feet a little, before steadying myself. “Thank you for all your assistance today Sharron, but I think I’m going to head to bed.”
“Sure, no problem,” she said with a smile. “I have a couple more ideas if you want so more help relaxing tomorrow.”
I winced, I didn’t really want to tell her that I didn’t find her relaxation thods all that helpful. In fact, most of them were quite stressful. Instead of disappointing her, I told her the truth. “Actually… I’d like to spend so ti with the kids tomorrow, since I’ve either been busy, or away a lot lately. I know I actually should have made so ti before now, so I need to make up for it.”
Jane glanced at surprised, “Really? I’m sure the kids would appreciate it, but I don’t mind watching them. Since you’ve provided so stability for us and purchased that teaching bot, it’s actually an easy job these days.”
“I could find you sothing more to do. That bot apparently teaches absolutely every job in the world. As crazy as it sounds.”
Jane paused, and cocked her head to the side. “I’ll think about it, but later.”
“Sure,” I replied. “Tomorrow. I’m dead on my feet, so I’ll talk to you all in the morning.”
Everyone said their good nights, before I stumbled down the hallway and slid into my room. It was dark, which was absolutely fine for , it saved from reaching for a switch. I just stumbled into my bed, and was cradled by the soft cozyness. This was my ideal way to relax, a cozy bed and peace and quiet. It didn’t take long until I was drifting off to sleep.
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