MISC: The Girl Who Saved the World, Part 70

[George Phillies]

Happy Anniversary to the LNH, and many more!


* * * * *

“Pardon me? Dorothy?Teranike? ” The two women looked up, seeing a 
round-faced, amber-haired girl dressed all in white. “I’m Spindrift. I 
will be Joe’s new girlfriend.I’m supposed to meet him here, except he 
will not be here until after I had left,” she said.

“Hello,” Dorothy managed. “Joe’s girlfriend?He forgot to tell us! Let 
alone tell us that you were coming!”

“Great to see you again,” Teranike said. “Have a seat. You ordered?” 
Spindrift nodded. “After all, you did shovel the parking lot for me, the 
geniuses with their plows not having arrived. Indeed, I should be paying 
for your breakfast.” Spindrift grinned and shook her head.

“You? Shovel? The parking lot?” Dorothy asked.“You must be 
exhausted.Kang is hiring people your age?”

“Hire? I will not have been hired.It was a favor. And afterward I 
climbed the Arborday Tower to watch the sun rise,” Spindrift 
announced.Teranike’s brows wrinkled for an instant.

“How could Joe not tell us he had a girlfriend?” Dorothy asked.“At least 
he invited you to breakfast, your parents I assume permitting? 
Especially a girlfriend who knows Atlanticean…You can read the runes you 
are wearing, can’t you?”

“/I am who they say I am,” /Spindrift answered in Atlanticean. “/Time’s 
Dagger./ /And I am Joe’s friend who is a girl, until the end of days./”

Dorothy wished Joe were here, now, to translate for sure what his 
girlfriend had just said. She was reasonably sure she understood what 
Spindrift meant, but Joe’s Atlanticean was flawless. She would do her 
best for Teranike, who was from a world where there had never been a 
Gaea Atlanticea. “Teranike, Spindrift said the sigils on her vest say 
who she is, and that she will be Joe’s girlfriend forever.”

“Spindrift,” Teranike said, “that’s wonderful, but I hope I am not 
sounding too, ummh, motherly, if I say that forever is a long time, 
especially at your age.”

Dorothy suddenly remembered a turn of phrase. In Atlanticean ‘…end of 
days…’ meant ‘…the end of your days..’, and was only used if your end 
was on the horizon and swift approaching. Teranike’s advice was good, if 
it didn’t hurt Spindrift’s feelings.Surely for both of them it had to be 
first girlfriend and first boyfriend? “I think my translation wasn’t 
that good,” Dorothy said quickly, “I didn’t mean to say you might have, 
ummh, unrealistic ideas.”

“/She approaches on swift and silent wings./ /No offense will be 
intended or taken,” /Spindrift said.“Sage advice, well meant.” Dorothy 
wished she did not remember what in Atlanticea approached on swift, 
silent wings. The Crone Incarnate came with terrifying images. ‘The sun 
was a copper penny. Ashes fell from the heavens. Waves rose higher and 
higher. The winds blasted from the mountain tops, tearing the trees from 
their roots. The screaming of the accursed souls trapped above the sky 
drowned out all other sound.’

Whatever words Spindrift might have said next were interrupted by Wang 
delivering milk, orange juice, three butterscotch cookies, a plate of 
hash, and a mug of hot caramel milk. “Master Kang saw you in the parking 
lot,” he announced.“You must be hungry. He cannot pay you, but your 
breakfast tomorrow is free.”


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