When the Devil Dances

“I mean, if you go into town, they’re gonna arrest me for beating you,” Papa O’Neal continued. “I mean, your eyes are all black and blue!”

“Just because you know NOTHING about fashion… !” Cally said.

“Oh, fashion is it… ?”

“Uh, whoa, whoa!” Shari said, holding up her hands. “Let’s all calm down here. I suspect that everyone in this barn, except me, but probably including the horse, is armed.”

Papa O’Neal started to say something and she laid her hand over his mouth.

“You wanted me, us, to talk to Cally about ‘girl stuff.’ Right?”

“Yes,” O’Neal said, pulling the hand away. “But I was talking about… hygiene and…”

“How to make guys complete doofuses?” Cally asked. “I already know those things.”

Shari slapped her hand over his mouth again and he pulled it back.

“Look, I’m her grandfather!” he argued. “Don’t I get to say anything?”

“No,” Shari answered. “You don’t.”

“Arrrr!” O’Neal said, throwing up his arms. “This is what I hate about having women around. Okay! Okay! Fine. I’m wrong! Just one thing.” He pointed at Cally and shook his finger. “Makeup. Okay. I can handle makeup. Makeup is even good. But no raccoon eyes!”

“Okay,” Shari said gently, turning him towards the barn door. “Why don’t you go check on the pig and Cally and I will have a little talk.”

“Fine, fine,” he muttered. “Go ahead. Clue her in on how to make a guy insanely angry without even opening her mouth. Put her through girl academy… Fine…” He continued to mutter as he stalked out of the barn.

Cally looked at Shari and smiled happily. “You seem to be getting along.”

“Yes, we are,” Shari admitted. “Whereas you don’t seem to be getting along with him at all.”

“Oh, we’re okay,” Cally said, sitting on the hay. “I just spent so many years being his perfect little warrior child and now… I don’t know. I’m tired of the farm, I’ll tell you that. And I’m tired of being treated like a child.”

“Well, get used to that continuing for a while,” Shari said. “Both of those things. Unless something very unpleasant happens. Because you’re only thirteen and that means you’re going to be in parental control for five more years. And, yeah, they’ll wear. And, yeah, you’ll want to find any way out from time to time. And if you want a really stupid one you can find some cute jackass with a hot car and a nice butt and have a passel of kids and find yourself out in the cold at thirty with mouths to feed.”

Cally pulled at a strand of hair and examined it minutely. “Wasn’t exactly where I was going with that.”

“That’s what you say now,” Shari nodded. “And in about two years you’ll be in town talking to one of those nice young soldiers with the wide shoulders. Trust me. You will. You won’t be able to help yourself. And I have to admit that if you’re doing that with, as your grandfather so delicately put it, ‘raccoon eyes,’ your chances of ending up holding somebody like Amber a year later is really high.”

Cally sighed and shook her head. “I was talking with Wendy and Elgars last night and we didn’t have any makeup, but Wendy was telling me a few things. So I got up real early this morning and…”

“Tried it,” Shari said. “Totally normal. Not a bit of problem. Want to go inside and try it again? This time with some help?”

“Oh, could we?” Cally asked. “I know I look goofy. I just don’t know how to fix it. And I love what you did with whatever you used!”

“Well,” Shari said with a grimace. “I prefer a bit more than this; I no longer have your perfect skin. But that was all I had to work with. It was in a pouch under the sink. It looked like Galplas…” She stopped at the look on Cally’s face. “What?”

“That’s…” Cally shook her head, obviously having a little trouble speaking. “That was my mom’s. They… sent it back from Heinlein Station, from her quarters. It’s… about all there was in the way of personal effects; everything else went up with the ship.”

“Oh, Cally, I’m so sorry,” Shari said, her hands going to her face.

“It’s okay, really,” Cally replied. “You can use it. It’s just… junk.”

“It’s not junk,” Shari said, walking over to her. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I used it.”

“It’s okay, really,” Cally said with a set face. “I’m glad you did. I really am. I… I just wish mom… Ah!” She grabbed her hair. “There are four billion dead in the last few years! I will not blubber because my mother was one of them! I. Won’t.”

Shari sat down next to the girl and carefully put her arms around her. “You can mourn your mother any way you choose, Cally. Strength and even denial are forms of mourning; trust me, I know. But don’t… blot her out. Don’t… leave her behind.” She rubbed at the teen’s eyes and rocked her for a moment.

“Let’s go get that stuff off of you and then pull out your mom’s bag of essentials and see what works. I think that would be a good start. In more ways than one.”

Papa O’Neal looked up as Mosovich and Mueller rounded the corner.

“Isn’t it a little early to be hitting the booze?” Mosovich chuckled.