Page 18 of Eat My Moon Dust
Before she could answer, he marched into the kitchen like a robot. Omi and I exchanged a knowing look as Naitee’s eyes followed him. Ah, young love. Poor Naitee had to be as romantically dense as a brick if she didn’t know how far Piro had fallen for her. She picked up his snowflakes and slipped them into our finished pile with care.
“So, Tinsley, what else do you have planned other than hoarding decorations?” Omi asked, pulling Naitee’s focus away from our struggling friend as he guzzled water.
I stuck my tongue out at her but preened on my seat bones. Plans? Oh, I hadplans.
“Well, first of all, decorate the elevators, the lobbies, and the school pod. Then tomorrow, I’m going to the hangar to pick up some deliveries and get BEO to play holiday music. And I got biodegradable glitter spray!” This got me bouncing with excitement. “It’s for plants, and comes in white, so I’m going to spray all the ferns around the buildings and the playfield to make them sparkle with frost. Oh, and a five-meter tall Christmas tree, a gift exchange, a potluck party… and twinkle lights!”
My eyes gleamed as I pictured how the whole festival would look. I had so much to do, but it was completely possible with a little community effort. Three weeks wasn’t much, but I was rocket fuel in a tiny package.Nohkomipandid always say productivity was good for the soul, and Renatans were still on the mend.
“Hunar can take care of BEO for you,” Piro chimed in, his mane tied back now in a thick band, and set a tray of water glasses on the coffee table. His tendrils crawled over his shoulders in Naitee’s direction but couldn’t get close enough to touch her.
“No need! Sizzle told me he’s on vacation anyway,” I practically sang. It wasperfect.I wouldn’t have to deal with Scrooge McAsshat if he wasn’t in the colony. Even if hewasthe colony’s chief engineer. All I had to do was get Imani, the head of security, to approve whatever I asked Bajora to do for me. It might be a few extra steps, but it’d be worth it.
Hunar and I didnotmix well. I was collaborative and energetic. A glass half-full kinda person. He was… not. He was impatient and rough and hadnotact–
“No, he isn’t! He came back with me this afternoon.”
I grimaced, my half-finished snowflake plopping down on my lap with the scissors still stuck in place.
“And the bigger stuff like the, ah,Krismistree?” Piro continued. “I don’t think we have that species, but the industrial printing bay is definitely better than trying to do it at home. Way bigger and faster.”
“That so?” I screwed up my nose, focusing too hard on the corner of a snowman’s hand. Omi stared lasers into the side of my head and my scissors slipped, cutting off all the fingers on one twig hand except the middle one.Oops.
“Oh yeah,” Piro said, a little of his flustered blush receding as he straightened his shoulders and cut out some stars from scrap plas. He smiled, blindingly handsome and soft as always. “And Hunar’s budget for that thing is pretty much endless. He printed the clinic and school pods on it, did you know that? It’s state-of-the-art. There are only a handful of people that are even trained on something like that.”
Omi burst into laughter at my scowl. I threw scraps at her and slumped back against the chair with a huff. Piro tilted his head like a puppy, good-natured confusion scrawled across his face. He blinked down at my ruined snowman and his smile returned.
“Want me to make that into some stars?”
“Knock yourself out.” I handed the mangled plas to him and he wriggled on his butt with satisfaction, lifting his scissors and getting back to work. I exhaled, my excitement deflating as I thought of all the things I’d planned, now blocked by the smug shadow of that stupid shilpakaar…
Could I give up the tree? I thought so… We could make one out of red ferns and hang baubles off it. It might not feel quite like Christmas this year, but over time it would become our own tradition. That was the point of all this anyway, wasn’t it? To foster a strong community?
I also had all the ornaments to print still. And dishes, glasses, tablecloths, wrapping paper… All of that could be done by volunteers in small batches though. It’d take more effort to coordinate but still, totally doable.
Then my eyes drifted to a bowl of failed experiments on the counter and my stomach plummeted. The one thing I couldn’t do on my own was twinkle lights. I’d tried to do it myself–how hard could making a simple little light bulb be? But no matter how many DIY tutorials in our internet archive I tried, the materials out here just weren’t the same.
I thought of my dad stringing up lights in his toque and work boots and bit back tears. Ihadto try harder for twinkle lights. I needed…
“Damn it,” I whined to myself. Omi gave me a little pat on the back and a low hum of encouragement.
“He’s not that bad,” she murmured. “Remember how he got ya waders that actually fit? Otherwise you’da been swept away in the rains like a bucket.”
Yeah, he bought me waders…afteryelling at me about having a tantrum around dangerous plasma discharge pipes. My cheeks blistered with embarrassment remembering the whole thing.
But this was bigger than me. This was a chance foreveryoneto come together and celebrate.
I took a fortifying breath and nodded once. “You’re right. I can win him over for sure.”
“Das di spirit,” Omi crooned, falling into her native Patois and rolling my shoulders with a little dance. I giggled as my reindeer antlers wobbled. “No one alive can resist my Tinsley’s cute smile.”
“That’s right!” I agreed. “Not even Scrooge McAsshat!”
“Who?” Piro asked.
Omi and I looked at him for a heartbeat, then laughed. Even Naitee giggled.
Omi had that magic that made everyone see the best in themselves, and she was right this time too. My nerves were just acting up.
