Page 80 of Akarnae

“Nice to meet you, Alex,” Sal said. She was tall and gangly, but she had a pretty face and soft eyes. “The Ronnigans are great people. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay.”

Alex smiled and nodded her agreement.

“I was just about to explain to Alex what happens when we have bad weather,” Benny said to his daughter.

“Let’s show her instead!” Sal said excitedly.

Before Benny could argue, Sal pulled a remote TCD out of her apron and pressed the screen. Immediately there came a rumbling noise as the roof of the house began to tremble under their feet. Alex reached out for the guardrail, but before she could latch on, it started to move upwards. What she’d thought to be open air between the rail and the floor—or roof—was actually a kind of transparent glassy substance, which was now expanding to lift up and over their heads. When all four perimeter guardrails locked together in the middle of the newly constructed ceiling above them, an invisible dome sheltered the entire space.

“We havegotto come back here at night,” Alex said, looking up through the crystal-clear material and into the sky.

“We will,” Bear promised.

Sal clicked the TCD again and the guardrails slid back down to their original places, opening up the outside atmosphere again.

“Now that the show’s over, how about a drink?” Benny offered. “On the house?”

Alex wasn’t sure if he was making a pun or not.

“What do you think, Alex?” Jordan asked with a gleam in his eyes. “Sal makes the best dillyberry juice you’ll ever taste, and we all know how much you love it.”

Bear laughed and Alex glared at the both of them.

“You like dillyberry juice?” Sal asked, her face lighting up with pleasure. “I make mine with an extra special secret ingredient. I can promise you’ve never tasted anything else quite like it!”

“Um—I’ve actually been trying to quit,” Alex said. “Bad habit and all that.”

Jordan snorted and she discreetly stomped on his foot, satisfied when his amusement turned into a painful grunt.

Alex didn’t want to explain her real reason for avoiding the purple energy drink since it was still embarrassing to think about her first experience with the fruity liquid. But the look on Sal’s face was so disappointed that Alex didn’t want to upset the kind girl.

“It’s been a while, so maybe I could just haveone,” she agreed. She wouldn’t make the same mistake and overdose again.

Sal clapped excitedly and flitted away down the stairs to make their drinks while Benny led them over to a table and told them he’d be back shortly with their order.

“How does that work?” Alex asked her friends. “Them getting the drinks up here, I mean. Does Sal just walk up and down the stairs over and over again?”

“No, no,” Jordan said. “There’s usually always one of them up here serving customers while the other is in the bar downstairs mixing the drinks. Once the orders are made, the drinks are transported up here for delivery.”

“How are they transported?”

“Like in the food court where you can touch the menu and your meal arrives,” Bear said. “The person downstairs places the drinks on the TCD, and a networked TCD up here receives them.”

He pointed to a flat mini-bar and, as she watched, three drinks appeared out of thin air. Benny picked them up and placed them on a serving tray, heading in their direction.

“So convenient,” she mused out loud, and her friends nodded in agreement.

When Benny reached them he transferred the bubbly purple drinks onto their table. “Enjoy, kids,” he said, before walking off to serve another customer.

Alex looked at the drink in front of her and sighed. “Ireallyhope I’m not going to regret this.”

Twenty-Five

It turned out that Alexhad nothing to worry about. Other than a slight buzz, the dillyberry juice didn’t cause her any negative side-effects. And it was true what they said about Sal’s concoction—it was delicious. Even so, Alex was careful to keep to her one-glass limit.

The three friends spent the afternoon talking with Benny and Sal before they made their way back to Bear’s house around sunset. It started snowing during their return walk, and while she was near-frozen, Alex still thought it was worth it to see the picturesque village dusted with the first snow of the season.

“We’re home!” Bear called out as he opened the front door and stomped the ice from his shoes.

---