Lightship Chronicles Chapter 2 : Rescue Hoppers

pretending."

  "So you admit you did."

  "What's your point?"

  "She was blond. And tall. And yeah she was beautiful, but... Never mind."

  "What were you going to say?"

  Nayaa twirls her mouth seemingly in a struggle to make a decision. "And older."

  "She was a senior when I was a freshman. Of course she was older."

  "Why do you like older girls?"

  "I don't."

  "Then how come all the girls you like are older?"

  "What are you talking about? She's the only one."

  "And the love your life?"

  "Oh God, you're a lunatic. I thought you came here to sell fruit. You haven't sold one, but you keep badgering me about stupid things."

  "She was older, and you were together for a year."

  "A week for heaven's sake! She is a week older than me. You're nuts. I'm not talking about this any more."

  "Fine. Why she dump you?"

  "I said I'm not talking about this any more."

  "We're not. We're talking about something else, you being dumped."

  "How about we talk about your boyfriend?"

  "I don't have one."

  "I wonder why."

  Nayaa folds her arms with force and frowns. She scoots away from Andee near the edge of their table. Their fruit is nicely displayed in front of them under a large umbrella atop a metal post. The market is busy, with people milling about back and forth, but no one is buying any fruit. And with Nayaa's angry glare she's guaranteeing none will be sold at all.

  "Uh-uh-uh, I just had a genius though!" Nayaa suddenly and excitedly speaks up as she scoots hopping back up next to Andy.

  "Oh-oh."

  "What oh-oh? You don't know what it is yet."

  "It's one of your... thoughts, that's what."

  "When have I ever had a bad one?"

  "Do you really want me to answer that?"

  "OK, shut up and learn... little boy." She throws off her jacket, then without warning, she leaps, grabbing the metal post of the umbrella in front of her, and uses it like a pole-vault to jump over their fruit display with acrobatic agility. She lands on her feet and instantly rolls into several cartwheels to a small oval water fountain on the other side of the path. With her last cartwheel she leaps off her arms and lands on her feet onto the raised ledge of the decorative fountain.

  "People, people, take a moment, take a break! Take a breather and let me entertain you!" She yells at the people milling about in the market, and then leaps off the ledge into a front flip landing on her squatted right leg with the left one stretching out ahead. She then rolls sideways into a handstand, spins 360 on one hand, then bridging her back lands on her feet, and rises back upright all in one move. All the people around stop and watch.

  She then hops forward onto her outstretched arms and tumbles several times to a man with a tall walking staff in his hand. She ends her tumbling run facing him.

  "May I?" She asks the man reaching out her right hand. He nods and hands her his staff. She steps back from him and into the center of the growing crowd, then flips and twirls the staff like an expert, around her waist, over her head, over and under her arms spinning it around her body like a hula-hoop. After about a minute or so, she throws it in the air. It spins once in the air and lands on one end, and when it does, it just stands there perfectly balanced. The crowd applauds. She kicks it gently and the staff begins to fall, but just before it hits the ground, horizontal, she swiftly kicks it in the center sending it up, still perfectly horizontal, high up in the air. At the moment it stops rising and starts falling back, Nayaa bolts forward at full speed to the nearby fountain, and in one swift move leaps of its ledge, up into the air, but diving backwards like an Olympic high jumper, and catches the staff in her teeth. Continuing her backwards momentum, she flips over and lands on her feet kneeling and now facing the fountain. She is on her left knee with the staff in her mouth as she does a simple bow with her head and an outward flick with her wrists. The growing crowd roars with cheers and applause.

  She again balances the staff on the ground on one end and lets it stand free for a moment than leaps onto it as if it's a grounded pole, but instead of falling, she somehow balances herself on this free standing stick. She climbs as high as she can on it still maintaining her balance. At the top she turns on her side by gripping the very tip with her right hand, and a half a meter below with her left. She stretches her body out until she is rigid and horizontal with the ground, and balancing on the tip of that wooden staff forming a T shape. She is leaning with her bare stomach against the top of the staff with her horizontal weight on her arms only. Her muscles are noticeably shaking from the strain of holding herself in this difficult and almost impossible position while also balancing herself on a stick. But she holds on and then slowly stars to spin like a spinning top. The crowd is dead silent, jaws dropped, in disbelief at what they are seeing.

  But Nayaa is not done. Her spinning picks up speed, and her legs begin to spread apart forming various shapes with her body as the spinning increases. She now looks like a wobbling pinwheel, and almost a blur she is spinning so fast, when suddenly she leaps up, tumbles in air before landing on her feet, while the staff flies the opposite direction and falls to the feet of the man she got it from.

  The crowd roars in cheers. Nayaa tries to take a bow but stumbles as if drunk. A couple of guys rush up to help her, but she flips forward landing into a bow, then suddenly rises up flicking her arms up and out in the air like a gymnast after a routine and similes, stopping the running guys in their track.

  "Did you like my show?" She asks the crowd with a big smile on her face.

  Everyone cheers in agreement. She then quickly points to Andee.

  "Look at my little brother. Doesn't he look sad. He's a bit jovial in the head and a real headache to our mom. I'm here to sell fruit and raise money for our family, and help my jovial little brother. So please folks, if you enjoyed my show, for which I practiced so hard, please, please, buy fruit from my sad jovial little brother so we can take some measly credits home tonight. Thank you for your generosity and I hope you enjoyed my show."

  Half the crowd leaves, but the rest line up at Andee's stall. Nayaa sits by the fountain and coyly splashes a few drops on her face to cool herself off after her hard work. Andee is swarmed. People are buying fruit by the bag loads.

  Ten minutes later, the stall is empty. All the fruit is sold. Nayaa finally returns from the fountain.

  "So, what do you think little brother?"

  Andee can't help but smile. "Where did you learn the tricks with the stick? I don't remember some of those moves in our stick fighting practice."

  "Just made it up."

  "Just like that."

  "Uh-hm." She nods squeezing her lips.

  "No seriously, where did you learn that?"

  "You go to the races, I practice. Practice makes perfect, don't you know?" She smiles with a quick wink, and then continues. "Plus, it's the same stuff we've been doing up in your berryfruit trees for years." As she grabs her jacket and puts it back on.

  "Not exactly. You were really good, I have to admit. Its one thing to do those tricks in a tree, planted in the ground, but I don't think I could do it on a free standing stick like that."

  "Of course you couldn't. I'm better than you." Ending her statement with a toothy grin.

  "You might be, you might just be." Andee responds smiling in agreement.

  "I know I am. Can little girls do what I did?"

  "What?" Andee's mood suddenly changes back to annoyed. "Even after all this, you're still stuck on that? OK fine, no, little girls can't do that. But your still not a woman."

  "I'm a young woman."

  "OK young woman, lets get out of here."

  "How much did you get?"

  "Double."

  "What? No way."

  "Yeah. This is double what that basket of fruit was worth." Holding up the paper credits.

&nb
sp; "Wow. I didn't realize they were going to do that. That's our money. Put your mom's half away and lets go spend the rest. Woo-hoo!" Nayaa hops in place excited.

  "Yeah, we could do that. I haven't had credits to spend in a long time. There's a few things I could buy, for sure." Andee nods liking the idea.

  "Uh-uh-uh, I just had a genius though!" Nayaa suddenly triples her excitement, and leans into Andee's face.

  "Oh, not again."

  "The prave!"

  "Noooo-h, no way."

  "Oh yeah, its on, we're going."

  "No we're not. We're too young. You've got to be 18 to get in."

  "Oh please! You're so sheltered. Drop a few credits to the bouncer and he'll let us in. Plus we both look older anyway."

  "We're not dressed for it."

  "Like you have prave clothes at home. To think of it, neither do I. Woo-hoo, lets go buy some."

  "Hold your alcamas there little... I mean young woman. We've got a decent amount of credits but by no means are we rich. If we buy clothes and other stuff we won't have much left for the prave. So what's it going to be?"

  "We only need enough to bribe the bouncers. I have no intention of buying drinks, or smoking cactii--punk that. That stuff will make your brain go jovial and leave you stuck there, in jovial-land that is."

  "Then why do you want to go if you know how messed up it can be?"

  "Prave's aren't about drinking and smoking. Only dumbasses do that. It's about the music, the light show, and it's about dancing. I want to dance!" And she starts twisting and wagging her hips in a little impromptu dance.

  "Yeahhhh... that's actually what I'm not looking forward to."

  Nayaa stops her hip gyrations and leans forward staring at Andee with