BKA The District

BKA The District

     A Family Transport suddenly halted. When it did the front end reared up a little. Causing everyone within to fall backwards. Deicca looked over her shoulder at her four children seated behind her. “Is everyone okay.”

     Bekke, thirteen, sank into her chair. She glanced at her siblings. “It looks like we are.”

     Vikter, eight, took off his Protection. “I am.”

     Jacci, ten, felt a little groggy from what happened, but she shook it off. “Are the gifts okay.”

     Hectan, sixteen, sat behind the others. He peered over his shoulder at about a twenty gifts. “It looks like they are all okay too.”

     Deicca turned her attentions to her Love Poulic. “What happened.”

     “The streets are as busy as the Shopping District.” Poulic eased the Family Transport down. “We aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

     “It’s another trap. This is all your fault.” Deicca kept her voice low. “You always wait until the last second to shop for The Holiday.”

     “It looks like I’m not the only one. I would say everyone else is doing the exact same thing.” Poulic looked at the traffic all around them.

     “We only have a few hours left before Shopping shuts down for the year.” Deicca looked back at their children. They appeared okay.

     Bekke tugged at Vikter Protection attached to his chair. It remained connected. “Why did you take it off?” She put it back on him. It snapped on just like a snap shirt.

     “Because it’s too tight.” Vikter pulled it off again. Bekke put it back on, but not as tight that time.

     “Are you sure you are okay, Jacci?” Hectan put his hand over Jacci’s – and squeezed it. “Your health feels good.”

     “I’m just a little tired.” Jacci pushed her hand upward and knocked Hectan’s hand off hers. “We have been shopping since we woke up today.”

     “I think we need to make a second stop.” Poulic opened the roof of the Family Transport. Then stared upward. “We wouldn’t be trapped here if we had a Super Transport.”

     Deicca could also see only a few Super Transports sailed past them. “I would love to get one too. But we can’t afford something like that. We both have two Professions, and we still barely get by each month.”

     “That’s another reason why I wait until ‘the last second’ to shop.” Poulic stood up. “Everybody knows the best deals are just before the new year.”

     “Can you see what the delay is this time?” Deicca asked as she joined Poulic.

     “It was an accident, and it’s almost cleared.” Poulic and Deicca could barely see it. “We should be on our way in a few minutes.”

     “Our branch is right beyond that accident.” Deicca sat back down in her chair. So did Poulic a few seconds later.

=====-=====-=====-=====

     “There’s one.” Deicca pointed to an empty parking place.

     Poulic speeded up to get to it, but another Transport got there first. “That makes four. It only took us a few minutes to get here, but we have been circling around The District for almost half an hour.”

     Deicca kept her eye on the Mini Scanner in between the front chairs on the Control Panel of the Family Transport. It scanned the five levels of the four sides of The District. After another Deicca finally saw one. “There’s another one.”

     Speeding up Poulic got that slot, but he had to bested two other Transports to get it. He slid the Family Transport in between four others. “It’s a little tight for the size of our transport, but we are in here.”

     Once there Poulic removed the Power Box while the rest of his family slid out the right side into The District. As he slid through the wall that disappeared when they parked Poulic pointed his Power Button at the gifts then hit a button on it to turn them invisible.

     Poulic joined his family at the edge of that Walkway. Getting there very difficult because that Walkway was so crowded. Once there he looked down at what his family saw: An even more packed District Shoppers below them.

     Deicca glanced down at a Slot Tag embedded in the railing they leaned against. “Remember where we parked.”

     Looking at the time on both sides of the Slot Tag Poulic sighed. “We have less than two hours before The District is closed for The End-of-the-Year Holiday. So we will all meet back here in two hours.”

     “We would prefer you teamed up.” Deicca looked at Hectan and Bekke. “I don’t want you two pairing up together – like you usually do.”

     Bekke grabbed Vikter and they took off in one direction. Pushing, shoving and even knocking down a few fellow shoppers that got in their way.

     Hectan grabbed Jacci by her shoulders, and used her cuteness to get through the crowd. They headed in the other direction.

     Poulic leaned over the railing. “You do know they are going to find gifts for us.”

     “Of course, I do.” Deicca smiled at Poulic. “One of us has been with them all day while the other got their gifts. Now it’s their turn.”

     “Speaking of gifts, we haven’t gotten anything from each other yet either.” Poulic left before Deicca spoke.

     Deicca did speak though. “I wasn’t planning on staying around here for the next two hours.” She disappeared in the crowd of shoppers too.

     Poulic’s family was one of the last shoppers to leave The District that day. He didn’t say anything until after they left. “I’m never going to do that again. Next year we are going to do this a month or two in advance.”

     Patting his hand Deicca spoke. “You say that every year – and each year we wait to get our gifts until now.”

     Deicca glanced over her shoulder at their four kids. She could barely see them because of all the gifts surrounding them.

The Word Count, including this line, is 988.