"What's up, Val? I'm juggling eight things right now, and my boss has me doing errands."

“What kind of stuff?”

“Spending my lunch break going to the statehouse. I need to make sure our application to apply for social events with alcohol goes through before the new laws pass.” Danival could hear muffled street noise in the background, but his sister’s video feed was zoomed into her neck. Maybe she was on her bike.

“Didn’t you do that weeks ago? When you told me all the prohibition stuff would definitely go through?”

“Yes! They dragged their feet. So obviously now it’s my problem that– oh geez.” After some fiddling, Isabella An corrected her video so he could see her face. She was on her bike, the sunroof already deployed. She wasn’t going to risk pulling over to activate it if a heatstorm hit. Danival could tell from the blinking light on her earring that she had another call on hold. “Anyway, now I gotta drag myself down there, bust down some doors, and get to a human. So why are you calling?”

“Yeah, so,” Danival started but didn’t realize how slow he spoke, “I did this gig and the company said that the hours I logged on the clock aren’t correct so they– well, actually, they said that I clocked some hours, but the real hours I clocked aren’t matching up and so there’s a glitch but they–” Isabella An did notice how slow Danival spoke and was getting frustrated.

“What? Val, get to the point– No, you don’t!” Danival could see his sister’s attention on another vehicle. She began to shout and jab her arms in sharp signs.

Danival considered how to recalibrate. He swallowed a soupy ball of saliva. He decided on “sympathetic energy” because that sounded like something he had heard on a news article about winning arguments. “I need some help with getting around customer service.” What was “sympathetic energy” anyway?

“Don’t we all.” She turned the steering rod hard. Danival could hear a horn.

“There’s gotta be some kind of glitch in their system and their site says that it can take a week before I should call– “

“Then call back in a week. It’s not like you’ll lose your apartment.”

Danival was coming to realize he was severely underprepared for this conversation. He was out of saliva to swallow. He scrolled through plausible situations for why money was tight. He thought of broken appliances in his apartment. He thought of a “return to school” sale to unfreeze his transcript, but realized she would have to approve the application. He thought of telling her the truth. He imagined someone ripping the head off a doll.

“Did you do something stupid, Val? Are you talking to Xiao Lin again?” After a particularly stupid stunt, Isabella An had helped Danival break his lease agreement with Xiao Lin so that neither of them would pay the penalty fee. The two had agreed to implant and smuggle bio-synthetic livers that matched their blood types to the Port of Pecem. Isabella required Danival to stop hanging around Xiao Lin, which Danival quickly ignored when Xiao Lin landed an apartment in a skyrise in the remote robotics district, while Danival had to downgrade to renting a futon within a room of a windowless, basement flat. Danival would take the bus and hang out at Xiao’s just like they were still roommates. The building even had a hot tub. His sister continued to berate him. “You’re still hanging out at that stupid tea house–”

“It’s not Xiao Lin!” Danival licked his lip and scanned his memories. He remembered attaching a yellow doll to a balloon. He was young, his hands were tiny, smooth. The rope of the balloon pulled tight around the doll’s belly. He looked up before releasing it and saw a creak he had never seen before. A forest he didn’t remember on the other side. Cool, gray clouds and air that smelled like hair product. “I did a construction job. With a– a crane. It was legit, but they have a glitch.”

“This smells fishy and has Xiao Lin written all over it. I don’t care right now, Val. Crash with me when you get kicked out of your apartment. I’m done with this right now. I’m done with you right now. I’m going to go wait in line like an idiot who doesn’t know how to submit a form because our government’s been overrun by imbeciles. Tianna, you should run for office. And you better not call Mom. Be glad I’m so nice and don’t STICK MY FOOT UP YOUR ASS!” Danival could see her shouting at someone as the feed cut.

Danival was left to look at his bowl of noodles. Would she tell their father? He considered which option he feared more: His family’s judgement or the sharp side of a drug dealer’s knife?

Danival dropped his hands to his side and leaned his head all the way back to stretch his neck. It was already afternoon and getting hotter. A heatstorm was probably on the way, and he would have to find shelter.

He had an inexplicable urge to wrap a doll in a sun screen suit. He even imagined the same hole in the torso as his.

A high-priority notification hit him. It was Xiao Lin.