Fall

Julie was having her weekly dinner with her father and she probably should have been paying attention to him. Some weeks that was the only time she saw him. (She didn't count the broadcasts.) Not that she really minded. Running Detroit Deluxe took a lot of time. Today he'd toured two factories and personally overseen the new entering class of cadets.

Only boys became cadets. She had asked her father about that once. His explanation involved the importance of strength and physical prowess and she let the matter drop. It made sense that you would want strong soldiers. It still didn't explain why almost all of the KaneCo division heads were male or why Ms. Vargas was the only woman on the executive staff. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

It would help if she had something else to think about. She didn't even have any good going-back-to-school stories this year. She'd just logged into the high school courses from her room. After 8th grade children stopped going to schools and started taking classes on the computer. It allowed for different educational paths and freed up the boys to join the cadet corps her father was still going on about.

It suddenly occurred to her that these new cadets would be her age. She started listening again. "We've got a great group this year. Cadet Chilton set a new record on the athletics course and Cadet Smith got the second highest score on the entrance exam ever."

"Marcus Smith?"

"Hmm, no, his first name starts with a T."

She went back to her food cubes. She hadn't known Marcus very well anyway.

Winter

She never thought she'd actually miss middle school. The computer courses might allow for more personalized instruction but they weren't as fun as being around other kids. They were also self-paced and apparently her pace was really fast. She could easily get through her lessons in an hour a day. At first she'd been concerned but when she mentioned it her father he just grinned and said it proved she was smart and that the other kids had just been holding her back. Only her father would think friends held you back. Not that was much of a problem now.

It turned out when she didn't see them every day most of her friends dropped off. Who knew forced socialization was actually good for something? Maybe if she had been more open with them they would have been closer. But there were always things to shy around. Even simple questions like "what do your parents do?" opened up potential minefields.

Thank goodness for Claire. Her best friend since kindergarten hadn't drifted away. Claire liked shopping and Julie liked the excuse to be around other people. They had a plan to explore every shopping district in Deluxe.

That morning they'd gone half way across the city to find to visit some boutiques that were almost exactly the same as the ones down the street from Claire's building. But it had still been fun and any time Julie spent with her friend was time she didn't have to spend in her apartment. She had been ecstatic when her father agreed she was old enough not to need a minder anymore but there was a hidden downside. She didn't really miss her last nanny, but the apartment seemed very empty without another person.

She started on her homework which didn't take long. History was practically just a Kane-co infomercial. There had to be more to the past than that. She thought back to her favorite nanny who used to tell her stories of old Detroit. She left abruptly one day while Julie was at school. It was so unlike Mrs. Wood to leave without even saying goodbye. Maybe it hadn't been her choice. But if it wasn't hers it could be only be one other person's and no good could come of following that train of thought.

Dinner that week consisted of her father eating in his office and projected into the dining room. She considered pointing out to him that she'd probably seen him more on a screen than in person but decided to save that guilt trip for another day.

He at least had the decency to apologize. The winterization of the city was underway and things were busy at work. Although she noted that he'd still found time to stop by the cadet academy this week.

He finally noticed she wasn't contributing to the conversation. "You're awful quiet. What's wrong Sweetie?"

What do I say to that? "My life is too easy" seems ungrateful. "I'm lonely" seems like a sign of weakness.

"Nothing"

Spring

The weather was warning up and Julie was both restless and bored. Her father was caught up in meetings, Claire was sick, and the closest thing she'd had to a conversation in three days was when she apologized after accidentally bumping into a man outside her building.

It was the kind of mood that made her want to something reckless and she had the perfect thing in mind. She knew where an entrance to Motorcity was supposed to be. There had been rumor in middle school that some older boys had snuck down there for the night. Unlike them she knew when the security details would be patrolling. It wouldn't be hard to get in, take a quick look around, and then get out.

Except it took longer to get there than she thought it would. And it was impossible to take just one quick look. There was too much to take in. It was loud and cluttered and exciting and crowded and colorful and different. There were different shapes and texture as if all everything had been made separately at a different time and by a different designer. Instead of the gentle background hum of machines and hushed voices there were a hundred different sounds. And yet it instead of being a cacophony it all came together in a crazy harmony.

The people all dressed like something out of the past. She noticed some of them were children. The clothes were a little worn but clean and the kids looked happy. Normal. In fact, so did the adults. They didn't look like social deviants. (At least most of them didn't.) Not the criminals, druggies and bottom dwellers her father said populated the lower levels. She got the impression she had been in more danger from the exposed wires in the tunnel on the way down than she was from the people in Motorcity.

That thought occupied her mind during the long walk and climb to Deluxe. She wanted to ask her father about it but had no idea how. "So yesterday when I was doing something incredibly dangerous and illegal I found out that maybe you were wrong about Motorcity" didn't seem like the best conversation starter. Besides he probably already knew. Something else she didn't want to examine too closely.

Sometimes there were so many things she wasn't thinking about she felt like her head would explode.