Marcy hopped along beside her father as they walked through the mall. They were on a winter shopping trip. Every time they moved, Marcy and her father left the majority of their possessions behind them. The little family required new holiday decorations, and more winter clothing.

It was a dazzling time of year for Marcy. She loved being at the mall, seeing so many people and wondering at so many interesting items. The reflections of the future were everywhere and baffling and exciting.

"I love shopping trips!" she chirped happily. Her father chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"More than school?" he asked. Marcy didn't pick up that there were ulterior reasons for his questions. He kept his voice appropriately jovial to hide them.

"School's great!" she cheered. "But I like shopping more, it's special!" Because I am spending time with you outside! And look at all the people!

Her father grinned at her.

Marcy had always thought her father looked a little odd without scars. Whenever the duo left home, he hid the tell-tale markings with bits of false skin and makeup. He was quite an artist with makeup, actually. Marcy studied the edges of his mouth as he laughed, but could not detect so much as a hint of damaged flesh. So perfect!

"Right now it's decorated for Halloween," her father told her with a mischievous look. "But we'll come back near Christmas. They'll have a gargantuan tree here, tall as that ceiling up there!" He stooped to point for her benefit.

"No!" she cooed in delighted disbelief. So tall?

"Really," he ruffled her hair.

Marcy smiled up at where the tree would be. She could feel the shade of its presence already, see the edges of its ghostly shape. Her father paused what he'd been doing to quickly take her hand, and watched her carefully, but she did not see or feel much. She was mesmerized.

Marcy found crowds amazing, but also incredibly disorienting. She could sense the hundreds of people around her, could feel the reverberations of their inner natures, could feel each moved object and each potential drop of bad luck. Everything brushed against the everything else in kaleidoscopic ripples, each a branching thread in a vast potential future. The future. The future walked around her, and hid nothing.

Mr. Adams waited patiently, in the way one might be patient in booting an old computer, watching his daughter's dazed expression. When they had first entered the premises, she'd been overwhelmed, and her father had held her tight against him for a moment and covered her eyes to steady her. This time he waited to see if she might recover on her own.

She did not disappoint him, blinking rapidly after a moment and then turning to smile at him. He grinned back and ruffled her hair again. Still he didn't release her hand just yet; she was likely off a step and would be for another minute or so, slightly confused about whether events about her were transpiring in the present or in the future.

"Hey squirt, welcome back." He winked when she looked bashful, to let her know it had been no big deal. "Let's head over to that store, we need to get some new coats."

"Kay!"


Oh dear. What a very nice coat. Marcy's eyes lit up the moment she laid eyes on it. With a delighted gasp she hopped over to where it was, feeling the soft material of its exterior, kneading the underlying goose down. It was love at first sight.

"What do you have there, squirt?" her father asked, pushing past several rows of bloated, garish, cotton-stuffed winter garments

"I want this one!" she cried delightedly, and ran her fingers over the coat's beautiful floral embroidery work. It reminded her of her autumn jacket, of which she was also particularly fond.

She didn't see her father wince, but she heard the hesitation in his voice. "That one's a little expensive, kiddo," he told her with a glance at the price tag.

"But can I have it? I really like it!" she cooed happily, studying the coat and struggling to get it off its hanger. She wanted to try it on. "I love it! Help me, Daddy? I want to try it!"

Her father glanced around the store. When he didn't immediately leap to her assistance, Marcy turned an inquisitive look back at him. He had a cautiously worried look on his face. "Daddy?" she asked, hushing her voice even though she couldn't see the cause for concern.

He blinked, turning wide hazel eyes back to her almost as if in surprise. He tilted his head to the side for a moment, but then came up, and helped her pull the coat off the hanger. He unzipped it, helped her get each of her little arms through its sleeves, zipped it back up, and straightened it a little. Marcy laughed and hugged herself; it was a very warm coat.

Her father stood back and told her to spin around. By the time she'd made a complete circle, he was wearing a conspiratorial grin. "Oh, alright," he laughed. "Give me a second."

"Yay!" she cried in glee as he knelt down and reached into one of his boots. A moment later he pulled free a few one-hundred dollar bills, and passed them to her.

"There you go. But no more big purchases, okay?" he admonished.

Marcy laughed (cackled, honestly, though she was too tiny for a proper cackle) and hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you, you're the best!"

He laughed, hugging her back and momentarily pressing his face into her hair. "So are you, squirt," he told her. Then he tapped her nose, and kissed the top of her head, and sent her off to pay for the new coat.

That was when she saw the bunny in the pet store window across the hall, and went lightning-rod-straight in amazement.

Mr. Smith looked down at her in surprise. Then he squinted across the mall and set eyes on what she'd just been stupefied by. Oh no. His expression flattened wryly. So much for 'no more big purchases.'