Hey again to my readers! I thank those of you who have reviewed me, and to those of you who haven't…what's wrong with you?! LoL. Just kidding! Again, I apologize for the how slow-moving my story is going, but I'm managing to keep up my grades as I write. I'm introducing a new character this chapter, who will unfold as I go. Enjoy!
"One or two, Miss Tamaroko?"
"Two will be fine," the woman responded, taking out her purse.
"Cleaned, as I recall?" he said with a smile.
"You assume right," she replied, taking out her money reader, scanning it.
"I haven't seen you in a while, Miss Tamaroko. Have you been eating imported meat again?" he said, joking accusingly.
She laughed at his joke, waiting patiently for her fish as he flaked the scales off and gutted it. His worn, calloused hands placed the pale meat on dark brown paper, wrapping it in a careful fold.
"Here you are, Miss Tamaroko," he said amiably, nestling the small package down among the other contents of her basket. "You're planning a nice meal for your boyfriend tonight, yes?"
The woman shrugged with a smile, causing the old fisherman to grin. "Something like that," she replied.
"I wish my wife would do nice things like that for me. She's got four children to take care of, though. Ah, well. Come back soon, Miss Tamaroko!"
The woman nodded and waved as she left, moving slowly through the marketplace. The sunlight wove itself into her chestnut hair and glowed in her honey hazel eyes. Boyfriend. Ha. It had been a long time since she'd been in love with anyone. After leaving the ISSP, she had been moving from place to place, wanting to settle, but not wishing to cause a disturbance. Or get caught. With a bounty on her head and the ISSP on her back, it would only be a matter of time before she would have to leave Ganymede, too.
Leaving any other place would be a breeze, but here…Ganymede was where she'd had some of her best ISSP days. They had a base on this moon of Jupiter, the ISSP, but they were so worried about other galactic affairs that they hadn't even noticed her presence yet.
Luckily, she had everything she needed here. A decent place to live. Good food. Excellent trafficking. Not nearly the amount of business she got on Mars. On Mars there were druggies everywhere. They would offer her anything for a hook-up.
She moved past the market with her basket and climbed the outer metal stairway that led to her apartment on the sixth floor. Once at the top of the winding stairway, she leaned against the railing and stared out over the city. People weaved up and down the open streets like ants as, further in the distance, a parade of multi-colored cars paced their route along the expressway to a musical fanfare of distant honks and revs.
She sighed deeply. Abandoning such a wonderful planet would make her heart ache for security. Just like it had ached the first time she left.