Shopping was a little easier. For starters, the mall was unusually quiet, which Calvin was thankful for. It was a nice day out in Summer Cove and for the first time in a while, it wasn't too hot outside. It seemed instead of staying locked up inside with air conditioning, most people were taking advantage of the nicer weather to be outside. Calvin was grateful for that.

To make things even easier, he and Hayley had split up shopping duty. He would help the boys pick out a couple new outfits and she would take the girls. While they were both hopeful that Mick and RedBot would find a cure quickly, lunch had shown them that they needed to be ready for anything, and having some spare clothes lying around wouldn't be a bad idea.

Preston seemed to want to stick close to Calvin as they made their way around the mall. He wasn't one to wander and so Calvin didn't feel he hand to keep an eye on him all the time. That meant he could focus on Brody and Levi, who were so excited to be at a mall, they wanted to see everything. Calvin had to remember that the boys had grown up away from the city and so trips to the mall were likely a luxury they rarely got to experience.

"They have so many toys," Brody said as he looked into a toy store. He turned to Calvin. "Can we get a toy?"

"I don't have a lot of cash," Calvin shook his head.

"But there are no toys at home," Brody sulked. Calvin shook his head.

"We have enough fun playing video games," he said.

"What if, instead of buying clothes, we buy toys?" Levi reasoned. "Brody only needs a new shirt."

"Hayley said…"

"Girls love shopping," Levi told him. "Hayley probably wants to buy new clothes. We don't. If we only buy Brody a new shirt, can we use the rest of the money to buy toys?"

"No. We really should have more clothes in case…"

"One little toy each?" Levi asked. "And only one new outfit each. Come on, Calvin, there are no toys at home at all!"

"I guess that's true," Calvin nodded. "Okay, but only something small."

All three boys cheered as they raced inside the toy store. Calvin let them go while he opened his wallet and checked how much money he had inside. He knew the boys weren't likely to need too many new outfits, so there would be a little room to buy them some toys, which would help to keep them happy and busy at Ninja Ops.

"Maybe this could work," he said then walked into the store. "Hey, maybe we should pick something out for the girls too?"

"Oh man, look at these Power Rangers!" Brody raced over to Calvin and showed him a tall action figure of the red Ranger. "This is so cool! He's a ninja too, just like me! Can I get it? Please? Please?"

"The big one?" Calvin asked, checking the price to find it was much more than what he expected to pay for a small toy. "The shelves are full of Ranger toys. Can't you get one a little less expensive?"

"But I like this one."

"If he gets the big one, I want the big one too," Levi said, carrying the same toy, only the gold Ranger instead of red.

"Oh man, I've been looking for this everywhere," Preston said as he brought over his choice for a toy. He proudly held up a big magic kit. "Calvin, this has everything! Rings and a wand and cards and a hat and…"

"It's over a hundred bucks!"

"It's got everything!" Preston told him. "And it's not that expensive."

"It's worth more than Brody's and Levi's toys combined!"

"But it's so awesome!"

"Guys, I said something little. And we didn't even pick out anything for the girls. If we don't bring them back something, they'll be upset," Calvin walked them over to the shelf. He found smaller versions of the Power Ranger toys that Levi and Brody wanted, and then saw there was a smaller magic kit for Preston. "This is more what I was thinking."

"But…"

"I want the big one!" Preston screamed and threw the smaller magic kit to the floor. "You said I could pick out a toy and I did!"

"Preston…" Calvin looked around. Though the mall wasn't busy, there were still people around. Preston's tantrum had come out of nowhere and admittedly, it was a little embarrassing. People walking past the aisle were giving him judgemental looks.

"Okay, okay," Calvin caved. "You'll get the magic kit. But that means no clothes. If you get them dirty, you'll have to keep wearing them."

"This comes with a cape," Preston said and took his first choice off the shelf.

"If he gets the bigger one…"

"I know, I know," Calvin nodded, and the boys grabbed their respective toys and raced to the cash. Calvin went to pay and after getting his change, he counted it out with a sigh. "Barely enough for one shirt. Hayley isn't going to be happy."

-Ninja-Steel-

While Hayley had been lucky enough not to cross the toy store, she was facing a challenge of her own. The store that she wanted to take the girls too was on the second floor of the mall and the elevator was broken. While normally that would mean she would just find the stairs, that wasn't an option today.

"Well that sucks," Sarah commented out loud, and the elevator repairman looked to her and Kelly sympathetically.

"I'm getting it fixed up as quickly as I can. The escalator's down that way."

"She can't take the escalator," Sarah told him and pointed to the chair.

"I'm working on it," he promised. Hayley thanked him then ushered the girls away.

"I can make the escalator work," she said. "Maybe by the time we have to come back down, the elevator will be fixed again."

They walked to the escalator and Hayley instructed Sarah to go up first. Sarah looked a little worried but did as she was told. Hayley then grabbed the back of Kelly's chair.

"You aren't going to drop me, are you?" Kelly asked. Hayley shook her head.

"I'll be right behind you. If you fall, I'll fall too."

"That's not really comforting."

"I won't let you drop," Hayley said and placed the chair on the escalator. A the steps pulled away from each other, Kelly's chair tilted backwards an uncomfortable amount. All her weight was pushed into Hayley. It wasn't too much, but Hayley could see why escalators weren't an option. This had to frightening for Kelly and if Hayley lost her balance for even a second, they could both go tumbling down and hurt themselves.

Fortunately, they made it to the top. When Kelly was level again, she breathed out a sigh of relief and thanked Hayley for not letting her drop. Hayley assured her everything had been fine, and that they would wait for the elevator to be fixed before going back down. Then, just as they started to make their way to the store, a woman walked up to Hayley.

"You know the escalator isn't meant for people like her, right?"

"Oh, I know, but the elevator is broken," Hayley said, and the woman scoffed.

"So, then you don't come upstairs."

"But the store we need is up here," Hayley said. "She's not too heavy and I wouldn't have done it if I thought for a second it was dangerous."

"Yeah," Kelly nodded.

"It doesn't matter. You should know better," the woman said before walking off.

"What climbed up her butt?" Sarah asked. Hayley grabbed her arm and started to walk.

"Some people just stick their nose into everything," she said. "You trusted me, right, Kelly?"

"Yeah," Kelly nodded. "I just didn't want to fall."

"Okay, you'll need a couple of outfits," Hayley told the girls. "If you see something you like, let me know. Two shirts, one set of bottoms and if you insist on a new dress, Kel, please keep it to one. We're on a budget."

"Look at these shoes!" Sarah called out, having already raced off to pick out what she wanted. She picked up the display and raced back to Hayley. "Oh man, these are so cool!"

"You have shoes," Hayley told her. "We're looking for clothes."

"But I have clothes," Sarah insisted. "And these shoes are sick! Besides, you'll buy Kelly a dress and I don't want one, so I'll have shoes instead."

"I'm replacing her dress," Hayley said.

"So I can't get these shoes?"

"I'm sure you can find clothes that you'll like just as much," Hayley insisted and had Sarah put the shoe back on the display. "Remember, two shirts and one set of bottoms."

Sarah sulked as she had to put the shoe back but was eventually distracted with a shirt she claimed was the most amazing shirt she had ever seen.

Once they had new outfits chosen and Hayley paid, they stepped out of the store to see the elevator was still out of order. Knowing it would be much more of a challenge to take Kelly down the escalator, Hayley had to think of a way to kill time until the repair was done. Fortunately, the food court was on their level, and since Sarah only wanted the one shirt, and Kelly had decided against getting a new dress, Hayley had some money saved up to treat the girls to ice-cream.

As they walked past the escalators, though, Sarah recognized the woman who had spoken to Hayley earlier. She seemed to be watching Hayley from her bench. Sarah recognized that as a judgemental look and was about to stick her tongue out in retaliation when she noticed something. There, coming up the escalator was a mother with a young child in a heavy stroller. Since the elevator was down, the mother also had to resort to using the escalator, despite the warnings. Then, she walked right past the woman, who despite seeing her coming up, said nothing about it.

"Hey!" Sarah shouted to the woman. "Aren't you going to police her?"

"Sarah, let it go," Hayley said and grabbed her arm to pull her along, but Sarah was stubborn.

"She came up the stairs with a baby," Sarah said, but the rude woman just shook her head.

"It's different. I know she wouldn't let the stroller drop."

"Sarah, just drop it," Hayley insisted again.

"But you told Hayley it was dangerous because she could have fallen."

"Sarah, please," Hayley begged and looked to the woman apologetically. "Sorry…"

"That lady could have fallen too, and her baby can't even say if they trust their mother or not."

Despite what Sarah thought was a logical argument, the woman paid her no mind and instead looked to Hayley, still with the judgemental scowl.

"Some people really just shouldn't be in charge of kids," she said. "If you can't control them, don't have them."

"You're not nice," Sarah said, but the woman continued to ignore her and walked off. Sarah stuck out her tongue and stomped her foot, but Hayley grabbed her and picked her up.

"Let's get ice-cream, okay?"

"But... that wasn't fair," Sarah commented. "She didn't mind her business with you but didn't say anything to that other lady."

"I know," Hayley nodded. "Some things just aren't fair."

"But why you?" Sarah asked. Hayley found an empty table in the food court and set her down. Then she cleared away a chair for Kelly.

"Some people are just like that."

"It's because Hayley's black," Kelly said. Sarah frowned. That made absolutely no sense. "Because Hayley's black, that woman thinks she isn't good. My daddy always used to say that."

Kelly looked up at Hayley, "I don't believe him. You're awesome."

"Thank you," Hayley nodded, then looked to Sarah, who seemed even more confused now.

"But… but that's got nothing to do with it. It's physics!" Sarah stated. "It's got nothing to do with skin!"

"Sarah, just drop it. It happened," Hayley said. Sarah stopped speaking, then when Hayley asked her what flavour of ice-cream she would want, Sarah claimed she wasn't hungry. "You're always hungry for ice-cream."

"My tummy hurts," Sarah muttered.

Hayley sighed. She took a seat and then gave Kelly some cash. "Think you can get us three sundaes?"

"Can do," Kelly smiled. As she left, Hayley reached across the table and took Sarah's hand.

"You're still thinking about it, aren't you?"

"That's not fair," Sarah muttered. "That lady was being mean to you because of your skin?"

"People do that," Hayley nodded.

"Why?"

"Because… I don't really know why," Hayley answered honestly. "People think they're better than us."

"Us? Black people?" Sarah asked and looked down at her hands.

"Yeah."

"Because of skin colour?"

"It's complicated," Hayley nodded. "And I really don't feel like talking about it in a mall."

"Does it hurt your feelings?" Sarah asked. "When people do stuff like that lady?"

"It does."

"I'm sorry," Sarah said, her eyes still focused on her hands. Hayley squeezed them gently and smiled.

"Hey, you aren't like that lady," Hayley said. "You're my friend, and you never made me feel bad."

"It doesn't make sense," Sarah muttered.

"I know."

"Does it happen a lot?"

Part of Hayley wanted to lie. What did it matter what she told a young Sarah when she knew it was only a matter of time before Sarah was old enough to understand it all again.

But another part of Hayley was glad Sarah had asked that question. No one had ever really asked it before. In her family, they all had similar experiences when it came to race, and while her parents had spoken to her many times about how to deal with it, they never asked her how often it happened, or even if it hurt because they already knew. And none of Hayley's friends had ever asked her before. Even Calvin, who had witnessed incidents like this, didn't ask if it happened to her a lot, especially without him there.

"Yeah, Sarah. It does."

"Like… every day, a lot?"

"Every day," Hayley nodded. "Sometimes it's not as obvious as that lady. Sometimes it's little things…. Things most people wouldn't even think of."

Sarah put her hand on her stomach. She didn't like the thought of people being mean to Hayley because of something as trivial as skin. She also didn't like that the lady who had hurt Hayley was still around the mall. That judgemental gaze burned in Sarah's memory.

"Sarah, it's fine," Hayley told her. "I have good friends, like you. Friends who are there to remind me that I'm just as good as all of you."

"But that lady…"

"Her opinion of me doesn't matter," Hayley said. "It hurts, and I wish people were a lot nicer, but it's you I really care about."

Sarah hopped down from her chair and came over to Hayley. She pulled the white Ranger in for a tight hug.

"I'm sorry she hurt your feelings, Hayley," Sarah said. "I'll never let people do that to you again."

"I know," Hayley smiled. "You're a good kid, Sarah."

"What happened?" Calvin asked as he arrived with the boys. They had come up the escalator to find the girls and had spotted Hayley and Sarah sitting in the food court. Hayley just shrugged.

"Nothing. A lady was just being mean and Sarah wanted to know why."

"Being mean…?" Calvin asked and Hayley nodded her head. "Hayls, I'm sorry…"

"It's fine. Sarah was pretty cool about it," Hayley said and smiled at the pink Ranger. "She called the lady out. I think she even scared her off a bit."

"Nobody's going to be mean to Hayley around me," Sarah said. It was at that moment that Kelly came back with the three sundaes and the boys instantly looked jealous.

"We want ice-cream!"

"Sorry," Hayley said to Calvin. "We finished up quickly and I thought you'd take a little longer. I'm out of cash, so if you have any left…"

"Nope," Calvin shook his head as he made sure that the bag he was carrying was tucked behind his back. "The clothes cost a bit more than I was expecting so…"

"What's that?" Kelly asked and pointed to the bag in Calvin's hand. "Did you go to the toy store?"

"We browsed…"

"I got a magic kit!" Preston blurted out and reached into the bag. As he revealed his purchase, and Levi and Brody both followed with theirs, Calvin looked apologetically at Hayley. "Browsed and bought. But you can't be too mad at me because you got the girls ice-cream."

"And clothes," Hayley said and pointed to the bags. "The girls both have clothes to change into. Those toys look expensive."

"I got Brody a new shirt," Calvin said and pointed to the clean, dry shirt that Brody was wearing.

"And…?"

"It's red?"

"Calvin!"

"Preston got mad," Calvin said in his own defense. "Like… unusually mad for a little guy."

"Sarah wasn't happy when I told her she couldn't get the shoes she wanted."

"Maybe you're just better at this than I am," Calvin said with a shrug. "Because you're such an awesome person and girlfriend and…"

"You're making the laundry run if we need clean clothes," Hayley told him and Calvin nodded his head.

"Fair. Absolutely and one hundred percent fair."

"And making dinner."

"Deal."